At first I thought it was a non-starter. Although it was early afternoon, the light is really dull at this time of the year, and even at the smallest focal length on the lens I was unable to get an acceptable shutter-speed for handheld shooting (it has no image stabilisation feature). I increased the ISO one step at a time, and even at the highest of 1600 I was not able to achieve a shutter-speed of 1/focal length; a general guide for the minimum speed for handheld shooting I learnt on the video courses Foundations of Photography by Ben Long.
I was aware that I had bought with me my Nikon 1.8 50mm, a fast prime lens that would deal with the situation with ease, even at an ISO of 200; my problem was that with the fixed focal length of 50mm I was not going to be able to get many good shots compositionally; I simply needed more reach. In the end I kept the telephoto lens on my camera, with the ISO up to 1600. I was fortunate in that I was able to get right up close to the stage, and lean on the metal barrier to make the camera as stable as possible.
On arrival, I took these four test images, seeing how the camera would perform in the available light, and also to become more accustomed with the environment, and who was who. I moved left and right across the front of the stage experimenting with different angles, but my position at the time was causing me problems; I was not close enough to get anything that didn't resemble a snapshot, I had audience member's heads in the way and the metal barrier around the circumference of the stage was also a distraction.
70mm, f/4, 1/200, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/250, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/200, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/160, ISO 1600
My new closer position at the very edge of the stage solved all of the aforementioned problems, and my first few shots were mainly focused on individual members of the group, utilising a vertical orientation and shot at varying focal lengths:
70mm, f/4, 1/125, ISO 1600
135mm, f/4.5, 1/60, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/50, ISO 1600
I was fortunate in that I was able to move around the entire circumference of the circular stage. This presented many more photographic opportunities than would have been possible with a standard stage setup. Here I began moving behind the performers, looking for interesting new angles and seeing if I were able to include any of the surroundings for context:
70mm, f/4, 1/125, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/160, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/125, ISO 1600
78mm, f/4, 1/100, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/160, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/160, ISO 1600
I then continued to circle the stage, with my next objective being to focus on some more close-up shots, as well as keep my eyes open for any moments that particularly caught my eye. The next image I particularly enjoy; the red bass guitar framed by the speaker stand on the left, and the singer on the right. This particular viewpoint also seems more 'candid' than the others:
78mm, f/4, 1/50, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/125, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/40, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/125, ISO 1600
78mm, f/4, 1/160, ISO 1600
78mm, f/4, 1/160, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/80, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/125, ISO 1600
Whilst capturing the 'action' image, I continued my search for interesting close-ups. I had the idea of focusing on the group's auxiliary equipment in some of my images, such as the amplifiers. I particularly like this next close-up image which feels like it has great intimacy:
170mm, f/4.8, 1/125, ISO 1600
120mm, f/4.2, 1/60, ISO 1600
120mm, f/4.2, 1/50, ISO 1600
120mm, f/4.2, 1/100, ISO 1600
195mm, f/5, 1/125, ISO 1600
135mm, f/4.5, 1/80, ISO 1600
100mm, f/4.2, 1/50, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/125, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/125, ISO 1600
86mm, f/4, 1/100, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/125, ISO 1600
70mm, f/4, 1/160, ISO 1600
This was an interesting and useful exercise for me in many ways. Mostly, it took me out of my comfort zone and into a fast-paced situation to which I was unaccustomed. A live event is different to a static landscape in the fact that it is so dynamic; if you see a particular shot you like you need to take it straight away, otherwise it is gone forever. The process dealt with in this exercise is what photographer Ben Long calls 'working the shot'. It was a valuable tip I picked up from his video courses and something that I've recently been putting into practice. It involves spending time on location trying different angles, viewpoints, subjects etc instead of just taking an image of the first thing you see. While undertaking this exercise I worked the shot, and as a result created many different interesting images. I tried to experiment with different subjects rather than the main focus always being the players.
The ability to circle the entire stage was a huge bonus, and some of my favourite images in the sequence are the ones taken from behind, as these feel more unusual and thus interesting than the standard front-on shots. Having the right gear is always a help, and I wouldn't have been able to capture the images I did without my telephoto lens. This allowed closer, more intimate viewpoints, and allowed me to 'crop' out extraneous and distracting details from the frame. Sometime in the future I'd love to invest in a fast telephoto with image stabilisation which would have allowed me to shoot this sequence much sharper and at a low ISO setting.
Initially I was very concerned with the lack of available light, and the stage having an overhead covering didn't help matters. Previously I wouldn't have dreamed of setting my ISO so high, being concerned with the amount of noise in the image, and probably would have abandoned the shoot altogether. I'm glad I persevered, because the shots turned out quite well. Although not tack-sharp, I did manage to stabilise the camera much better by leaning on the guard rail, and this probably saved some of the images from turning into a blurry mess.
Some of the above images have been treated to a little editing in post-production. One or two are cropped to remove unsightly or out of focus objects, others have had a little noise-reduction applied (especially the ones where the dark jackets are visible), and on others I have lowered the colour temperature to offset the orange stage lighting.
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