Festival and Concert Photography Tips
Learn How to Take Great Festival Photos and Concert Photos
Festival photography and concert photography are very similar to other forms of event photography, but there are some important differences to take note of, especially when you have to adjust to the lighting of outdoor and indoor venues. Shooting festivals and concerts during night requires knowing how to combine the various mechanical elements of your camera, not to mention loads of experience.
Out of the gate, I will let you know right now that flash is not an option here, which makes shooting at night all the more challenging. Depending on the situation, you might be able to get away with using flash at a festival, but most definitely not at a concert. At most concerts, you will need credentials to gain access to the pit. You're usually good to go when it comes to festivals, but it's still smart to check with the security and make sure that you're actually allowed to take photographs.
Adjusting to Lighting When Conducting Festival Photography and Concert Photography
A good bet is to go with the lowest ISO possible without sacrificing too much quality. A lower ISO, such as 200, will ultimately produce high-quality photographs if the lighting is right, but if your venue is too dark then you will have to raise it.
If you find that you're not able to get up close and personal with the performance, then you'll have to switch to a longer lens to better fill your frame. We're not trying to create the illusion of movement here, so motion blurs are, for the most part, not ideal. You can neutralize motion blurs by freezing the action with a faster shutter speed, but then you will have to raise your ISO and/or open up your aperture in order to compensate for the sacrificed light.
When taking festival photos, it's fine to take shots of people enjoying the event, which makes a wide-angle lens come in handy for those close captures. Whether you are using a wide-angle or a longer lens, always make sure that your Depth of Field is adjusted to ensure that the main portion of the frame is in focus. There's no point in taking concert photos of a band and keeping the foreground (the crowd) in focus - it will just look distracting.Using a Full Frame SLR Camera When Taking Festival Photos
As a festival photographer, choosing between a full frame sensor and a small frame sensor is pretty much subjective for the most part. However, I wouldn't want to pretend that full frame sensors don't come in handy when you are dealing with poor lighting. Since we usually have to use a lower ISO to get high-quality results when taking festival photos and concert photos, we risk producing low-quality shots if the lighting is too poor.
The solution is a full frame sensor. Why? Because when you use a high ISO with a full frame sensor, the final image is much cleaner. It's quite the luxury being able to conduct festival photography with a high ISO - it makes the challenge of dealing with poor lighting far more tolerable.
Of course, full frame sensors cost a lot more than small frame sensors, which is why it's always subjective. If you would rather save some extra money and just deal with hassle of being extremely particular about your ISO setting, then more power to you.
Festival photography and concert photography are challenging arts. You will have to spend a lot of time learning from your mistakes, chucking low-quality photos and gaining knowledge about all kinds of different venues. Good luck!
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