The Photography Thread

[EvilBoris]

I took this one one the way home from work today

[Magnakai]

Maybe I'll just stick with what I've got then as I think I will have access to the pit at the front of the stage. My zoom is great as is the 50mm. I'll see what they say with regards with where I can go in relation to the stage.

Did you use flash at all at womad, or should you not at festys either? I don't use a flash at indoor gigs (although now I have a sexy SB600, I might start using it )

I've never shot a festival (with a pass, that is), but at gigs, you'll often be asked not to use flash. If possible, I wouldn't go without 2.8 at the highest. Remember that it'll be VERY dark indoors. Ideally you'd have some fast primes, like an 85 1.2 or similar. You won't have room to run around, though, so there's a degree of compromise there.

[MartyG]

Might get one of these - sounds pretty good from what I've been reading online - also, I don't have a huge amount of cash at my disposal so that one is £99.99

I've just sold one of them, well the previous version anyway ( got it with the D70 I bought a while back ) - the Nikon 70-300G lens I also have gave me better shots and is about the same price. They both need decent lighting though to get the most out of them, so probably not the best lens for gig stuff.

[Alastair]

Ish, that bridge location is great. Spag, that's a cool shot, like the foreground too, really adds interest. EvilBoris, liking the train shot too, nice muted tones.

Dan, well done you. I'm jealous too although I'm no longer naive to the amount of work it is. Who are you shooting for? Organisers or a publication? Be prepared to be given a list of acts to shoot and to walk around A LOT. There are a lot of acts on that bill so have a blast.

I'll second what the others have said. If it's night time and it's anything but floodlights you'll def be needing a fast lens. My f/2.8 wasn't really fast enough for no flash in a venue with poor lights and I was using the f/1.8 a lot or I had to use the flash. If you do have press/photo/pit access then make sure to ask the act first or the stage manager if flash is OK or not. In the pit you may not be able to move around too much so the 50mm f/1.8 may prove a bit limiting. What's your high ISO performance like? You will be up at 1600.

Will you be shooting RAW or jpeg? Have you got enough storage? Is it one day or two? Do you have a way or getting the shots off the card whilst you are there or will all your 'eggs' be in one basket?

And some more shots from me:

[funkydan]

Thanks for the advice guys, but it would cost me around £500-£600 for a 2.8 lens and I really can't afford that. This is a proper festival with outdoor and indoor stages that will be well lit, so I'm thinking I'll use my zoom during the day and 50mm at night (or the zoom with flash - if others are using flash, if not, I can always just point it away from the artist). I'm not going to worry about it too much as my previous live music shots were good enough to get me chosen for this gig, and I'm confident that I can produce some good results. I may have a look at the Nikon 70-300 lens though

Thanks guys

[spagmasterswift]

RUN!!!!! Its the Giant Skater!!1

[vanpeebles]

That girls neck is like ET!

[funkydan]

Dan, well done you. I'm jealous too although I'm no longer naive to the amount of work it is. Who are you shooting for? Organisers or a publication? Be prepared to be given a list of acts to shoot and to walk around A LOT. There are a lot of acts on that bill so have a blast.

I'll second what the others have said. If it's night time and it's anything but floodlights you'll def be needing a fast lens. My f/2.8 wasn't really fast enough for no flash in a venue with poor lights and I was using the f/1.8 a lot or I had to use the flash. If you do have press/photo/pit access then make sure to ask the act first or the stage manager if flash is OK or not. In the pit you may not be able to move around too much so the 50mm f/1.8 may prove a bit limiting. What's your high ISO performance like? You will be up at 1600.

Will you be shooting RAW or jpeg? Have you got enough storage? Is it one day or two? Do you have a way or getting the shots off the card whilst you are there or will all your 'eggs' be in one basket?

Woah - like that second shot there Al, v.cool!

I'll try answer your questions:

I'll be shooting for the organisers as an official photographer. I think as I said above that I'll use my zoom (Nikkor 18-135mm 3.5-5.6) during the day and my Nikon 50mm f1.8 in the night time/inside. I probably will have access to the pit but I don't know for sure yet - will hopefully know more later today. And I will ask the stage manager re: flash. Haven't really tried my cam on 1600 ISO so I'm not too sure how good it will be - I usually shoot gigs at 800-1000. It's a 3 day event and I'll be shooting in jpeg, to a 8gb card that holds over 1300 shots. I also have another 2gb and 1gb. Might get a couple of 4gb cards as well, so my eggs aren't all in one basket as you say!

[Alastair]

That girls neck is like ET!

PS - New Canon announced

PPS - Not a 5D replacement but instead a boring bottom of the range

[fuse]

Congrats Dan!!

Looking forwards to seeing what you can pull off here - everyone else seems to have already come up trumps with top advice, so not sure what else I can offer other than a big pat on the back

[Magnakai]

That new Canon is kinda confusing. It's basically the 400D with Live View, DIGIC III and SD card support. But it's more expensive than the 450D...

[funkydan]

Congrats Dan!!

Looking forwards to seeing what you can pull off here - everyone else seems to have already come up trumps with top advice, so not sure what else I can offer other than a big pat on the back

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what I can do with this great opportunity. Thanks for everyone's help, advice and kind words of encouragement I just wish I could afford a nice 2.8 lens!

[fuse]

Not posted any here in a while so here's a couple from my (crappy) Spain trip last weekend.






Should have some more to share soon, since I went to the Banksy tunnel last week, and I'm going to 5 gigs before the month is out. Also awaiting the release of the Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM eagerly.

[funkydan]

I may be able to borrow a 70-200 f2.8 lens from a very good friend as it happens! Will let you know how this pans out...

[Ish]

Like the first one fuse.

Funkydan - that would be awesome!