{"id":3285,"date":"2011-03-10T14:38:46","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T18:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stayfocusedpress.com\/blog\/?p=3285"},"modified":"2022-08-03T21:24:26","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T02:24:26","slug":"event-tip-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stayfocusedpress.com\/?p=3285","title":{"rendered":"Event Tip # 3 – James Taylor concert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having grown up in the late 60s, I was excited to learn that one of my contemporaries – James Taylor<\/strong> – was going to be performing in Grand Rapids on March 8th. I anxiously waited for tickets to go on sale, but they were quickly sold out in less than an hour. Fortunately, I found two available last minute tickets through StubHub so I was still in luck.<\/p>\n

Through the years, I’ve done my fair share of event photography. But nowadays when I go to a concert or show, I’m usually attending as a spectator and not as a working photographer with a press pass. Since one of my hobbies is to collecting pictures of celebrities, I continue to take a small camera with me – just in case.<\/p>\n

Typically, show venues are a mixture of dark backgrounds with strong spotlights. For effect, the performers are often “creatively lit” (read dimly). This stage lighting makes for a very contrasty scene.<\/p>\n

So the challenge is to be able to use the theater’s available light to capture the performers. Flash is a no-no.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Wait for the right moment<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"Arnold<\/a><\/center>
\nAlthough my camera is set for dim lighting (ISO is set to 1600), the dim lighting forces a slow shutter speed – in this case about 1\/25 second. Here the performer is moving slightly so I end up with a blurred image. Performer: Arnold McCuller<\/strong><\/td>\n
\"Arnold<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

The solution to the blurred image is to carefully watch the performer and snap when he\/she is in a more or less stationary position. With a little practice, you’ll be able to anticipate the times when the performer is positioned like a statue.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Adjust the exposure<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"James<\/a><\/center>
\nMost cameras determine the exposure by averaging the amount of light in a scene. On a dark stage with bright spotlights, the camera is usually “fooled” by the darkness. This overexposure causes the brightly lit faces to be washed out. Performer: James Taylor<\/strong><\/td>\n
\"James<\/a><\/center>
\nTo prevent the his face from being washed out, I set the camera to reduce the exposure. For this shot, I used the camera’s exposure compensation to make a -2 (f\/stop) adjustment. Although his guitar is darker, his face is now properly exposed.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

For stage performances, you can use relatively inexpensive equipment. On this occasion I used a Canon SX210 IS point-and-shoot which has a 14X optical lens. Our seats were fairly close – the seventh row – but the lens allowed me to zoom in to grab a decent shot.<\/p>\n

Just a quick note about courtesy:<\/u> The auditorium was filled to the brim. Everyone paid for tickets with their hard-earned money so I go out of my way to keep as unobtrusive as possible when taking photos. I’m careful not to put my camera in front of another spectator and to be silent as I snap (usually a menu selection for “silent mode”). They are there for the performance, not to be disturbed by a rude and noisy picturetaker.<\/p>\n

And since my real reason for being at the concert was to hear the performance, I make sure that I get to enjoy the music without being overly preoccupied with my camera. And by the way, the performance was great!<\/p>\n

You can see more celebrity photos from my hobby celebrity collection here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Written by Arnie Lee<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Having grown up in the late 60s, I was excited to learn that one of my contemporaries – James Taylor – was going to be performing in Grand Rapids on March 8th. I anxiously waited for tickets to go on … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,15,4],"tags":[277,278,50,603,35,793,51,597],"class_list":["post-3285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","category-nightlife","category-tips","tag-arnold-mcculler","tag-celebrity","tag-concerts","tag-events","tag-james-taylor","tag-music","tag-stage","tag-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stayfocusedpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stayfocusedpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stayfocusedpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stayfocusedpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stayfocusedpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3285"}],"version-history":[{"count":47,"href":"https:\/\/stayfocusedpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10462,"href":"https:\/\/stayfocusedpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3285\/revisions\/10462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stayfocusedpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stayfocusedpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stayfocusedpress.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}