Seeing the photographer work made me think that I would love to do the same and the very next day I went out and bought a starter camera kit. A Canon 1000D with a kit lens. Not knowing anything about photography or that a kit lens is generally terrible in low light conditions I was ready to go.

In my rush to go out and buy equipment, I had no idea what to do next, and as there is no school for concert photography I just had to blag my way along. I don’t think I have done too bad either, In a short space of time, I went from shooting unknown bands in unlit pubs to photographing stadium tours of artists such as One Direction, Coldplay, Noel Gallagher, The Vamps, and so many more.

This is how I started as a music photographer and hopefully, it can help you too.

Getting Started & What You Really Need

As I said above I had no idea what equipment I needed and bought a DSLR that was affordable to me. The kit I purchased was the Canon 1000D which came with the EFS 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens.

After my first gig, I knew that this lens wasn’t going to cut it because the aperture level of f/3.5-5.6 was struggling to let in enough light in the conditions available. Your first shows are going to be in places with very little light and you are going to need to shoot at the highest ISO levels that your camera allows without ruining image quality.

For me, I have always used Canon cameras, not because I think they are the best, but that’s what I am used to so if you’re thinking why can’t I use another camera then you can. My suggestion would be to get the camera you can afford, make sure it’s a DSLR and get a good low light lens to go with it.

For Canon cameras, a good low light lens which I love is the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens. This lens is affordable, works amazingly in low light, and can create some beautiful bokeh shots which is a great effect to play around with.

In my experience, a low light lens is a must-have item as a music photographer. As your career progresses you can then look at the L series lenses from Canon which produce sharper images and come down to lower apertures.

It’s worth noting that many venues will have a no flash policy so this is why I stress that you need a low light lens. If you don’t have one the kit lens is going to struggle to capture well exposed and sharp images.

When you have your equipment,  you now have to find music venues in your area. My tip would be to add them all on social media and direct mail them asking for a photo pass for upcoming shows.

When starting out most venues will require you to pay an entry fee just like everyone else so keep that in mind when budgeting your money. As you shoot more shows and you become more well known you won’t be required to pay entry and you will often be given access to all area passes which is really cool as you get to see behind the scenes shots and get to meet many of the artists.

Music Photography Tips

Depending on the size of the band or the show, they will all have different rules on what you can and cannot do as a photographer, but this will be run through by security or the events manager at the time of the concert. Medium to large shows will often have a 3 song rule where you are allowed in the pit for three songs to take your photos before security will come and collect you, usually moving you off to the side of the stage.

Therefore you will want to make sure you take as many photos in your allowed timeframe and should have backup storage for your photos as well as backup power packs. I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve filled a memory card or my power was cutting out on my camera so having spares is going to do you well.

When it comes to camera settings in a concert environment all lighting situations are going to be different but as a general rule of thumb, you may want to shoot between ISO 800 and 1600 as that will allow you a quicker shutter speed which will capture sharper images. I would personally shoot in RAW mode too as it allows for more flexibility when editing your images and if you do mess up your exposure levels you can get them inline a little better.

For those of you who are new to photography, RAW is a file format that captures all the data recorded by your lens while not compressing this data. This allows you to take better quality photos and overexposing or underexposing photos because of quick lighting changes can be overcome.

Building Your Brand

In the beginning, you are going to be spending money on equipment, getting to shows, and getting nothing back financially at this point. I had spent upwards of £2000 before making any money from photography, and while I would photograph concerts for free because it is a passion of mine, it’s always nice to pay the bills.

To start making money from Photography you are going to need to build a brand for yourself. I started many years ago and I didn’t have a website, but these days I really think you are shooting yourself in the foot if you don’t have one.

Websites can be expensive so if you don’t have a budget for one then use a free website builder such as Wix. You can get some nice themes on there to make your website look professional and really show off your images. In the future, you can get a website professionally made when you are making more money from your photos.

As well as websites you should sign up for Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and Flickr which got me noticed by Getty images, which I would later sign up as a contributor for and would allow my images to be used in newspapers all around the world.

Being on social media as a photographer is going to get you noticed and will generate interest in your services. I’ve had many people reach out asking me if I wanted to photograph their band, wedding, or kids party. Some of the requests you may get are strange but you never know who’s out there looking at your photos.

One of my photos was shared and liked by George Clooney’s ex-girlfriend and former WWE star Stacey Keibler, how cool is that?!

If your time is stretched and you can’t run multiple social media accounts I would pick two and use them. For me, Flickr and Instagram have been brilliant at generating interests in my services. From Flickr, I was contacted by a rep from Getty images where I would start to make money from my photos, and because of the access they have, I was able to photograph some of the biggest bands and artists on the planet.

With a company such as Getty, I have been paid upfront for a show and I have also been paid on commission when my images sell. I prefer the later as world events can make a band or artist be all over the news and a lot of the time your images get picked up meaning you can make money from your photos for many years to come.

Networking

When I started photographing concerts I would look at the other photographers as competition, maybe that’s my personality of being competitive but I now know this was the wrong way to look at the situation. In my experience photographers are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

If you work enough concerts you will begin to see the same faces over and over again, so don’t make the mistake I did initially and be cold to these people as you will more than likely get along with them and it opens up the opportunity to photograph more shows. There have been times when I’ve not had any shows booked in only for another photographer to call me and ask if I could shoot a show with them and vice versa.

Some of the photographers you will meet have been doing this a lot longer than you. Their advice and career experiences can help you learn more than a book or video tutorial ever could.

Don’t Panic When Things Go Wrong

Things will go wrong when taking photos, so you just have to go along with it, and don’t let the mistakes play on your mind for too long as you will miss more opportunities.

A mistake which sticks in my mind is when I was photographing WWE’s Chris Jericho and his band Fozzy and he came right up to me and reached out to my camera and pointed at it, the shot was brilliant and just as I was going to take it my memory card was full. Chris Jericho stood there for a few seconds giving me an exclusive shot and I had to pretend that I was taking it. It still haunts me to this day.

Be prepared for late nights and the need to work a second job.

As with nearly every job in photography, the photos being taken were needed two days ago. With music photography, you will often need to edit the photos and send them off to the company you are shooting for in the same evening.

Quite often I will photograph a show, edit the images till late in the evening and have to go to my day job the very next day leaving me with hardly any sleep.

If you are thinking of getting into music photography you should know that the deadlines are horrendous and quite often you will need a second job or will need to provide additional photography services to make enough money to get by. I’ve been fortunate enough that my images have sold and when an artist is trending it can make you a nice profit but there will be times where your photos don’t sell or they don’t make enough sales to cover all of your bills.

I’m lucky enough to have a job that allows me to stay in the world of photography and videography which is also flexible enough to let me travel up and down the country to photograph some amazing artists.

Author Bio

When not photographing concerts James Mathews is the head of content at BounceColor.com a website that allows photographers and videographers to edit their content quickly through the use of digital presets.

*Content shared with permission

Well, turns out, I’m not the only one who feels this way. Steven Tyler, lead singer of the American rock band Aerosmith, also feels this way. Strongly, I might add. Recently, Steven got fed up with a fan while on stage at a concert in Springfield, MA, and told him to just “F@#$ing watch the show, man.”

[Related Reading: Taking Pictures At Concerts Without A Professional Camera]

The Smartphones at Concerts Epidemic

Steven posted a video of the incident in Springfield on his Facebook page. In the video, the band has completely stopped playing while Steven calls out the fan for watching the show through his smartphone. He even asks if the fan plans on putting the video on his website, following with, “You don’t know? Then turn it off.” Honestly, I’m surprised he was able to keep his cool. But, then again Steven seems like a cool guy. A cool guy who’s dealt with rowdy fans for a majority of his career.

The comments left by fans on the video definitely vary. One fan went as far as to say, “I always take a few minutes of the show for memories, I paid for the ticket, it’s my decision, sorry Steven.” But there were still plenty of people who totally agreed where Steven was coming from. Heck, I agree, wholeheartedly!

I Stand With Aerosmith

I just can’t wrap my head around people who pay for a ticket to a concert (and in Aerosmith’s case, probably not a cheap one) and spend the entire show with their arm up, disrupting blood circulation, and recording video of the concert. What are you going to do, go back and watch it later? Are you really? Do you think you’re going to perfectly capture the magic of that ripping guitar solo with that tiny little mic at the bottom of your phone? Have you seen the type of mics they use to professionally record those ripping solos in an actual studio? It’s not the same experience, man!

Sorry, that was a bit of a rant. But listen, if you want to watch the concert on a screen, then do us all a favor and just stay home. You’re blocking our view and we paid just as much for these tickets as you did. So next time, just be courteous. Learn to enjoy a live concert for what it is: a LIVE concert.

So stand up, move with the music, and just “F@#$ing watch the show, man.” I promise you won’t regret it.

(Via PetaPixel & DIYPhotography)

[REWIND: Broncolor Scoro Wi-Fi RFS 2 Review | Beast Mode]

But have you ever gotten so entranced in your art that you became one with the performance and unleashed physical harm on an innocent bystander hoping to capture the act?

No?

Well, that is precisely what happened during a KROQ Queens of the Stone Age performance in Los Angeles.

Thanks to Josh Homme @queensofthestoneage I now get to spend my night in the ER. Seriously, WHO DOES THAT?!? #joshhomme #queensofthestoneage #qotsa #qotsafamily #concertphotography #musicphotographer

A post shared by Chelsea Lauren (@chelsealaurenla) on Dec 9, 2017 at 11:38pm PST

“[He] looked at me, smiled and then kicked me.” – Chelsea Lauren, photographer for Shutterstock.

According to Lauren, Josh Homme, the band’s lead singer, kicked her camera which was then thrust into her face during their live show in Los Angeles and sent her to the emergency room. Lauren has since been discharged from the hospital and states that incident left her with a bruised eyebrow and sore neck. Homme has issued an apology to the photographer via Twitter as well as a second apology stating there are no reasons to justify what he did and he failed at being a good man.

“Last night, while in a state of being lost in performance, I kicked over various lighting and equipment on our stage. Today it was brought to my attention that this included a camera held by photographer Chelsea Lauren. I did not mean for that to happen and I am very sorry. I would never intentionally cause harm to anyone working at or attending one of our shows and I hope Chelsea will accept my sincere apology. […] I don’t have any excuse or reason to justify what I did. I was a total dick. I want to be a good man but last night I definitely failed.” – Josh Homme, lead singer of Queens of the Stone Age.

While there is never an excuse to use assault as a means of artistic expression, these words might carry more weight if it had been the frontman’s first offense during his tenure in the limelight. According to Billboard Magazine, Homme has a history of violence and verbal abuse from assaulting the singer Blag Dahlia in 2004 and allegedly grabbing an autograph seeker around the shoulders and neck area in 2016.

Thank you everyone that has reached out with supportive messages. A small update, as I’m being flooded with questions: My neck is a sore, my eyebrow bruised and I’m a bit nauseous. The doctor released me early in the morning. Here are three images. Two of them as Josh looked at me, smiled and then kicked me. The other one is later after he cut his own face with a knife. I was in the pit in tears – and he just stared at me smiling. Assault in any form is not okay, no matter what the reasoning. Alcohol and drugs are no excuse. I was where I was allowed to be, I was not breaking any rules. I was simply trying to do my job. I hold nobody accountable for this but Josh himself. KROQ has nothing to do with this and I will always support them. The irony is someone had thrown an ice cube on to the very slick catwalk before the QOTSA set. I was afraid that one of the band members might slip and hurt themselves so, when the lights went dark, I used my arm to wipe down the runway so nobody would hurt themselves. Thank you to @variety for their immediate concern and care with this matter. As of now, nobody from QOTSA has reached out to me. #queensofthestoneage #QOTSA #JoshHomme

A post shared by Chelsea Lauren (@chelsealaurenla) on Dec 10, 2017 at 11:22am PST

There are also numerous reports of the lead singer shouting obscenities at the crowds during various concerts while issuing other threats and this last stint was no different. Homme later took a knife and cut his own forehead while calling the audience “retards” and yelling “F**k Muse”, the opening act to their show.

“Assault in any form is not okay, no matter the reasoning.” – Chelsea Lauren, photographer for Shutterstock.

Art has been and will continue to be therapeutic by means of artistic expression and should always provide a safe space. When the threshold is crossed and ensued by violence is when an artist needs to take a very honest look inward and reflect upon their actions, hopefully being strong enough to seek any and all help that they may need. Perpetuating violence is never the answer.

You can follow Chelsea and her work here.

The good news is that there are more and more pocket-sized, unassuming cameras out there that produce amazing results. “Point and shoots” and even cell phones can nearly match results that were only possible with heavy, expensive pro cameras just a few years ago.

They always say that the best camera is the one you have in your hand, so let’s talk about how to take good pictures at a concert with whatever camera you have in your hand!

Disclaimer

I am not a professional concert photographer. The photos I’m sharing here aren’t going to win any awards; they’re just good memories of some of my favorite experiences.

The advice I’m giving is based on personal experience as a casual photographer at various concerts and performances around Southern California. I do have professional experience photographing theater, and, of course, my full-time job as a wedding photographer, so this article will cover my basic tips on how to get decent photos in extremely difficult conditions. Enjoy!

Good Compact Cameras For Concerts

I cannot promise whether or not you’ll be allowed into this or that concert, with this or that camera because each venue/performer is different, and I certainly haven’t tried all of these.

Simply put, the smaller, the better. Bonus points if the camera is a color other than black. I’ve borrowed my sister’s purple Nikon point-and-shoot camera once or twice and have never had security guards give it a second glance!

For example, you might get a Sony RX100 series camera into a concert but I doubt you’d get a full-frame RX-1 in. And although mirrorless folks brag about how small and compact their cameras are, I also highly doubt if you’d get a Fuji X-T1 into any concert. You might not even get in with an X100T! They just look too “professional” in a hipster/80’s sort of way. Try a Fuji XQ2 maybe?

Or if you’d like a more rugged camera, for the mosh pit at a metal (or Ska?) concert, I’m a big fan of the “indestructible” types of cameras, such as the Fuji XP80. And those come in flashy colors!

I think you get the idea. Basically, you want a camera that appears incapable of professional results and fits in your pocket. (Even an Olympus E-M1 still looks like a miniature pro camera.)

When in doubt, the latest cell phones are pretty darn good too.  Maybe even better than most of the compact “point-and-shoot” cameras out there. iPhones have delivered amazing results since the 5, and numerous others are now offering all kinds of things like optical stabilization, or manual control if you download a special app sometimes. Just be sure to charge up, and dim your screen as much as possible.

Four Tips For Better Photos And A Better Experience For Everyone

The following tips are going to help you get better photos while still enjoying the concert and not ruining anyone else’s experience.

Photo by Marz Waggener

1.) NO FLASH!

Rule #1, never use flash. Your weak little flash won’t be a part of your photos anyway unless you’re right up front. Pretty much all pop-up flashes don’t illuminate more than a few feet away from the camera. Even then, the photos won’t look that good. (So if you ARE in the front row, your flash pictures will probably still stink, AND you’ll be blinding the performers. C’mon!)

The lighting provided by the venue will not be enough some of the time, but there will still be plenty of opportunities when it is bright enough. The roadies know what they’re doing, so just sit back and wait for it to come together.

2.) Embrace Grain, Crank Your ISO Up!

If you’re not the paid professional, and you’re not a money-grubbing paparazzi, you don’t need to worry about whether or not your images can be printed poster-sized. Chances are, they’ll probably only ever be seen on Facebook or in a slideshow on someone’s phone, or maybe, just maybe, if you get that one epic shot, you might make an 8×10 just for fun.

Either way, a little bit more grain in your photos is much, much better than having them be horribly blurry or horribly out of focus.

3.) Being Ready And Getting Lucky Is Different Than Shooting 1,000 Photos

Don’t be one of those annoying people who holds up their big, bright camera/phone LCD the entire concert. You’re going to ruin the show for the people behind you, and wind up with 99.99% photos that get thrown away anyways.

Check your camera settings, look around to see what the lighting setup is, and then chill out and enjoy the concert!  You paid good money to hear good music, NOT to spend the whole time obsessing over whether or not your pictures are coming out.

What I do is I snap a few test shots, and then I turn off my camera’s LCD screen and hold the camera down at eye or shoulder level. If you see the lighting and the moment coming together, rattle off a few shots. Chances are, that will be the one photo that is the memory you want.

Jack Black / Tenacious D – Nikon P&S camera

Of course if you’re not at the very front of a concert, and you can’t zoom in much without catastrophic camera shake, then sometimes the best thing to do is to just “call it good” with a couple wide-angle photos that at least use the lighting to give a good sense of the experience.

Reel Big Fish, Samsung Galaxy phone

4.) In Post-Production, Embrace Moody Lighting

Don’t expect your images to be perfectly exposed with great highlight and shadow detail.  A concert isn’t meant to be experienced that way in the first place, why would you think it’s a good idea to go digging into your shadow detail anyways?

Over the years as a theater photographer, I’ve realized that stage performances are an awesome way to practice your skills at low-key and/or negative space imagery.

6.) No Manual Mode? Look For Exposure Compensation

Another tip about low-key shooting is this: If you’re working with a camera or cell phone that doesn’t have manual exposure, it may still have exposure compensation. Because a stage is often extremely dark while performers are brightly lit, I almost always find that I get the best results by just cranking my camera/phone to -2 EV or so.

Bonus Tip 1:  Don’t bother shooting video; nobody wants to hear the horrible audio or watch the shaky hand-holding.

Plus, (even though you can take all the pictures you want) sometimes security guards will jump all over you if they see you capturing video footage. That’s always a buzz kill. Again, you’re paying good money to experience a concert, not to capture some audio that can’t possibly do the performance justice.

I think that many times in this day and age, we techno-folks become obsessed with documenting everything we see that we go through life not actually taking the time to soak it in and enjoy it. That’s no way to live!

Bonus Tip 2: Festivals and Fairs are sometimes more lenient with big cameras

If you’re actually thinking of getting into concert photography, or if you’d just like to shoot more stage performances of any kind, then festivals and similar events are a great way to get access to these environments, with your big fat 70-200 in tow.

I’m not talking about Coachella, of course, but the smaller fairs and festivals are usually no problem.

Last but not least, again if you’d simply like to practice low-light photography, with whichever camera you can, small local shows are a great way to get comfortable in such environments. Be sure to offer to share a few images with the artists for their own promotion, as long as you don’t expect them to shell out big $$$ to license your images. You’re just practicing, and usually free circulation/exposure are much more beneficial than a couple bucks in your pocket.

Gaelic Storm (AKA, the band from the steerage scene in Titanic)

While music festivals happen pretty much everywhere, if you’re lucky enough to live in some places such as Hollywood, you might be able to see other types of celebrities  a red carpet or similar environment.

Pirates Of The Caribbean World Premiere, Twilight World Premiere.
One I am proud of, the other not so much…

Happy clicking out there! Remember to be smart, don’t make a scene, if you focus on having a good time then a few great photos are sure happen…
=Matt=

GEAR:

Canon 5D Mark III
Canon 24mm f/1.4
Canon 580 EXII Flash
Flash triggers (I used the Phottix Strato II’s)
One colored gel (I used a CTB blue one)
Tripod
A wife (or assistant)

TECHNIQUE:

First, you need to know this is a composite. I used one flash and composited 16 photos together. This is an easy way to light a scene without owning and setting up 8 billion flashes to go off for one picture. Because it’s a composite, it’s also very important that your camera takes the photo from the same spot each time, so for that, I used a tripod and my wife.

First Shot – The Couple
The first shot I took was a shot of the couple, engaged in each other, with a little bit of a flash to bring them out of the background. The flash had no gel on it.

24mm, 1/60, f/2.0, ISO3200, Auto WB, shot in RAW

2nd-14th Shot – The Concert Hall
Now that I had my shot of the couple, I needed to light up the Concert Hall with a blue gelled flash. The reason I chose a blue gel is so I could make everything that light touches blue just by changing the white balance in Lightroom. Below, you can see all the different parts of the hall that I flashed, using just one flash and a monopod. Since I was shooting in RAW, I left the in camera white balance to Auto.

This is where my wife played a huge role. While I ran around pointing the flash, I would hold up my hand whenever I wanted her to press the shutter. You’ll notice that there were some spots that I flashed several times, just to make sure I got it. I also told the couple that they didn’t have to hold the pose anymore, so you can see them patiently standing around waiting for me to finish running in circles.

15th Shot – Happy Accident
The 15th shot (last one, bottom right corner) was actually the 2nd shot I took. I dropped the aperture down to f/4.0 and had my wife come around to the front of the couple to light them, as a backup shot in case #1 didn’t work out. Turns out, the exposure was perfect for the movie posters.

PROCESSING:

Now that I had all my photos, I took them into Lightroom, set the white balance to tungsten, adjusted the exposures/contrast slightly, and exported all the photos to Photoshop. Setting a custom white balance really helps to pop out the blue gelled flashes!

[REWIND: How to Create a Sequence Composite in Photoshop and Lightroom]

In Photoshop, the only thing left to do is line up each layer on top of the first shot and mask in the parts I want to be revealed. There’s a neat function in Adobe Photoshop under the Edit menu that Auto-Aligns the layers for you (but this was a lot easier since I was shooting with a tripod).

After masking in/out all the parts that were lit by the flash, it was just a matter of adding some more contrast, dodging/burning, toning some of the blues, and removing some unwanted guests.

TIPS:

• Use a tripod!
• Bring an assistant.
• Use those gels and white balances.
• In Photoshop, layer on and mask only one image at a time.
• When doing this, I guessed and manually set the flash power to 1/8th. It worked out perfectly!
• Most importantly, go out, take some risks, and have fun!