Amateur Concert Photography Help

if it's a local band just take your camera
they aren't going to care
or
they're vain because they like being on stage and want pictures of themselves

every venue is different, take the iso as high as you need to eliminate camera shake while keeping the aperture as open as possible.

there really isn't anything else to it

>>3092804
Tonight is a smallish act touring the US. ~500 person capacity, sold out.

Any solid ways to get the camera+lens past the doors? Pockets don't seem big enough and a back would raise suspicion.

>>3092814
leave it at home because you don't have the skill, or maybe the band has a contract of some sort

but if you still feel like being an autist, stuff your shirt with a pillow or something so you look fat and put your camera there. get a GR ?

The best way to get into concerts with a camera is to either join a local music webzine, blog, fanzine or any media outlet that revoles around music. If that does not exist in your area, start one yourself. Then go to concerts of small and local bands, contact organisers and venue promoters, and tell them what you do, who you are, and always try to promote the gig on your website before, so you can send some conformation with the photo pass request. Dont try sneaking stuff into a venue. If you get shaken down, they wont let you in or will force you to leave your camera with them, both bad options. If the guards are instructed to take care of unwanted photographers, you wont have a nice time, and just get remembered as a jackass.
The most basic setup you want to have is a fast 35mm or 50mm lense. I mostly start with iso 1600 or 3200 and go up from there, and try to stick around the 1/100-200 shutter speed (aperature as wide as possible.) Feel free to use burst mode, and play around with the settings. If the band is really in a dark ambient then of course increase the iso and lower the shutter speed. Just dont go below 1/60 because photos tend to get realy blurry. If your photos are all shit or dark, go with the black and white option in post processing. Lightroom is your friend while doing concerts. If you get into the foto pit, you will most likely get instructions like "first 2-3 songs and no flash" listen to the instructions, and be kind to the guards, they are mostly nice people and doing their job just as you are. Dont argue with them at any point.
Also, if youre serious about your work, try finding recent youtube videos of the bands you are going to shoot. They often do the same things at the same points in their sets, so its good to remember when the fun stuff is happening.

Take pics at metal and hardcore shows. Maybe it's just my music scene but all the other genres are boring as fuck to shoot and they aren't into their own music.

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Just take a disposable and say "fuck it"

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bring it to small shows, get some pics to have them

find a local paper or a shmuck online publication that accepts anybody. they probably won't pay you but don't expect much money here

work your way up. do this as much or as little as you want. there are people who shoot shows just to get free tickets and because it's fun

then there are people like me who do it because we are good at it and can make a career out of it

just finished my first tour and I'm working on my second photo book and inquiring with a music festival about making a book for them. gonna do more tour offers when I'm done with college

>>3092918
>they aren't into their own music
lel

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Complimentary question, because I don't want to make a new music thread.

The venues I shoot don't care if I sell prints and canvases from the pics.
Should I ask the bands too? How to go about it so that they allow me to but won't jew me for $$ from the sales?

>>3095348
Why sell prints of bands? Better start making bootleg merch

>>3095397
Why not sell music prints? I don't get it.

at first, don't even ask if you can bring your camera. just pay your admission and bring it. most concerts that have a no dslr policy will say so somewhere on the ticket or something.

make sure you camp your spot out at the front and don't walk away at the wrong time to go get a drink or whatever. shows with barriers infront will have a vetted process for who is allowed to be in front. if you're behind the barrier your shots will probably suck anyway.

shoot with settings that're good for low light but don't open your aperture too much or it'll be crazy blurry. pump up your ISO before you sacrifice shutter speed. 1/60 probably isn't going to cut it unless you have crazy IS. I like using my 50mm lens (35mm equivalent on crop body)

you can try selling prints but idk how successful that'll be. if you have success post back here and let me know

>>3095607
I just started selling prints of local bands. I picked 8 of my best pics and all different bands. I gave a guitarist a free print and asked him to take a pic of it on his wall or him holding it and post it with my website on his Facebook to help promote. I also made a post and tagged him and his band and I got a few purchases.
It's hard to get the sales. You really need to work for them and make sure it's band that people actually care about.

>>3095698
you cannot sell prints sufficiently unless it's of a band that's willing to promote it and you usually don't mean jack shit. it's hard to simultaneously be an important photographer to a band and the band be a decent size. gotta think that there's 30 dates on a tour and 5 photographers at each show

or you just have a name for yourself and a bunch of supporters. one day!

>>3095348
if the band is not well know they will not sell very well

if the band is well known, you better be a good ass photographer

it's just a weird circumstance

there's a photographer I follow who only charges band per diem when he tours and he makes all his money off print sales because he exchanges $$ for full rights. it works out well for him but not if you're a lil boy

>>3095405
who's gonna buy it, your mom and three friends? the band might promo it and you can sell two more prints!

oh one more thought because I'm talking to myself cuz I don't have anyone to talk to about this shit

if you're going to sell a photo or use it in anything that's being sold, remember ONE thing

YOU own the photo, unless you signed a contract.

there is absolutely no other side to it. unless like, your boss/editor signed a photo with specific wording stating that THE PHOTOGRAPHER shooting isn't allowed to sell the images. if your editor signs a paper that says they won't print, you're off the hook

use this to your advantage if you care. I've shot hundreds of shows and a dozen festivals and I've probably only signed like..... three rights grab contracts

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here's chance the rapstar

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50mm vs 35mm nikon prime for concerts(aps-c)?

35 seems better overall but might be too wide for events.

>>3096286
why not both? you should be alternating imo. I typically use three lenses and alternate each song for the three song rule.

>>3096599
i'll end up with both eventually, but only enough $$$ for one atm. moving up from kit

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>>3092759
Just carry your camera jn and dont blink when they find it bro.

Guards at small to midsized venues dont care especislly if its a bar or free show.

Just dont act like a jack ass and be courteous to other people and maybe if the photos are good you can get in touch with the band or tag them on IG with a few to get them to repost.

Ive recently made a push toward event photography myself.

>>3095012
carlo?

Creating relationships is pretty important too.
Become friends with the bands. Sometimes they'll approach you after a sow saying something like "Hey I saw you taking pics. Can you send them to us?". Other times you'll have to go up to them.
I've gotten pretty buddy buddy with a couple bands that I think are really good and I'm really hoping they "make" it.

>>3096615
oh I thought you had both already

honestly probably 35mm imo
>>3096646
hmm who knows
>>3096655
if you wanna "make" "it" you essentially have to do this over and over again to the point where you feel annoying and then eventually someone will want you on tour

>>3096258
>>3096260
>>3096262
I've sold a few because I'm only picking bands/artists that are well known in my city and surrounding areas.
I haven't had any problems with it yet and everyone has been cool and helped me promote it because I did a lot of free shooting for bands when I first started out.
If a band pays me to shoot them I don't put any of those pics up for sale.
I even had a drummers mom contact me and asked if I could put up a few of her son on my site for her to purchase lol

>>3096763
well that's good. it's good for a short term though.

what happens if you run out of bands in the area to do this for or those bands don't grow anymore popular?

not saying that's what's gonna happen, more power to you of course. it's just with music related photography I've realized things run out a lot. if a band has a touring photographer and their next album flops and they aren't selling tickets, what if they don't get hired again?

music photography is very, very, very fragile. just tread carefully with your 1, 3, and 5 year plans.

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currently in the process of getting into music photography. Shot a battle of the bands kinda thing last week (The winner gets a set at bloodstock), which gave me images of 4 pretty decent bands. after i'd edited them i sent each band the photos (watermarked) and said feel free to use them on social media (yay exposure). The guitarist from one band then added me on FB and asked if i'd cover future gigs and for how much $$? which was nice. plan on shooting the final of that competition which is next sunday. from what i've learned, just go to smallish venues and ask staff/the bands themselves if they dont mind. never had anybody say no so far.
I've also started an online publication about my local music scene as a way to get some credit and photo passes to the bigger shows once i've got some experience and an online presence/audience

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>>3096832
ask for 50 bucks, if they say yes then cool. if they dance around it, lower it to like 35

you know what's next? you cover every band at the finals and you tell that band you'll shoot for them at the festival "FOR FREE" if they get you a photo pass

then you know what you do with that photo pass? I'm not gonna tell you

Does anyone do any writing as well. I started out by just doing photo but now I do reviews and interviews as well

>>3097295
music journalism bores me

it's just an attempt to reinvent normal feelings with new words over and over and over again.

it's being stuck between a uselessly hurtful review and a painfully nice one

with that said do it if it means getting you a +1 and taking a date out or making extra bucks

but for the love of god distance yourself from the idea of ever doing it as a means of art or finance