Concert photography tips

✦Experiment. Don’t be afraid to try
different settings and long expo-
sures. Long exposures enable you
to capture much of the ambient
light while freezing the subject
with the short bright flash.
✦Call the venue before you go. Be
sure to call the venue to ensure
that you are able to bring your
camera in. If they do allow photog-
raphy, be sure to confirm that they
allow your type of equipment. I’ve
been to an event that allowed
photography, but didn’t allow “pro-
level” equipment. The manage-
ment’s idea of pro-level equipment
and my idea of pro-level equip-
ment didn’t quite mesh, therefore
my camera gear had to be stashed
in the car.
✦Bring earplugs. Protect your hear-
ing. After spending countless of
hours in clubs without hearing pro-
tection, my hearing is less than
perfect. You don’t want to lose
your hearing. Trust me.
✦Take your Speedlight off of your
camera. If you have a D70/D70s,
D80, or D200, use your built-in
Speedlight as a commander to get
the Speedlight off of your camera,
or invest in an SC-29 TTL hot shoe
sync cord. When you’re down in
the crowd, your Speedlight is very
vulnerable. The shoe-mount is not
the sturdiest part of the flash. Back
before wireless flash, I had a cou-
ple of Speedlights broken off at the
shoe, which is unpleasant to say
the least. Not only is using the
Speedlight off camera be safer, but
also you have more control of the
light direction by holding it in your
hand. This reinforces the sugges-
tion to experiment— move the
Speedlight around; hold it high;
hold it low; or bounce it. This is
digital, and it doesn’t cost a thing
to experiment!

Chapter 6 ✦Real World Applications 121

Event and Wedding
Photography
Because an event is a limited occurrence,
you need to be sure to capture the key
moments. In a wedding, this pinnacle is
usually the kiss and the cutting of the cake.
For an event such as a political rally, you
want to be sure to catch the keynote
speaker. Events vary, so obviously, for differ-
ent events you need to capture different
moments.
Planning is the key to successfully photo-
graphing an event. Be sure to make a list of
what you need to capture. Talk to the event
planner, the bride, or the person holding the
event to find out what kind of images they
want. Make sure you have all the photogra-
phy equipment you need for the setting,
enough flash cards, and plenty of batteries
for your Speedlights. That last thing you
want to do is not be able to finish the job
because you ran out of memory or your bat-
teries died.
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