This past weekend, I found myself at the Treasure Island Music Festival. Attendance was a scant 15,000 or so. This may sound like a lot of people but considering that festivals like Coachella regularly see more than ten times that many, Treasure Island feels downright intimate. Though I would have liked to have donned a press pass, this time, I was there as just a spectator with my trusty point and shoot.
Given that most of you out there will not always be lucky enough to get granted press access, I thought I’d give a brief tutorial on how to shoot decent shots in one of the toughest dynamic environments out there. From a photographic standpoint, shooting a stage is an absolute nightmare. The lighting is constantly changing, it’s usually way too dark and your subjects are constantly on the move. Here are a few tips that will make shooting an event, concert, or festival much easier.
Shoot in manual if you can
Program, Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority are all a crap shoot because of how frequently the lighting changes. Regardless of your metering mode, your subjects will constantly be jumping in and out of light of varying intensity and color. I’ve gotten into the habit to leaving my camera on manual and getting a range of settings prior to the show.
Shoot before the show
In order to get the right set of manual settings, shoot the sound check and/or the equipment check just prior to the show. They’ll usually run through the lighting sequence and you’ll be able to lock in a range for proper exposure on the roadies and techs.
When in doubt, shoot under
Underexpose by about a stop or two. I usually go with two so I can get a faster shutter speed. This ensures that I’ll get sharper shots. With the bass pumping, other peoples’ elbows and your own hip gyrations and head bobs, camera shake will be your worst enemy. Limit this by giving yourself an extra 2 stops on your shutter speed (at least 1/120 of a second) and you’ll be shocked at how many more of your shots end up usable.
Single versus continuous focus
This is a tough one. Arguments can be made for both camps. Here is how I decide. If I am off to the side of the stage, my plane of focus will change quite a bit. I’m usually following a specific subject (lead singer, guitarist, etc…) so, in this instance, continuous focus is smarter. This means that I’ll probably miss more shots as the details in the background will sometimes confuse the focusing system in my camera.
If I’m closer to the center of the stage, I will go single focus because my plane of focus will not change nearly as often. If my subject is not particularly mobile, I will go as far as to switch to manual focus to take the guess work out of it all together.
Don’t wait for the perfect shot
I am not normally an advocate of spray and pray but this type of environment calls for drastic measures. If your camera has a burst mode, use it. Shoot. Shoot like crazy. Memory is cheap. Missing a great shot it not. This doesn’t mean you have to toss all of your photographic sensibilities out the window and just blindly hold down your shutter release. The point is to not worry about perfect. Just shoot away. I promise you’ll get shots you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.