Concert Photography, 5/4/13

[megatop412]

Took a break from the planes to practice some low light shooting. Taken @ World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, with a D700 and some primes

http://media301.dropshots.com/photos/396780/20130504/b_201709.jpg

http://media301.dropshots.com/photos/396780/20130504/b_210046.jpg

http://media300.dropshots.com/photos/396780/20130504/b_220245.jpg

http://media302.dropshots.com/photos/396780/20130504/b_220727.jpg

http://media301.dropshots.com/photos/396780/20130504/b_220855.jpg

Critiques welcome!

[jerslice]

I like 'em. Look good to me.

[Zee71]

William ..... Sweet shots and great exposure! The D700 is a champ in low light. I shot my nieces play this past weekend with the D700 and the 70-2000mm f/2.8 lens at ISO 2000 and higher and I had no complaints!

[megatop412]

Thank you both! I love DX for the crop benefit with the aviation shooting but when it comes to low light situations like this...FX is king

[Landing Lights]

I work in the entertainment lighting field, so I have seen a lot of low-light shots of concerts and other events. These shots are definitely very good, especially given that they were taken in a club with light levels that are typically much lower than you would see at a larger venue. Great job, William.

[Gerard]

Nice job. And the band is? :confused:

[megatop412]

Nice job. And the band is? :confused:

1st shot- Skyline Cinema

2nd shot- The Lux

rest of the shots were of the headlining act, Theopolis James(and that was actually their last show)

Thanks again guys. I used the 28mm f/1.8, 50mm f/1.4, and 85mm f/1.8, and they were being shot mostly wide open to keep the ISO as low as possible

[tlabranche]

Great set! I recently started using my full frame camera to shoot aviation as well. The crop factor is awesome on my other body, but the details that my FF sensor picks up is worth giving up that extra zoom. For low light shooting, such as this, it's amazing! Recently, I shot an event for JetBlue in San Juan. Here are a few of the shots. All had an ISO of 6400. When I did use my speedlite, I had to bounce it off of a 22' ceiling! So, I needed that ISO boosted up. Amazingly, the noise in the photos in post was just a fine grain that was easily removed. I wouldn't even dream of turning the ISO up past 400 on my crop body.

No flash: 1/40, F/4, ISO 6400
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8545/8681194586_d3aeaf9ffb_b.jpg

Natural auditorium lighting: 1/160, F/5.6/ ISO 6400
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8247/8660553803_4bc3b2cbc8_b.jpg

The same dark auditorium, just using flash this time. I found a good balance using my speedlite on manual at full 1/1 power, High Speed Sync, F/4, 1/500 and ISO 6400. The flash was able to go up 22', come back down and I still had a fast enough shutter to get a good freeze. This is my counterpart at work in his hometown of San Juan.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8391/8681211146_12b4f82900_b.jpg