1 min readconcert, réglages
Photographing a Concert Without Flash
Three songs, light that changes every second and no room for error: here are the settings I actually rely on in the pit.
In concert photography, the constraint is not darkness: it is variation. An amber spotlight turns deep blue in half a second, and the exposure rarely keeps up.
The three-legged stool of settings
- Shutter priority at 1/250 s minimum. Below that, the guitarist's hand becomes mush.
- Wide open, f/2.8 or f/1.8 depending on the lens. The shallow depth of field lifts the subject off a background of cables and monitors.
- Auto ISO capped at 12800. Noise can be dealt with; camera shake cannot.
Metering where it matters
Evaluative metering is fooled by black backgrounds and systematically overexposes faces. I work in spot metering, set on the singer, with -2/3 EV of compensation.
Better an image a stop underexposed than a blown-out face: burnt highlights are never recovered.
The first three songs
That is almost always the time granted to photographers. So you have to arrive with a plan: a wide focal length for context, a long one for portraits, and above all an idea of where to stand before the pit fills up.
