Not only does a step-stool mean you get cleaner shots, it means Chris Martin can spot you to give up a little love for the camera just that more easily.
July 24, 2009 – Led by the charismatic Chris Martin on their Viva la Vida World Tour, Coldplay rocked a jubilant crowd with fan favorites new and old at Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.
Photographer’s Notes:
The shooting restrictions for this concert made Coldplay – and Chris Martin in particular – a very challenging gig. Photographers were positioned not right up to the stage-right ramp, as they were earlier in the tour, but half-way down the aisle on that side of the stage. The second to last shot in the above set best shows the vantage point from which I shot this concert.
As such, this is not what I’d call a terribly personal shoot, and I relied on the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 for all but a few wide shots with the 24-70mm f/2.8 and 14-24mm f/2.8. If you have the Nikon 200-400mm f/4 or similar, I think that would be a great option for this concert.
Press were allowed to shoot songs 2-4, and the fourth song is really the one that presents the best opportunity to photograph Chris Martin at a relatively close distance, when he and guitarist Jonny Buckland head out to the stage-right ramp to jam for about 30 seconds. This moment occurs about 2/3 into the song. It’s worth noting that Chris Martin also came out on the ramp for a hot second earlier in the same song, so keep your eyes peeled.
The second and fourth songs are, overall, the best in terms of lighting. The third song sees the band bathed in red and yellow washes, so I used this song as an opportunity to shoot atmospheric shots, since this is also when the band pulls out the laser effects.
While the shooting restrictions were really less than ideal, I think the band put on a great show. I made it my charge to capture the energy of the band, regardless of the distance. The added challenge of having to create a dynamic set of images from such a limited vantage point can be a nice bit of motivation as well. Luckily, Chris Martin is a pretty wonderful showman and certainly works it for the fans and camera.
The one lifesaver of this concert? A folding step stool that I brought in anticipation from having to effectively shoot from the crowd. With fans on their feet and waving their hands around, having an extra edge in terms of elevation meant much cleaner shots and better opportunities. Highly recommended if you’re shooting Coldplay on this concert with these restrictions.
When the other photographers in the pit where doing over-the-head hail marys, being a head over the crowd thanks to the step stool was a huge boon. Hands in the air were still a concern, of course.
As an added bonus, standing on a step stool makes it abundantly clear to Chris Martin where you are when you’re pointing the business end of the 70-200mm f/2.8 at him, allowing him to quickly mug before moving on, as evidenced by the lead shot in this set.
This entry was posted on Sunday, July 26th, 2009 at 11:41 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with 2009, chris martin, coldplay, images, Jonny Buckland, live, music, Music Photography, photography, photos, rock, tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Coldplay concert photos: How a $1500 telephoto lens did OK, but the real star was a $15 step stool — http://bit.ly/JJQm5
RT @toddowyoung: Coldplay concert photos: How a $1500 telephoto lens did OK, but the real star was a $15 step stool — http://bit.ly/JJQm5
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Great post, Todd. Wonderful images! It’s interesting to see a set of your work where you’ve got to shoot from a fixed vantage point far from the stage.
I’m curious, can you always tell realtime when an artist is making such direct eye contact at 200mm? I often taken aback by what’s in an artist’s eyes when I go to edit and realize they were gazing straight into the camera.
Hey Paige,
Thanks for the comment, glad to hear you enjoyed this set.
At 200mm, it’s not always easy to tell that the performer is looking right at me, not only because their face may still be relatively small, but because the look happens so quickly. There were several times when Chris Martin seemed to be looking in my general direction (and that of the photogs – there were about 5 of us), but it happened so quickly that it was hard to say for sure if he was looking at me.
Your shots are amazing! I saw Coldplay perform here in Houston last Wednesday, it was electric. You did an excellent job capturing the energy.
Thank you for the tips and methods, they provide a great background to the shots. Been waiting to see you post about Coldplay (as they’re my favorite band), and you didn’t let me down. Thanks again.
Hi James,
Thanks for the comment, I’m happy to hear you feel I captured the show’s energy since you just saw them. Cheers.
I like what you got from the shoot. The crowd framing the action gives the pictures quite a nice effect. But did you use a very high ISO setting this time? The pics look nearly too clean in my opinion, did you apply more noise reduction than usual?
Andreas,
I shot at ISO 1600 this time, as I generally do at this venue, thanks to their spotlights. There was generally a lot of smoke used for this show, which together with the distance smooths over fine detail. I didn’t do any luminance noise reduction for these images.
this is the best purchase that I have made for concert photography in the last year.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=14158430
Hey Nelson,
Yup, that’s exactly what I used. Great buy, and it folds up small enough to stuff into a small messenger bag. There would have been a whole lot more hands and less Coldplay in these shots without the stool.
ps. – was there a release to sign and if so how bad was it?
last summer some dates they did have a release and others they did not.
There was a release, but it wasn’t a copyright grab. Pretty standard “don’t make a t-shirt” out of the images thing.
Ah, now I see. Right, the smoke could be a good explanation.
Smoke/haze and the hit to contrast will always result in a perception of decreased sharpness. The fact that the images are down-sized always has an effect on detail, too.
Finally, I’ve been looking for that stool ever since I saw a few photogs sharing one at Rothbury. I just bought it and can’t wait to use it at some of the bigger shows/fests. What kind of bags do you carry your gear in?
Hey Andy,
I use Kinesis bags for my gear while shooting, though I’ll also use my Crumpler 7-Million Dollar Home for transportation, since it’s well padded. I don’t find the Crumpler fast enough for shooting though, it’s a bit too deep and boxy to pull lenses in and out of in a crowded pit.
These days, I’m mostly shooting with a Kinesis belt and a bag on my waist configured for 2 lenses. I have the 14-24mm in the bag with a spot for the 24-70mm, which I mostly shoot with on my D3. The 70-200mm is mostly on the D700.
“Not only does a step-stool mean you get cleaner shots, it means Chris Martin can spot you to give up a little love for the camera just that more easily. ”
well said…and clearly I need to buy a little stool!
Great shots…the eye contact in the first one is bang on, and that last one w/the back arched are my faves:)
Hey Elisa,
Thanks for the comment. The two shots you picked out are among my favorites as well. Chris Martin certainly made this show worth shooting in what otherwise would have been a pretty uninspiring concert to photograph.
Does anyone ever hassle you about the step stool?
Hi David,
No, I’ve never been hassled about using the step stool – though I’ve only used it for a handful of shows. I wouldn’t use it in a normal photo pit with a 5 or 6-foot stage. That’s just a recipe for disaster. For most gigs I shoot, a stool isn’t necessary.
how do you know whether to bring the stool or not?
If there’s a crowd in between you and the stage and you’re not elevated, and the fans are going to be waving their hands in the air like they just don’t care, any extra height is going to be welcome.
Here in Chicago the Aragon Ballroom has an incredible high stage 8+ feet which makes it very hard to get a full body shot of the artist unless you hail Marry or they are standing at the edge of the stage. It’s basically your call.
8′+ stage? Ouch. That sounds like an awful situation – I hope there’s a photo pit there and that it’s deep enough so you can get back a bit.
Sorry… I meant, how do you know whether or not you should pack it with the rest of your gear to bring to the show?
I’m shooting a show in Sept, with a 3 song limit and no photo pit … so is this something I should consider bringing and adding to my bag of tricks for the night?
Hey David,
I never use a stool if I’m shooting from in the crowd. If you’re shooting from the crowd, my advice would be to get to the venue as early as possible, line up with the fans, and snag a spot at the front of the stage. I used to do that all the time at smaller clubs with no photo pit.
There’s a photo pit and it’s a little deeper than usual but since the stage is so large the performers usually like to sit back so you get lots of knee up or waist up shots. I hate having to cut off limbs.
Ahh, sounds tricky, especially if there are monitors at the front of the stage. Actually, that sounds like a pretty bad experience for fans at the front of the stage, too.
Chris Martin is a lunatic on stage. I shot this last year, seems to be the same show/set list. It was an arena though so we didn’t get the step stool option cause it would have blocked the view of some folks.
It’s kind of a shame to see they didn’t change it up for the amphitheaters. The 3rd song really was the worst lighting ever. I agree that the 4th song is the best to shoot because Chris is running around alot. I had to pop an extender on my 70-200 and its an F/4 so it made shooting tough with it being bumped to a 5.6.
I would have loved to shoot right up near the catwalk like it seems they did for the arena tour starting last Fall – there were some great wide-angle shots of Chris and Jonny that folks made.
The third song was pretty terrible in terms of photography, though in hindsight it might have been nice to try some shots of Chris at the piano when the yellow came up.
Beautiful! You did indeed capture the energy of the show. It was a great one. I was thinking about a step-stool at Mayhem. That stage is not this short person’s friend.
Hey Lisa, thanks for the comment. Nice to bump into you at Mayhem Fest. The stage at Verizon isn’t too bad, but when there are monitors and such and the bands sit back a bit, it can be tricky.
Glad to hear this set captured Coldplay’s energy for you.
Wow !! Great pics of Coldplay and a great band.Just went to see U2 at weekend on their “360 Tour”,great show.Have you any plans to shoot them when the tour reaches the US ???
I’d love to photograph U2 on their tour, but I don’t think I’ll be able to make it. Thanks for the comment, Paul.
Todd
You said you shot at 1600, do you move around on the shutter speed or did you keep pretty set?
Thanks for sharing your fantastic shots.
Lewis
You’re so amazing! Coldplay’s my favorite band and these are just brilliant pictures! Keep up the good work, you’ve got talent