My friend and his brother are in a band, and they played a small local show this past weekend. My friend asked me to take pictures of the show for him, so I did. I thought some of them came out alright, but they weren't that good. He was told they'd get to play the next time they had a show, and he asked if I could take pictures again. Next time I want the pictures to come out better, so I'm looking for a little advice. What looks good, and what needs improvement? Have at it...
With live stuff it's mostly about framing. I've done the photography for a good few events, and the most important things are probably framing (Don't cut off their heads, ie. your first photo) and getting the lighting perfect. Also, never have the flash on when you're photographing anyone on stage, it can make them lose their concentration, which is bad for obvious reasons. EDIT: An example of good framing, in my opinion; The very last photo would have been perfect had you been able to see the bottom of the guitar. Obviously you can't move the stump that's covering it, but you can move yourself.
1 Get more closeups. 2. Go for cool stuff, like get a tripod and try to get some longer exposure times so they're all moving around and everything else is stationary. 3. Have them get better lighting with multiple colors. 4. Do they have a myspace where I can hear them?
Generally, gig and nightclub photographers use cameras with lengthy exposure times. This is only going to work if they are taking pictures in the dark with some pretty bright lights. If your stuck with the day time, then your unfortunate in that most of your photographs are going to look pretty boring. Experiment with distance, we didn't really get to see the crowd in these photos, nor did we get to see some close ups of the band. I suppose the golden rule is variation is key, but i'd do some research into exposure times, although personally i don't know how it's done.
I'll try to get a better variety next time... I wish they played later because the lighting and the atmosphere was a lot better. -I wasn't sure about getting TOO close to the stage, and my camera has a bad zoom. I'll try some stuff out next time. -Unfortunately the event was day time, so the shot would've been WAY too washed out. If they had played later I would've tried it. -I can't pick the places lighting, plus it was during the day. Once it got dark there was a yellowish spotlight they turned on. I really wished they would've played later because the lights looked perfect for the atmosphere. -They don't have any song recorded yet, I'll send you the MySpace when they have some stuff. Alright, most of my picture were kinda rushed. Next time I'll be more careful with my framing. I'm glad I actually got some good responses this time.