In the field: Sodagreen - 陪我歌唱

Woots.. my first concert shoot! One of the most adrenaline pumping 10 mins behind a camera, other than shooting a missile launch of course. Read on to find out more...

Concert photography is demanding, both for the photog and the camera. I was fortunate enough to get to shoot such a major performance to have a taste of this genre of photography, described aptly as "low light, fast action photography".

I did my research way before the shoot, reading up on who's Sodagreen, watch fanclub made videos, read up on the tips to take note, as well as any specific photographic tips i could apply. I've never been to any such performance, as i never found any reason to, until this assignment came =D I stumbled upon ISHOOTSHOWS.COM, founded by an amazing concert photographer Todd Owyoung. I love his photographs... simply adore them. He is naturally a D3 shooter (well, it is THE camera to turn to in such situations) but he did shoot many nice pics with less than stella gear. From his pictures i learnt to identify what are the key points to look out for... basically expression and lighting.

Talking about the lighting... It is a different world. Spotlights were transient, wildly saturated and varying in both direction and intensity. At one moment they even switched off all the lights, having the lead singer lit only with a torch. Dance actions were fast and difficult to anticipate. I was glad i did not take up any such assignments earlier... i just don't have the skill and equipment to cope before this.

But hey, now i have some serious stuff to play with. I came in armed with a borrowed 70-200VR, my trusty 17-50 tamron and at the heart of the system: a D300 beefed up with 8AAs to give me the majestic 8FPS, faster mirror blackout and faster AF. The only limitation now is my hands, eyes and experience.

The usual rule applies: Only the first 3 songs can be photographed. That means less than 10 minutes to get that picture for the paper. The first few moments started off with hardly any light, and the performers strolled in and took up their positions before the lights came on. Crap... no opportunities to take them as a group, given the big lobangs between them.

The tempo picked up immediately, flashing lights and dancing men. Made a wild guess on the exposure and it turned out pretty accurate: ISO1600, f2.8, 1/250. Had to shoot RAW as i needed the flexibility with the WB. Throttled up the release mode and watch the shutter fly, occasionally checking for focus/exposure errors.

One thing nobody could teach you is how to move during the shoot. U have to dodge other photographers and videographers, and watch out for wires, steps and stuff in the dark. Having light gear and strong legs help here, as you can regain your balance easier even if you trip. (yeah i almost fell once, tripped against some hidden firecracker tube). Move with the beat, feel the music, and spam during climaxes. At least that's wad i did.

Before i knew it, my first card filled up. Holy... now i'm down to 1 mag of 2GB. Had to sacrifice and shoot in Jpeg now. The AWB was pretty accurate when the spotlight was on, so i took the gamble. Alright, 3 songs up, and i was dragged out of the pit by those MIBs.

I can't really appreciate the music though, so although i was given a free seat i left early. Expo is far, and going home late is just looking for trouble. I left after the 5th song.

While reviewing the pictures, I found that i had far more close-up shots than necessary. Should have used that tamron more. Spent much more time processing the 15mb RAWs on an old laptop with only 512mb of ram. Wth... i'll really look forward to the next concert assignment, doesn't matter who's singing.