First attempts at gig photography

benjo · 9 Mar 2011 at 14:45

So about 6 weeks ago my friend approached me and asked me to do photography for a new Dubstep and DnB night he was putting on. The first gig had quite a big artist (Cookie Monsta) so I went for it

Borrowed an external flash, and hired some lenses..

The next gig I got was for a Radio 1 DJ (Toddla T)

My latest gig was for Drumsound & Bassline Smith! Played around with some longer exposures on this one..

So that's it so far, only done 3 gigs. But the promoter likes them and I'm being paid £100 a gig now

Still learning and trying to find a style I like. I have another one in two weeks time!

Russinating · 9 Mar 2011 at 15:02

Great shots. I just want to know what the girl in #4 is doing :eek:

.

benjo · 9 Mar 2011 at 15:06

I have no idea, but she was a complete state most of that night

Ended up on some guys shoulders with her bra nearly falling off :eek:

Russinating · 9 Mar 2011 at 15:26

Coke makes you do crazy things

.

booyaka · 9 Mar 2011 at 15:35

nice work

FlipFlop · 9 Mar 2011 at 17:58

Excellent stuff. Did anyone notice the perv looking like he's going to stalk that poor brunette home and murder her on the right hand side of picture number 5?

FlipFlop · 9 Mar 2011 at 17:59

benjo said:
I have no idea, but she was a complete state most of that night Ended up on some guys shoulders with her bra nearly falling off

And pictures?

cub123 · 9 Mar 2011 at 18:05

Love the 'round' pics, ala beastie boys

benjo · 9 Mar 2011 at 18:24

FlipFlop said:
And pictures?

Bouncers were there in seconds though

Thanks for all the comments

MajorPart · 10 Mar 2011 at 14:15

Good job, nice post processing done on them too

Which fisheye lens are you using ?

benjo · 10 Mar 2011 at 14:50

Using an 8mm Sigma, and a 15mm Canon

dbov22 · 10 Mar 2011 at 19:11

these shots are brilliant - i really like them, what equipment and lenses EXACTLY did you use, settings etc??

benjo · 10 Mar 2011 at 19:21

With the Sigma 8mm 3.5, the settings I used were usually;

External flash, ISO400, 1/40 shutter speed.

The 15mm Fisheye is a 2.8 so I could get away wit a slightly lower ISO.

On the ones without the flash, I used the same settings but with a 1/3 sec shutter speed

Using a Canon 30D with battery grip

Razor-BladE · 10 Mar 2011 at 19:26

Nice set! I've always wanted to mess around with a fisheye lens in a club.
Flash direct or bouncing?

benjo · 10 Mar 2011 at 19:26

Bouncing directly up

DB_SamX · 10 Mar 2011 at 21:08

benjo said:
With the Sigma 8mm 3.5, the settings I used were usually;

External flash, ISO400, 1/40 shutter speed.

The 15mm Fisheye is a 2.8 so I could get away wit a slightly lower ISO.

On the ones without the flash, I used the same settings but with a 1/3 sec shutter speed

Using a Canon 30D with battery grip

Fantastic shots; it really conveys the atmosphere in there.

Couple of questions: How did you managge sharp shots with 1/3s? Were you leaning against a wall or something?

What did you meter off, as the lighting is all over the place and did you use spot/matrix metering? Would love to be able to capture the atmosphere when I go to parties/wedding receptions etc without ending up with too dark or bright photos.

SteveOBHave · 10 Mar 2011 at 21:39

Great shots but I'd be inclined to dial down the flash a little and let some of the ambient lighting in a bit. The slow synch will only do so much if the ambient lighting is 'drowned out' by the strobe. Composition wise they're all pretty good. Nice work!

benjo · 10 Mar 2011 at 22:27

DB_SamX said:
Fantastic shots; it really conveys the atmosphere in there.

Couple of questions: How did you managge sharp shots with 1/3s? Were you leaning against a wall or something?

What did you meter off, as the lighting is all over the place and did you use spot/matrix metering? Would love to be able to capture the atmosphere when I go to parties/wedding receptions etc without ending up with too dark or bright photos.

I didn't lean on anything, just tried to keep a steady hand! I take over 500 shots per gig so some come out ok

Like I said, I'm pretty new to gig photography. I'm borrowing the external flash at the moment and I didn't meter off anything

SteveOBHave said:
Great shots but I'd be inclined to dial down the flash a little and let some of the ambient lighting in a bit. The slow synch will only do so much if the ambient lighting is 'drowned out' by the strobe. Composition wise they're all pretty good. Nice work!

Yeh I know what you mean, The flash works ok with the crowd shots. During my last gig though I tried to get some shots without the flash and just went with longer exposures.

I'm buying my own flash tomorrow so I'll read up on metering and experiment a bit more

DB_SamX · 11 Mar 2011 at 20:50

benjo said:
Like I said, I'm pretty new to gig photography. I'm borrowing the external flash at the moment and I didn't meter off anything

Thanks for the replies. Dis you take a few shots to see what they look like (and check histogram?) and carry on shooting with those settings?

Rroff · 11 Mar 2011 at 20:55

Definitely would agree with Steve - the crowd shots are excellent and overall composition suits the subject perfectly - but IMO the flash doesn't work well with some of them tho the only one that really bothered me was the first shot and again personal preference but the fisheye ones don't do it for me.