Comments on: The Best ISO for Concert Photography

By: Bill Passannante

Bill Passannante — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 04:22:11 +0000

The high ISO might work with most bands, but take band like Trans-Siberian Orchestra , and I’ll bet all you’ll get are ‘ snow storms’ . Their lighting is brightest I’ve ever seen and will most likely wash out any shot at that high an ISO , ESPECIALLY if your aperture is that low.

By: MisterMann

MisterMann — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 01:13:45 +0000

Hello,
I am a freelance photographer and have done a lot of music shows. I have found your web page and the information to be very helpful and reminding. I did quite a bit of concerts and festivals in my day and for one instance when I did a shoot of Eric Clapton and also Cream’s reunion in 2005 especially, I had to be waaay back. I had some prime 2.8 and 4.0 Nikon lenses and they helped much. Also the higher ISO helped me out. Shooting from seats at a different venue gave me some other options, such as not worrying about camera shake from heavy lenses. A last comment is when in doubt, change over to B&W, it is better than not having any shots to show for the day/night.
I appreciate especially the red light information, I suffered with that often. Some light techs or band members are just set in their ways to promote their presence on stage. Thanks much.
Regards, M15terM4nn@proton.me

By: Jon Leslie

Jon Leslie — Sat, 15 Jul 2023 09:14:30 +0000

I’m tempted to shoot at a bit lower ISOs to help with highlight retention, as with modern cameras brightening in post doesn’t add noticeable noise (or even older cameras if you stay above ISO 800 or 1600), but IMHO you really do need the image to be bright enough in-camera to see if you got the shot (and not too bright also, so ETTR isn’t something I’d consider here, tho like you I’d shoot in manual, so sometimes you get what you get if stuff gets suddenly bright – more of a problem here than most subjects).