Bow chika wow wow.

Your pictures are incredible. I am just wondering how you get so much light with no shake. I have a 50mm prime and crank the ISO, open the aperture to f/1.8 and then I shoot, if I’m lucky, around 1/40 and I still manage to get blur if there is enough light, or just dark pictures. Any ideas? Also, are you using flash at all? I’ve been to a few shows lately and notice some guys using flash, I researched this idea, and it seems to be a great idea, for motion blur and freezing the subject. Thanks for your time!

Unless the band brings their own lighting setup, there is a high chance that photography will be challenging at venues like the Pageant. This isn’t to say it looks bad watching from the crowd, but simply that it doesn’t translate well for photo.

The best lighting I’ve seen at the Pageant has always been when a tour has their own effects setup. Indie shows and other gigs with smaller production budgets always get a much less involved treatment.

I think flash would have been an interesting option, but given the three song limit and the fact that the Kooks’ songs are often under three minutes, that in itself would have been very tricky.

All this said, I thought the lighting for this tour was relatively good, or at least a little better than I expected. :)

Flash woulda helped, but I think you got some definitely usable shots. Above all, 1, 5, 6, 7. I think where there was the white light, the red light came in for some nice rim lighting, but that looks pretty rare. I like the shot of him on the speaker, but looks a bit harsh on his face - granted, not exactly changeable. The lighting and capture of the drummer is nice, however.

I also enjoy this photo. Tres nice.

I thought my first comment did not go through haha.

Luke was very animated for this show, which was both good and bad. Nice for a little variety in the poses, but his movement also made for a very challenging set.

The drummer was up on a riser at the back of the stage, but I was happy that the 70-200mm worked out pretty well for him. Overall, the band was set back much further than a lot of rock acts at this venue.

Thanks again.

Thanks again!

It’s interesting to see your pictures of the Kooks in a venue.
I had the chance to shoot their performance at an outdoor festival this summer in Luxembourg. Unfortunately they played quite early, so light was not really a matter as daylight made most of the job.

Anyway I like your shots, and I agree that Luke is a very expressive, fun to shoot, leadsinger!
Great job!