Photographing concerts and bands is always fun. I still remember loading my Pentax Spotmatic with black-and-white film to go photograph a band playing at a festival held at Venice Beach, California. That was back in the early 1970s. At that time, black-and-white film was the only sure way of getting reasonably good photos.
Since then, I have made pictures of musicians with all kinds of cameras, and I must admit that digital has made the act of photographing concerts much more rewarding.
This past weekend my friend Jo McAvany attended Barriere’s Music in the Park, and was again able to photograph singer-songwriter Tanner Dawson.
Jo enjoys Dawson’s music, and even though she took pictures of him and his band when we attended his Kelowna performance, she was excited to photograph him again, and was looking forward to seeing what she could get from his Barriere show.
Jo told me she was shooting with her 24mp Nikon D780 and that she used two lenses: a Nikon 14-24mm and Nikon’s latest 70-200mm for DSLR cameras. The D780 easily shoots at very high ISO without any apparent image noise, and even though the D780 is a DSLR with a viewfinder, she reminded me that she prefers to shoot Live View.
Like the newer Mirrorless models, the 780 has an articulating LCD that is touch-sensitive. Using the LCD instead of the eye-level viewfinder allows her to shoot from any angle she chooses. I have watched her put her camera on the ground for photos. Jo just kneels or sits and easily arranges her composition, selects her focus with a light finger touch, and without hesitation touches the display again to release the camera’s shutter.
When I asked her what ISO she was using for the image she gave me for this article she said she kept changing it and wasn’t sure, but I could check the info to find out.
She sent me a text during the performance saying she really liked the smoke machine the band was using, adding “I want one!” and from her photographs I can see why. The black-and-white image I posted is neat, but the colour is more dramatic because the band was also using light-changing machines.
She said for that image she used the 70-200mm and an on-camera flash, and I’ll comment on the flash. Much of the time a flash will overpower the coloured lights. But if the photographer is back far enough or has reduced the flash's output, the illumination can be just enough, adding light and contrast to the subject. As readers can see, Jo’s shot worked, and the ISO was 1250.
I enjoy viewing creative photographs made by serious photographers. Jo told me she saw a few other photographers pointing their cameras during the performance, and I am sure they had a great time and made some creative photographs of the band. I am sure Jo will send some of her photos to the band's website, and I encourage other photographers to do the same.
Stay safe and be creative. These are my thoughts for this week. Contact me at www.enmanscamera.com or emcam@telus.net.
