While my normal go-to lens for indoor concert photography is a midrange zoom like the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 (or Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 on APS), telephoto lenses can be an essential part of the live music photographer’s kit. The highly utilitarian wide-to-short-tele midrange lens excels in from the pit for most venues, but some situations can benefit from the graces of a long lens, which can bring the action to the photographer and create more flattering perspectives than shorter focal lengths.
Range: Reaching the Action
One obvious advantage of telephoto lenses is their reach, which can be essential when photographing musicians from a distance. Whether it’s picking up the drummer at the back of the stage or photographing far back from the stage, a long lens helps close the gap and bring the action to the viewer.
In this shot of Pet Shop Boys‘ Chris Lowe, a 70-200mm lens allowed for fairly tight shots, even though photography was restricted to the sound board behind the pit at the band’s request.
Even with moderate distances, a telephoto lens can help deliver high-impact, frame-filling close-ups performers. The Nikon 70-200mm was perfect for photographing Chan Marshall, AKA Cat Power, performing at the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival, and stayed on the camera for her entire set.
Better Angles and Perspectives
Particularly for tighter shots of individual performers, a telephoto lens can lens a more flattering shooting angle while still producing frame-filling shots of the subject. Long lenses allow photographer to shoot more obliquely along the stage, rather than right on top of the subject (or under, as the case may be in the pit).
When photographing singers, shooting down-stage will often provide a key degree of separation between the the face and microphone. This technique can be especially useful for performers who hold the mic close to their face. Even a short telephoto lens can provide the reach to shoot from a distance down-stage, as the following shot with the the Nikon 85mm f/1.4 shows.
At the Pitchfork Music Festival, the long reach of the telephoto zoom was key in photographing artists like Sam Beam. During Iron & Wine’s set at the three-day event, shooting slightly off-axis with the 70-200mm allowed for a higher hit rate for clear shots of the singer’s face, which translates into a better visual read and more impact.
Isolation
Telephoto lenses can provide visual isolation not only through their narrower field of view, but also with their shallow depth of field as well. These aspects of selection may be useful for composition and readability of the subject in a cluttered environment.
This benefit is particularly true for daytime, outdoor events, when more abundant light can create more visual competition in the environment surrounding performers. In this shot of Devendra Banhart, using a long focal length and wide aperture with the 70-200mm created plenty of separation between the folk singer and the background.
However, for even with stage lighting, a long lens can provide very useful isolation that allows for creative composition and framing that can help highlight a subject.
In this shot of the Dresden Dolls‘ Brian Viglione, the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 allowed for a tight, abstracted shot of the drummer, reaching through the clutter of his setup.
Concert Photography with Telephoto Lenses
Below are a few more examples of telephoto lenses at work, shot with either the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 or the Nikon 85mm f/1.4.
Nikon 85mm f/1.4
Nikon 70-200m f/2.8
Nikon 85mm f/1.4
Nikon 70-200m f/2.8
Nikon 70-200m f/2.8
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 11:21 am and is filed under Photography Gear, Photography Tutorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Great post!
I’m actually just in the middle of deciding what part of my range to upgrade. I have a D70 with the 18-70 3.5-4.5 kit lens, a 70-210 4.5-5.6 and a 50mm 1.8, but feel that the fixed focal length of the 50mm is very limiting and not a good angle on the 1.5 crop D70. So I want to move to 2.8-glass, but I can’t decide between the 17-55 and the 70-200 VR. What would you go for? Note that this is for smaller venues with either no pit or a pit of maybe 1-2 meters, not huge festivals or 5000+ venues.
Also, if I understand this stuff correctly going from f/4 glass to 2.8 will give me one stop extra light. But if the D300 gives the same amount of noise at 1600 IO as the D70 on 400 ISO I would be effectively getting two stops of “extra light”? Do you consider getting a D300 instead a better option, knowing what glass I already have?
Thanks! :)
Tor Arne
Tor, glad you enjoyed this post. If you’re shooting in smaller venues (2000 capacity or less) and you’re positioned at the front of the stage, I would definitely go for the 17-55.
I find the 70-200VR very nice for festivals and for arena-style venues, where the stage is often higher and the performers are farther away. For smaller venues, though, where musicians are often playing at the front of the stage, the reach is not needed as much.
For smaller indoor venues, I use the 70-200VR most when I have to shoot from behind the pit or from the balcony.
Regarding the D300, it does look to handle noise better at high ISO than the D200 and the D70. So, you could look at the camera as an effective boost in “performance” to your existing lenses, especially if you shoot at ISO 3200 or Hi-1 (6400). You might also consider third-party f/2.8 lenses like the Tamron 18-50/2.8 and the Tokina 16-50/2.8, which will save you some money.
Also, for a fast prime, the Sigma 30/1.4 is very nice and would gain you several stops over the zooms, while providing a wider and arguably more useful field of view for concert photography at the front of the pit.
A little late on the commenting, but great article. I’m down for a wide to semi-telephoto at first — but be sure I’ll head for the 1.4 or 2.8 in the near future!
Thanks, Chris, glad to hear you enjoyed the article. I’ve been meaning to post more of these “tutorials.”
The 85mm f/1.8 and f/1.4 are great lenses, and, as far as I’ve seen, both perform very well wide open.
Don’t worry too much about the differences in rendering of the two lenses, it’s pretty blown out of proportion.
Of course, the 70-200mm f/2.8 is highly useful, too. I might be selling mine if the rumors of a new version hold true, FYI.
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