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5 Reasons to Consider Concert Photography with a Wide Open Aperture (and the Secret to Perfecting it)

21 Oct

Concert photography is arguably one of the most adrenaline-filled niches you can engage in as an image maker. Musicians, magazines, fans, and record labels alike turn to skilled concert photographers to tell a story for the momentous performance. For most music photographers (due to venue constraints) there is less than ten minutes to capture enough great images to populate a full gallery. Partner this with tumultuous circumstances such as sporadic lighting and an excitable audience and you have effectively created a photographic situation that is unlike any other.

As such, shooting with a very wide open aperture might appear to be too daunting of a task! There are common misunderstandings of how to use and work with a wide open aperture! If your inner aesthete drools over soft, dreamy photographs and creamy bokeh, then you better get ready to play with some low, low, low numbers. We are here to tell you how to photograph concerts at f/1.2, f/1.4, and f/1.8!

Wide aperture concert photography tips

Why Use an Ultra Wide Aperture?

Here are 5 reasons you may want to consider shooting concert photography with a wide open aperture.

1. Aesthetic and Style

To preface, a lot of the quality and final image look is based on the type of lens used. In the past several years, photography fans are gravitating towards the shallow depth of field aesthetic. If you’re in the business of producing commercial music photography (like myself), you’re going to want to keep following the trends and adapting to what is sought after in the industry.

Aesthetic and Style with Wide Aperture Concert Photography

An added bonus is being able to niche yourself a bit in an industry that has a lot of competition, many photographers are wary of shooting fast paced events with a wide aperture due to potential focusing issues. If you can master this art, you have something that will separate you from others.

 

2. Low Light Capability

Low light concert photography with wide aperture

Unless you’re shooting a big name at an amphitheater, a lot of smaller venues will have very poor lighting. You’ll need to use equipment that will illuminate the frame with whatever limited lighting is available. In these low light scenarios you need a lens with a wide enough aperture to let in more light. Using a lens that goes down to f/1.2, for example, is a great way to let enough light in and make the frame bright. Remember, the aperture is the hole the light passes through in your lens. The wider the aperture, the more light that enters the camera.

 

3. Shallow Depth of Field

Shoot concert photography with shallow depth of field

The wider the aperture, the shallower the depth of field. Shallow depth of field is great for live concerts because the stage can be rather cluttered compositionally. From instruments to cables, background props, and other band members, there can be a lot going on in the frame at once. Only having one subject in focus with the rest blending into a creamy bokeh makes for a much more visually pleasing and simplified image. With the depth-of-field being so shallow, whatever troubles you about the background can easily melt into a beautiful creamy bokeh.

 

4. Detail Shots

Capture detail in your concert photography with wide aperture

On the topic of shallow depth of field, if you are photographing for an instrument company, an aperture of f/1.8 will likely become your best friend. This is because photographs taken with a large aperture allow all of the focus to lie on the subject, and the background ceases to remain a distraction. Many instrument companies love to have their products captured in a natural usable setting, such as musicians at a live show.A shallow depth of field will keep the interest solely on your single subject.

 

5. Sharpness

How to achieve sharpness in your concert photography with wide aperture

Due to technological constraints, lenses that open their aperture below f/2.8 are fixed millimeter lenses (they do not zoom). As a general rule, fixed millimeter lenses tend to be sharper than lenses with a range.

 

Let’s Talk About the Elephant in the Room: Focusing with a Wide Open Aperture

Right where all of the benefits of an f-stop of 1.2 start to break down is the focusing. The wider the aperture and the shallower the depth of field, the more difficult it can be to focus on what you want. Pair that with a live show in which the lighting is a bit of a mess, and the subjects move spontaneously in various directions, and it sounds like the perfect recipe for a photographer migraine. However, focusing with a wider aperture doesn’t have to be so difficult- it’s just a different thought process.

The Concept of Sharpness

Sharp concert photography through composition

Really, the focus stems from a desire to have an image that is sharp. But what is sharpness? Sharpness is an interesting concept. How sharp a subject appears is a matter of two things: the focus the camera captures and the amount of contrast on your subject. The term “sharpness” is, in fact, an illusion. You see, for an image to be considered sharp, it needs to have contrast. If the there is little contrast in the image, the subject will not look three-dimensional regardless of whether the focus is perfect or not. Biologically, the way that our eyes work, our vision naturally detects edges to register sharpness, and shadows and highlights in order to record the depth in a subject. This is a very important concept to understand when answering the question of how to make images look sharp. When editing your concert photography images, be attentive to the shadows and highlights. And add contrast to define your subject.

 

Perfect Focus

Sharp concert photography through perfect focus and wide aperture

In terms of getting your image to actually be sharp (from being in perfect focus), here is the basic concept of how focus works in a camera. When you focus your camera on a subject, it establishes a focal plane. To get your subject in focus, it has to be on the focal plane. Focal planes happen on an x (horizontal) and y (vertical) axis. This means anything along either of those axes will be in focus, and anything not on them will be out of focus. The concern with a wide open aperture is that your focal plane is quite small. As you decrease your aperture number and make the opening wider, the invisible area in front and behind the plane of focus will get smaller and smaller, leaving you with much less wiggle-room. As such, distance from the subject plays a key role in your focus.

When shooting wide open, even the smallest diversion from either of the focal plane axes will cause your subject to be out-of-focus. You cannot take a step forward or back without the need to refocus when shooting at a wide aperture. But by keeping this in mind, you can adjust your photography technique to better accommodate the small focal plane.

Single Point Autofocus

Using single point focus and wide aperture in concert photography

A trick to help make sure that what you want in focus is indeed sharp, is to use single point autofocus. By default, your camera will probably select either the object that’s closest to the camera or what’s in the center of the frame. By using single point autofocus, you tell the camera exactly where to focus, which is extremely helpful with low aperture numbers. Refer to your camera model’s manual to find how to change the focus setting!

The Real Secret

The real secret to wide aperture concert photography

Keeping in mind how the focal plane works, this is the big trick to shooting wide open at a concert: The farther away you are from the subject, the easier it is to get the subject in focus. You can get the subject in focus and still maintain and extremely creamy depth of field.

Whether you’re in a photo pit or just in the main venue floor, your position to begin the concert shoot can significantly affect your success for the rest of the shoot. Keeping in mind that for most general photography passes your time is limited, you need to be ready to jump right into the shoot the very second the music hits your ears. My suggestion is to start on the outer edges of the pit or venue and work your way to the middle. Many concert photographers all flock to the center of the shooting zone, and begin shoving to claim their dead center spot. When you start from the edge, while the other photographers are all congregating and fighting for the center, you have much more room to move freely on the outer edge. This is where you will have an advantage to be able to move a bit further away from your subject in order to expand your plane and get that perfect focus.

Shooting concert photography in wide aperture

Now that you’ve been let in to the secret, go out there and capture some awesome concert shots!

The post 5 Reasons to Consider Concert Photography with a Wide Open Aperture (and the Secret to Perfecting it) appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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Meet The Deluxe Pop-Up Flash Bounceand His Light Perfecting Pals

23 May

You’ve got the Camera and the Action — now, about those Lights.

We’ve rounded up our favorite easy to use lighting gadgets. And we’ve even added a new one … The Deluxe Pop-Up Flash Bounce that bounces light from any angle.

Grab up these gizmos and give your photos pro-quality lighting, just the special sparkle you’ve been looking for.

     
Deluxe Pop-Up Flash Bounce

The Deluxe Pop-Up Flash Bounce redirects the harsh light from your pop-up flash.

It swivels around so you can bounce your flash’s flash off of a wall or ceiling and make the light fall more evenly.

Deluxe Pop-Up Flash Bounce
$ 37 at the Photojojo Store


 

Ring Flash Adapter

Get the soft glowing look of a ring flash with the Ring Flash Adapter.

It works with your external flash to surround your subject with light, for a fraction of cost of a pro ring flash.

Ring Flash Adapter
$ 40 at the Photojojo Store

     
 
     
White Balance Lens Caps

Nothing ruins great lighting like crumby white balance.

The White Balance Lens Cap helps you set the perfect custom white balance every time, even in mixed light where the presets just won’t cut it.

White Balance Lens Caps
From $ 45 at the Photojojo Store



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Perfecting and Playing with White Balance

09 Feb

As photographers we often question the strength, type and direction of light, but because most of today’s cameras’ auto-functions are greatly enhanced, it can be easy to forget about the colour of light.

Seasoned shooters will undoubtedly be aware of the importance of white balance, but for those new to photography or for photographers looking to go ‘off piste’ and take a more manual approach to image-capture then this whistle stop guide might be able to help. In this handy tutorial, we’ll explain not only the importance of controlling white-balance, but how it’s done and what effects can be achieved.

Why bother with white-balance?

In this image we wanted to exaggerate the warmth in the light hitting the leaves in the trees, so we used a 'Cloudy' present in the White-Balance options.

In this image we wanted to exaggerate the warmth in the light hitting the leaves in the trees, so we used a ‘Cloudy’ present in the White-Balance options.

By controlling the colour of light photographers are able to shoot with a balance that is as neutral as possible, replicating the colour of natural daylight whilst resolving issues with colour casts. Alternatively shooters can manipulate white-balance values for creative effect.

What is the problem with using auto-white balance?

Most contemporary cameras do a solid job at rectifying ‘problems’ with colour casts in the light, and so when a scene is put in front of the camera it will attempt to compensate for any shift in values to make the scene look as close as possible to natural daylight as possible. So say you were using an auto-white balance setting to shoot a scene flooded with a rich amber afternoon light, you may be disappointed to find the camera diluted the richness of the hue as it has attempted to cool down the scene by using a blue cast to pull back the colour balance to replicate that of natural daylight. Conversely, when you shoot with flash a cool tone is usually projected from the bulb, as such cameras set to auto-white balance will warm the picture up in-camera using an orange/amber cast. Another issue is night photography, as the colour of neon signs or street lights can often affect the camera’s reading and results in confused colour-cast frames. By setting the white balance manually you’ll find a more realistic result is attained.

How can I control white balance?

1. Use Presets

Within your camera’s settings menu you should find a section labelled ‘White-Balance’. Here various presets are offered, each with an icon clarifying in what light the option should be used, for example; flash, cloudy, fluorescent, ambient, indoor, outdoor, sunset etc.  

By telling the camera what conditions you are shooting in, it can more accurately and consistently apply values to compensate. It is especially wise to use this mode if you feel the auto white-balance isn’t on point.

2. Use Custom

By taking a white-balance reading from the swan's white feathers we were able to get a more realistic and natural result

By taking a white-balance reading from the swan’s white feathers we were able to get a more realistic and natural result

Whilst presets have their place, they can sometimes be a little wide of the mark, so to influence greater control find ‘Custom’ within the White Balance settings. This option allows you to take a reading by photographing an area of white or natural grey so your camera recognises and understands the exact lighting conditions you are working in.

If this is the approach you want to go with, it can be a good idea to carry a piece of white or grey paper, card or plastic to take readings from when you’re out and about.

3. Post-Production
Should you return home to discover your images carry an unsightly colour cast, all is not lost. Almost all contemporary photo-editing software allows users to correct colour balance issues with a touch of an ‘auto colour balance’ button or slight incremental change with a slider, but by far the best option is to use a white balance Colour Picker or White Balance Tool to select a part of the image you know to be white or grey. What is more, most of these software products offer options to apply values to batches of images instantaneously, potentially saving you hours! To do this most effectively it’s best to shoot in RAW so you can have a wider scope of flexibility to resolve colour balance issue.

What if I don’t want a neutral balance?

Using a manual white balance will allow you resolve colour cast issues in-camera, but just as it is possible to neutralise the colour of light, it is also possible to manipulate values to create colour-thrown captures. For example, to exaggerate the rich red hues of a sunset force the camera to pump up the colour even further by using the Custom option or use a Preset such as Daylight or Cloudy to make the camera ‘think’ it is shooting a dreary scene and as such will add a warming cast. The result will be a vivacious and colour-striking sunset. There are dozens of situations when using the ‘wrong’ white balance can enhance or exaggerate the colour values of an image, it just takes a little imagination and practice.  Good luck!

Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.

Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.

Perfecting and Playing with White Balance


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