Band Photos

Getting decent photos in a dark nightclub is a royal pain in the butt.
Despite how bright the stage lights may look, they really aren't.
They're just bright compared to the darkness in the rest of the place.
And when you move from a singer under yellow to a drummer under blue, expect to lose 3 stops of light.
Camera response is dead slow due to autofocus trying to get a lock in the dimness.
Then add the many musicians who don't like them shining in their eyes and you have a recipe for disaster.
High iso is the rule, and you better have a fast lens.
I'm usually at iso400 (iso800 is worthless on my camera) and F2-F2.8 and 1/30th of a second or even longer--great training for steadier handheld work.

This past Thursday we were at a club with plenty of bright lights, but unfortunately they were flashing and changing colors at an extremely high rate, so getting a good photo was as much luck as skill.
I shot more photos in a single session than ever before in my life. Good thing I bought a much bigger memory stick recently!

My tripod came in handy, too.
A club employee was also shooting, using an inexpensive (short) tripod, and I imagine his photos have more double-chin action than mine, since many of the photos I shot were done with me standing on a chair and the camera held high over my head.

The shot above is of Manny, our lead singer. (He's awesome)
This post is mainly about publicizing my photoblog about the band String Theory.
You can see the rest of Thursday's photos here, and to keep up to date you can always click on the "My Band Photos" link below and to the right.

(Why don't I use flash if I need more light? Believe me, flash photos of a band onstage are less than worthless unless the strobe is far off-camera and gelled for color or snooted, and I'm not quite equipped for that yet, but thanks for asking)