So last week I was asking for advice since I was going to be shooting my first concert. Well, now that I'm done with the basic PP (mostly importing into LR with achgeo's E-5 preset then tweaking sharping down and NR up, then cropping and sometimes adjusting WB), I selected some of the 157 pictures I'm left with to display here. I haven't picked any I'd like to develop as B&W yet.
For the gear-curious, I set off with my E-5 with a rented 35-100/2 on it, and my E-520 with the 12-60 on it. I even took a picture of them the day before:
I had never seen the 35-100 before, and pictures don't do justice to its size, you need to handle it to have a good idea. Despite its weight, with the tripod mount attached to my black rapid, it's balanced, and with my e-520 on my other shoulder, I didn't end up hurting from the shoulders at all even after carrying them for 3+ hours. Shooting with that takes some getting used to though, to find how to properly hold it so as not to move too much or accidentally turn the focus/length rings.
What I learnt from that concert is that I need to get more confident and move around a bit more (I stayed on the same side all evening as you can guess from the angles) and not hesitate to shoot even more. There were a couple other photographers, one of which I chatted with a bit before and after the concert (he was there originally for the opening act who had invited him) who had more experience at it (and whose job is photo/video) than me. He was a bit surprised that I'm a teacher, in fact. Other than that, the advice I was given here was put to good use (I think). Except the bit about not shooting the public, because the band went and played in the middle of the audience at some point
In the end, I'm quite pleased with the results I got. The lens was probably front focusing slightly (you can see that the microphone ends up sharp and faces soft for example), but I didn't take the time (and didn't exactly have all I needed for it) to calibrate it before.
So in the end, it was fun, and I enjoyed both shooting and the concert. I wonder if I can do that again in the near future...
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/airelle-info/
For the gear-curious, I set off with my E-5 with a rented 35-100/2 on it, and my E-520 with the 12-60 on it. I even took a picture of them the day before:
I had never seen the 35-100 before, and pictures don't do justice to its size, you need to handle it to have a good idea. Despite its weight, with the tripod mount attached to my black rapid, it's balanced, and with my e-520 on my other shoulder, I didn't end up hurting from the shoulders at all even after carrying them for 3+ hours. Shooting with that takes some getting used to though, to find how to properly hold it so as not to move too much or accidentally turn the focus/length rings.
What I learnt from that concert is that I need to get more confident and move around a bit more (I stayed on the same side all evening as you can guess from the angles) and not hesitate to shoot even more. There were a couple other photographers, one of which I chatted with a bit before and after the concert (he was there originally for the opening act who had invited him) who had more experience at it (and whose job is photo/video) than me. He was a bit surprised that I'm a teacher, in fact. Other than that, the advice I was given here was put to good use (I think). Except the bit about not shooting the public, because the band went and played in the middle of the audience at some point
In the end, I'm quite pleased with the results I got. The lens was probably front focusing slightly (you can see that the microphone ends up sharp and faces soft for example), but I didn't take the time (and didn't exactly have all I needed for it) to calibrate it before.
So in the end, it was fun, and I enjoyed both shooting and the concert. I wonder if I can do that again in the near future...
--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/airelle-info/
