Every photography hobbyist who also loves music, theater, or any other type of performing art has, at one point or another, run into this dilemma: y'all're not allowed to take "professional looking" cameras into a concert.

The proficient news is that there are more than and more than pocket-sized, unassuming cameras out at that place that produce amazing results. "Point and shoots" and even jail cell phones can almost match results that were merely possible with heavy, expensive pro cameras just a few years agone.

They always say that the best camera is the one you have in your mitt, and so permit's talk about how to take good pictures at a concert with whatever camera you have in your manus!

Disclaimer

I am not a professional concert lensman. The photos I'1000 sharing here aren't going to win any awards; they're just practiced memories of some of my favorite experiences.

The advice I'one thousand giving is based on personal experience as a casual photographer at various concerts and performances around Southern California. I do have professional feel photographing theater, and, of course, my full-time job equally a wedding ceremony photographer, then this article volition cover my basic tips on how to get decent photos in extremely difficult weather condition. Enjoy!

Proficient Compact Cameras For Concerts

I cannot promise whether or not yous'll be allowed into this or that concert, with this or that photographic camera considering each venue/performer is unlike, and I certainly oasis't tried all of these.

But put, the smaller, the ameliorate. Bonus points if the camera is a color other than blackness. I've borrowed my sister's purple Nikon betoken-and-shoot photographic camera once or twice and have never had security guards give it a second glance!

sony rx100iii-2

For example, yous might get a Sony RX100 series photographic camera into a concert but I doubt you'd get a full-frame RX-one in. And although mirrorless folks brag virtually how small and compact their cameras are, I likewise highly doubt if yous'd get a Fuji Ten-T1 into whatever concert. You might non even get in with an X100T! They just wait too "professional" in a hipster/lxxx's sort of way. Try a Fuji XQ2 maybe?

Or if y'all'd like a more than rugged photographic camera, for the mosh pit at a metal (or Ska?) concert, I'm a big fan of the "indestructible" types of cameras, such as the Fuji XP80. And those come in flashy colors!

fuji xp80-2

I think you get the thought. Basically, you want a photographic camera that appears incapable of professional results and fits in your pocket. (Even an Olympus E-M1 nevertheless looks like a miniature pro camera.)

When in doubt, the latest jail cell phones are pretty darn good too.  Mayhap even better than most of the compact "point-and-shoot" cameras out there. iPhones accept delivered amazing results since the 5, and numerous others are now offering all kinds of things like optical stabilization, or transmission control if you download a special app sometimes. Only be certain to charge upward, and dim your screen as much as possible.

Four Tips For Better Photos And A Better Experience For Everyone

The post-obit tips are going to assist y'all go better photos while nevertheless enjoying the concert and non ruining anyone else'due south experience.

no flash photography Photo past Marz Waggener

1.) NO Wink!

Dominion #1, never utilise flash. Your weak piffling flash won't be a part of your photos anyway unless you lot're right up front. Pretty much all pop-upward flashes don't illuminate more a few anxiety away from the photographic camera. Even and so, the photos won't look that proficient. (So if yous ARE in the front end row, your flash pictures will probably still stink, AND y'all'll exist blinding the performers. C'mon!)

The lighting provided by the venue will not be enough some of the time, but in that location will still be plenty of opportunities when it is bright enough. The roadies know what they're doing, and then only sit down back and wait for information technology to come up together.

2.) Embrace Grain, Crank Your ISO Upwards!

If you're not the paid professional, and you're non a money-grubbing paparazzi, you don't need to worry about whether or not your images can be printed poster-sized. Chances are, they'll probably only ever be seen on Facebook or in a slideshow on someone's telephone, or peradventure, simply maybe, if you get that one epic shot, you might make an 8×10 merely for fun.

concert-photography-3

Either way, a trivial bit more than grain in your photos is much, much better than having them be horribly blurry or horribly out of focus.

3.) Being Ready And Getting Lucky Is Different Than Shooting 1,000 Photos

Don't exist 1 of those annoying people who holds up their big, vivid photographic camera/phone LCD the entire concert. You're going to ruin the evidence for the people backside you, and wind up with 99.99% photos that get thrown abroad anyways.

Check your photographic camera settings, expect around to see what the lighting setup is, and then chill out and enjoy the concert!  Yous paid practiced money to hear good music, Non to spend the whole time obsessing over whether or non your pictures are coming out.

What I exercise is I snap a few examination shots, and and so I plough off my camera's LCD screen and hold the camera downwardly at eye or shoulder level. If you see the lighting and the moment coming together, rattle off a few shots. Chances are, that will be the one photo that is the memory you want.

jack-black-2Jack Black / Tenacious D – Nikon P&S camera

Of course if you're non at the very front end of a concert, and you lot tin't zoom in much without catastrophic camera shake, then sometimes the best thing to exercise is to just "call it adept" with a couple broad-angle photos that at least utilise the lighting to give a adept sense of the feel.

reel big fish concert 1Reel Large Fish, Samsung Galaxy phone

4.) In Postal service-Production, Cover Moody Lighting

Don't await your images to be perfectly exposed with great highlight and shadow detail.  A concert isn't meant to be experienced that way in the first identify, why would you lot call up it'south a good idea to go earthworks into your shadow detail anyways?

Over the years as a theater photographer, I've realized that stage performances are an awesome manner to practice your skills at easygoing and/or negative space imagery.

tenacious-d-concert-1 concert-photography-6

6.) No Manual Mode? Look For Exposure Bounty

Another tip about low-cardinal shooting is this: If you're working with a camera or jail cell phone that doesn't accept manual exposure, it may nevertheless have exposure compensation. Because a stage is often extremely dark while performers are brightly lit, I almost always find that I become the all-time results by merely cranking my photographic camera/phone to -2 EV or so.

Bonus Tip 1:  Don't bother shooting video; nobody wants to hear the horrible audio or watch the shaky hand-belongings.

Plus, (fifty-fifty though you lot can take all the pictures you desire) sometimes security guards will jump all over you lot if they see you lot capturing video footage. That's always a buzz impale. Once again, you're paying good money to experience a concert, not to capture some sound that can't perchance do the functioning justice.

I recall that many times in this twenty-four hour period and age, nosotros techno-folks get obsessed with documenting everything we run into that nosotros go through life not actually taking the time to soak it in and enjoy it. That's no manner to alive!

Bonus Tip 2: Festivals and Fairs are sometimes more lenient with big cameras

If y'all're really thinking of getting into concert photography, or if you'd but like to shoot more phase performances of any kind, then festivals and similar events are a great fashion to get admission to these environments, with your big fat lxx-200 in tow.

I'm not talking about Coachella, of course, but the smaller fairs and festivals are usually no problem.

Last but not to the lowest degree, again if you'd just like to exercise low-light photography, with whichever camera y'all can, pocket-sized local shows are a peachy way to get comfortable in such environments. Be sure to offer to share a few images with the artists for their own promotion, every bit long as you don't look them to crush out big $$$ to license your images. You're but practicing, and usually free circulation/exposure are much more benign than a couple bucks in your pocket.

gaelic-storm-1 gaelic-storm-4 gaelic-storm-5Gaelic Storm (AKA, the ring from the steerage scene in Titanic)

While music festivals happen pretty much everywhere, if you're lucky enough to alive in some places such every bit Hollywood, you might be able to meet other types of celebrities  a scarlet carpeting or similar environment.

red carpet spectator Pirates Of The Caribbean Globe Premiere, Twilight Globe Premiere.
Ane I am proud of, the other not so much…

Happy clicking out there! Remember to exist smart, don't brand a scene, if you focus on having a proficient time and so a few bang-up photos are sure happen…
=Matt=