In part one of this series, I covered my basic four-step approach to determining exposure that might otherwise prove difficult if one were to rely on the in-camera meter. In this second installment, I’ll cover a few other techniques I use in addition to that feedback loop method.
While the four-step method is a great start to determining exposure for concert lighting, with the practice, it’s possible to achieve accurate exposure when the light levels change without as much attention to review and adjustment. Once you’ve mastered establishing a baseline exposure, as described in the previous article, it’s time to take it to the next steps:
- Simplify
- Memorize
- Internalize
Each of these three approaches to metering and exposure for concert photography are designed to increase efficiency; with three-song limits nearly standard these days, any more time you can spend with your eye to the viewfinder instead of on the LCD is going to help.
Note: I shoot manual about 99% of the time, which may be a useful reference in reading these suggestions.
Simplify
When I shoot, I try to change as few variables as possible in exposure from one lighting scheme to the next. Why? Because having more choices isn’t the same as having better choices.
The fewer things you change, the faster and more efficiently you’ll be able to work.
While shooting in manual gives full control over aperture and shutter speed in addition to ISO, try limiting yourself to adjusting a single setting. By dealing with the bare minimum of information and decreasing options, you get the simplicity of a program priority mode with all the control of manual when you need it.
In addition, dealing with the least number of variables possible will help you with the next technique: memorization.
Memorize
Just as music has patterns, so too does concert lighting. For any given lighting scheme, a lighting tech is likely to employ it more than once during a set, if not several times during one song.
One key method for achieving a better metering workflow in the pit is to get into the practice of memorizing exposures as you shoot.
As lighting mixes recur, having memorized the exposure for a specific scheme will save you time and free you up concentrate on closing on those killer images instead of worrying about basic technique.
Internalize
Believe it or not, your eyes and brain form a capable and responsive judge of ambient light; training them can be a huge boon for achieving more accurate and consistent metering.
In fact, the first step to internalizing light levels is something you’re probably already doing regularly in the pit: guessing. You’re already trying to estimate the amount of light as the first step in the feedback loop, so make it count and guess smarter.
Make it a game. Take an extra second as you begin the task of metering and ask yourself, “Is this ISO 1600 dark, or ISO 3200 dark?” If you guess wrong, you can always go back to step one. But guess correctly and you’ve saved yourself a few seconds. Do this often enough and you will begin to know the difference in that stop.
The more you practice, the more precise you’ll become at evaluating and calculating light levels on the fly, even without having to review at every step.
Synthesize
The end goal utilizing the above techniques is to remove as many steps as possible between seeing the image and executing it. Or, in other words, to enable you to produce the best exposures possible with the least effort (i.e., as efficiently as possible). Put these tricks together and you should be able to adjust exposure on the fly and with minimal review.
In the next installment of this series, we’ll go over some other general suggestions and maybe have a look at the histogram displays for a few different types of images.
14 Comments Add your own
1. Tom'sWho | April 7th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Todd - once again an informative blog.
Question for you, how many shots would you capture in a three song limit? And what % would you pass as good photo’s (with post processing of course).
Cheers
Tom
2. Todd | April 7th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Hey Tom,
Thanks for the feedback on this article.
As for hit rate, that’s a good question. For me, it depends on a few things, such as the band, their music, and exactly how long those “three songs” are. For some bands, three songs is maybe 7 minutes, while others might play for twice as long.
I think I generally average between 100 and 300 frames for a headliner. From there, about half pass as “good enough,” in that they’re sharp, well exposed, and generally usable. But as for individual, unique shots that interest me, those images are more like 10-25% of the set.
Let me know if you have any more questions.
3. kim | April 8th, 2008 at 9:27 am
What are you using for white balance on the d3? Or are you doing this all post process?
4. Todd | April 8th, 2008 at 11:37 am
I’ve found that the D3 is generally very accurate when set to auto WB, which is what I use about 90% of the time. Or, to put it another way, the D3’s auto setting is close enough that I don’t feel obligated to change it in most instances.
The exceptions are when I want to change the WB to something other than what was captured. These change mostly occur because the WB, though accurate to the scene, is unflattering or different from the look I want.
5. faithdesired | April 9th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Excellent blog! I agree about memorizing the exposure for various lighting. I’ve found that it works for me, even though I’m shooting small bands in clubs. In addition, the simplify step is most important! I shoot manual too, and tend to only mess with shutter speed. I can change the f-stop if I need to, but usually I keep my lens open to maximize my light!
6. Todd | April 9th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Thanks for the feedback, it’s great to hear from other shooters who use these techniques. In many ways, I think that these tricks are natural responses to the chaos that can occur when in the pit.
For f/2.8 zooms, I usually change the variables in this order:
1) Shutter speed
2) ISO
3) Aperture
7. Jacob | April 13th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Great informative blog… I shoot f2.8 at all times and ISO 3200… i’ve only ever shot 2 gigs and the second was at a prominent event with pit and all… had the time of my life!!!
I am still to learn bucket loads… and am focusing on using spot metering next time (forgot all about it in the excitement lol)… when would it be in my favour to stray from f2.8 and maybe try f4 (i have only one lens at the moment 17-50 on a D80)
8. Todd | April 14th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Hi Jacob, thanks for stopping by. Welcome to the pit, you get the best “seat” in the house – until they kick you out.
Exposure is all relative, and whatever achieves your vision is what you should go with. If you have enough light to stop down, go for it, though you should also consider that you can raise the shutter speed or drop the ISO as well – it’s so often about compromise in low light work.
9. Mike | June 4th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Amazing shots and great blog!
How about White Balance? Do you use Auto?
10. Todd | June 4th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Hi Mike, thanks for stopping by. I often use auto WB and correct in post as necessary, since I always shoot RAW.
11. Avangelist | June 12th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I am enjoying reading through this. Amazingly we are using the same wp template.
I have a question
I use a D80, I have found if I ever bump ISO over 800 I got more and more purple in the blacks. As a result at the majority of shows I go to which are in small poor lit dungeons I have started using an SB600 flash mounted.
But the flash always blows out the lighting presumably because it is firing more light that is actually in the room.
Any suggestions, or should I stick to not using flash and being uphappy with the grainy digital effects of high ISO?
check out my site for some links to flick and camera settings if you fancy a gander.
12. Todd | June 24th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Hi Avangelist,
I think high ISO noise is part of the game with concert photography. It sounds like you might be shooting in venues with a lot of warm/tungsten lighting, which is going to cause a deficit in the blue channel and can cause problems. This can be particularly true if you’re tweaking the WB in post. Part of the issue could be the sensor, too.
As for flash blowing out the ambient lighting, it sounds like it’s too strong and needs to be dialed down. You’ll need to use lower power flash and longer shutter speeds if you want more ambient mix.
Hope this helps.
13. Kieran | July 23rd, 2008 at 8:37 am
Thanks for this Todd after reading this a while back I decided to shot my first band using completely manual I wasn’t shooting for anyone so I thought I would take myself out of my comfort zone by changing how I shoot. It has made a hell of a difference and I know feel confident enough to follow this up and keep working on shooting like this so thank you for this mate.
14. Todd | July 23rd, 2008 at 9:16 am
Hey Kieran, it’s great to hear that you tried out manual mode and now feel comfortable enough with it to keep at it. I’m glad to hear if anything in this tutorial helped!
speak up
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