Between the dim, monochrome washes of basement dives and the explosive lighting of arena shows, achieving the correct exposure for concert photography can be one of the biggest challenges for beginning and experienced shooters alike.
Here’s a basic four-step breakdown for how I set exposure shooting gigs.
Determining Exposure for Concert Photography
The following, which requires shooting in manual mode, is my standard process for setting exposure at the start of a set and for every lighting change afterward:
For this test frame, I’ll just make an educated guess at exposure given the amount of light in the venue. Generally this is going to be around f/2.8 and 1/160 between ISO 1600 and 6400.
That’s right, chimp it up. In reviewing the above test frame, I’ll look at both the histogram and overall rendition of the image. With the latter, it’s important to use a camera with a fairly accurate LCD, otherwise one can be misled. I’ll also review the areas of blown highlights to ensure that important details are intact in the subject.Of the four steps, this is both the most difficult and the most important. The good thing is, if you blow it, you’ve always got another shot.
Too bright? Too dark? Go back to step 1 and adjust as necessary. ISO, shutter speed, and aperture – whatever it takes. When you’ve nailed it, proceed to the last step.
Notice that I haven’t mentioned the in-camera meter and with good reason. As any experienced photographer will attest, all light meters can lie; or at the very least, they are never accurate 100% of the time for all scenes or situations. With concert photography, this take away is especially true.
End Notes:
Ideally, this give and take process only takes a few seconds of the first song as the lighting scheme stabilizes, and for every subsequent major lighting change. Obviously the above routine is less applicable to strobes and highly variable lighting, but this four-step system is my core basis for establishing exposure throughout a set.
In the next article in this two-part series, I’ll go into more depth on the additional techniques I employ in conjunction with this routine to achieve the best possible exposure at the time of shooting.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 10:07 pm and is filed under Photography Tutorials and tagged with concert photography, exposure, metering, Photography Tutorials, tutorial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Awesome, can’t wait to hear what you have to say about strobes.
Hey Zach, I will most likely touch on dealing with strobes and other short-duration lighting (i.e., flare-ups of white light that has been popular recently) in the second part of this mini-series. Stay tuned.
Hi Todd.
I use almost the same method :)
From my point of view, the difficult parts are :
- decide if the exposure is good : you have to know exactly how works your histogram and decide if it’s ok with the overexposed/underexposed parts
- when the lights change very often, I don’t use manual mode but aperture priority and spot metering.
Hey Alain,
Nice to hear from you here, and good to know that this method is similar to yours. I think it is a fairly natural process with a DSLR — with film, set it, hope it’s not underexposed, and pray.
I would agree about the difficult parts, especially in knowing what a “good” histogram looks like for concert photography, since the shadows are so often dominant. Perhaps this is something I’ll write about in the second part, as it is worth exploring.
And for quick changes, I, too, agree. Sometimes manual is not fast enough, for no other reason than the fact that we’re not fast enough ;)
WISH I had seen this before the weekend… Friends of mine did a hip hop show at blueberry hill… HORRIBLE lighting.. like seriously no light.. but I tried to shoot it anyway. (put a few public in my flickr stream)
Next time I shall be more prepared!
[...] Read More… [...]
Hey Raquita, next time. The Duck Room at Blueberry Hill is one of the worst venues to shoot in, because they have the bad habit of turning the lights off for the headliners. I’ll check out your recent shots.
Interesting. I would have thought that with the quickly changing light you would have used some sort of auto setting, like aperture priority. Or do you try to get a test shot when the light flares and then wait for it to flair again for further shots in that type of light?
I’ve found it’s helpful to use spot metering in scenes of such high contrast. What metering mode are you using?
Also, thanks for the great site and such fantastic information. :)
I always use manual mode, Paul. I used to use aperture priority for years, but have grown to love the absolute control – for better or for worse – that manual affords.
For quickly changing lighting as you mention, yes, I basically make a test exposure for each “state” or scheme for the lighting, and then internalize those setting so I can switch between them as necessary. I will write about this more in depth in part two.
I use the evaluative/pattern or Matrix metering (Nikon), rather than center or spot, but this is somewhat misleading. I only use the indicated metering as a guideline at best and only when the meter shows gross exposure differences to my settings.
For the most part, I simply ignore the light meter and prefer to use this feedback look to achieve the desired exposure.
Good advice Todd. I use pretty much the same technique… it didn’t take very long to learn not to trust the meter.
Shot a gig last night where there was so many unpredictable bright bursts that spot metering with Aperture priority would have been ideal. Shame my camera has a pretty awful ‘partial’ metering mode instead of spot.
Hey Dan. Yup, I imagine many concert photogs use a similar method if they shoot manual (or use exposure compensation with aperture priority).
I don’t recall, is it possible to “hack” the 400D to have a tighter spot meter?
Like you todd, i ALWAYS use the manual mode. The difference with you is I never search the “good” exposure, i like to under and sur expose … because I like to have some effects . Otherwise, I’m simply OK with all your article :) mode M is the only mode for a total control in concert.
Rod, of course “good” in terms of exposure is relative. There’s no such thing as a perfect exposure unless one is a technician. For photographers, there are only exposures that best express one’s visions (and often within the constraints of technology.
But I do very much like the notion that you prefer something slight less or more. Perhaps you can write a guest article here on that.
I do not own a D3 yet (i shoot with a S5), but i do use the same technique.
As i can’t do such extreme isos, i tend to try to get the best of a sensitivity i find reasonable. I shoot manual, select a sufficient shutter speed to fix the movement and then play with the aperture setting.
I don’t like to waste the potential of my sensor ;). Strangely i figured that going from 400 to 640 iso and being able to stop my lens from 1.6 to 2.2, allows me to get more details (than with a 1.6 an 400 iso combination).
But there again it’s all about using the best of the lens and sensor and stopping the lense to a point where noise is acceptable.
Oh todd, it would be a great honor :) I have several examples with low speeds or very dark exposed situations :)
@Xavier : I had The Fuji S5 PRo : I hadn’t read the manual, but I think it’s possible to realize incredible things : not in ISO … but by putting +5 at exposure … you have the equivalent, in light, a 1600 shot by putting 400 …
Hey Xavier,
Thanks for your thoughts on this and for sharing your own technique. The point you mention of producing best image quality considering lens performance, ISO, and detail are all very interesting, and I would agree.
It is not always best to shoot at the lowest ISO if that also means compromising on lens performance. Even though stopping down and using a higher ISO will produce more noise in most cases, it can also mean a dramatic increase in image detail with respect to the lens. Great point.
@Rod, i read about your disappointments. I also read that you can dial an exposure compensation, but i dind’t found much difference with and without the comp (i made these tests at La Boule Noire for the F.M. gig).
I read that the exposure compenation was acting on the shutter speed/aperture combo. Is it acting a different way on the S5, like at the sensor level?
I’m still waiting for an answer on photim forums.
I hope you’ll be able to get a S5 back one day.
I would also like to know if it’s possible to get the S5 color rendition on the D3 through a profile, as i’m starting to love how colors show on my prints.
Xavier, go to :
http://www.gdargaud.net/Photo/FujiS5pro.html
And see REAL tests made with Dynamic Range + Sur Exposure. Pictures talk always better than words :)
After seeing this site, I knew I didn’t use my S5 Pro correctly as well.
@Todd : it’s not always the case, but i figured that my Nikon 50mm f1.4 and Sigma 30mm f1.4 are very very good at f2.2, and it’s worth increasing isos a bit to reach that aperture.
Xavier, I understand. The Nikon 50mm is alright wide open, but not so much that I would use it at that setting for critical work where sharpness/detail is very important.
As an aside, I find the 50mm much sharper on the D70 compared to the D2x wide open. On the D70, it’s very, very sharp even at f/1.4, while the demanding D2x sensor always made the lens look poor wide open. Unfortunately I haven’t used the prime on the D3 enough to get a feel for this, but I believe the lens is somewhere in between in performance on the new flagship.
Fortuitous timing, Todd – thanks. I went to a Hawksley Workman show last night and cameras were allowed, so I was able to use my 30D. I’m not proficient enough with manual yet (at least to the point where I will trust myself), so I shot aperture priority, and all the quick-changing blues and purples (plus the green jumpsuits the band was wearing) really played havoc with my meter. Lots of blown-out faces, too. Lots of post in LR.
http://flickr.com/photos/dr_t/2362665083/
I’m going to have to make a point of getting more comfortable with manual and using the histogram.
Hey Doug, I can see how the lighting and scene could have easily tricked the meter. Looks like RAW saved the day, though!
Once you go manual, I think you’ll love it. It’s hard to go back once you’ve switched over. For the longest time I shot aperture priority exclusively, using exposure compensation, but manual is great for all but the quickest situations.
Great tips Todd! Have you found Active-D Lighting of any help? Could you touch upon it in this low light style of shooting?
Terry,
Actually, I have yet to try Active-D lighting in-camera with the D3. I’ve used it in Capture NX with success on highly contrasty lighting, but haven’t used it as a camera setting as of yet.
Just as with my uses in post with RAW, I think Active-D lighting would be most beneficial for low light scenes where the light is very harsh. D-lighting should be able to “open up” the shadows in contrast to the standard settings.
[...] part one of this series, I covered my basic four-step approach to determining exposure that might otherwise [...]
[...] Photography: Tutorial Series How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 1 How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 2 Choosing Lenses For Concert Photography 8 Tips for a Great [...]
Doesn’t using Manual turn off the metering operations of the camera?
So when you use metering you are using it only to check or compare to your manual choices?
I appreciate your site and your knowledge, thanks
Hey Jean,
No, you can still shoot in manual and the in-camera meter will still indicate what the camera suggests for the scene, there is simply no automated adjustment on the half of the camera as there would be in an auto mode.
In the above method, I’m only really using the in-camera meter (generally in matrix mode) as a ball park guide, and I’m looking at the histogram and the review image on the camera LCD to judge more finely.
So, the in-camera meter is still working, I’m just not paying much attention to it.
Hi Todd,
Thank you for the wonderful articles and photos (they are fantastic)!
I have a Nikon D700 and am wondering if I can set my ISO to auto (while keeping my aperture and shutter speed locked in manual) to compensate for lighting changes or would the issue of the in-camera meter being untrustworthy negate the purpose?
Your shots come out very crisp, what is the slowest shutter speed you can use all the way zoomed out with your 70-200mm comfortably? Does your lens have VR?
How often do you find yourself adjusting the shutter (or ISO) after your initial exposure set up (and before major lighting changes which require a new set up), or do you adjust the raw images after?
Again, your site is much appreciated!
Hey Irina,
Great question. If you’re shooting in manual, using auto ISO will effectively negate the control you have in that mode, since the camera could compensate for what it perceived as under exposure by changing the ISO on you, and thus changing the exposure.
Regarding the 70-200mm, the shutter speed really depends on the subject. For moving subjects, I’d prefer at least 1/250, and 1/500 or faster is much preferred.
For static subjects, one can get away with much slower speeds, say between 1/50 and 1/100 or so if they’re not moving too much and singing slowly. The Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 does have VR.
I might very slightly tweak the exposure after first setting it, if I perceive that the lighting scheme shifts to a noticeable degree, but it really all depends.
For my shooting, my goal is to get within at least within 1/3-stop of the desired exposure, if not dead on.
Hope this helps, Irina. Glad to hear you enjoy the site and its content!
Todd, thank you very much that was quite helpful.
Happy shooting :)
Agreed with Paul up there. I’m generally in appeture priority, spot metering and focusing and holding those settings until I get the right moment. In settings where its too erratic and this fails, I’m spot metering then swapping to manual mode for a few tweaks on that reading.
Curious how you deal with consistently low light situations, where even at 3200 or 6400, you still need to shoot wide open at low shutter speeds. How do you still end up with sharp photos?
Methinks there is magic at work here.
RT @toddowyoung Concert Photography How-To: Metering & Exposure, pt. 1 | ishootshows.com http://bit.ly/ziy8L
[...] Now with the camera body, you will need to make sure that the shutter speed is faster. At concerts your subject is always moving, so it is best to use a fast shutter speed. Most DSLR’s are fast anyway, so this isn’t that big of a deal. To find out more on how to get better picture at concerts, go to here: Todd Owyoung. [...]
@kortneyje I suggest manual exposure, no ISO. Check out this article for how I "meter" for live music photography. http://bit.ly/ziy8L
Ooooh awesome! Glad to have found this, wish I had seen this on Sat. night & not the Monday morn. after lol. Anyway, thanks for posting these–so helpful!
Thanks for sharing a wealth of information!
Instead of using a photo pass and being in the pit, I have season tickets and my seats are 8 rows from the stage (or fewer depending on stage/barricade requirements) and on the aisle of the middle section.
I would like to use your 4-step method but wonder how, if at all, this location would change your rough settings for the test frame (f/2.8 and 1/160 between ISO 1600 and 6400).
I am an amateur photographer. My common challenges are over-exposed and soft focused subjects. However, I have yet to go manual with the metering or focus. I have been manually setting the aperture, ISO and shutter speed though. I’m using a Canon S90 due to the camera restrictions for concert attendees.
Thanks again for the great tips!
Hey Mickey,
The further location won’t change this methodology. However, you might be maxing out the zoom on your S90 (great camera, by the way).
Going manual with exposure will definitely help with over-exposure, and if you keep the shutter speeds up, you should be getting more crisp images, too.
Thanks! And thanks again!
Concert Photography How-To: Metering & Exposure http://bit.ly/M6OjE