Concert photography: The right tone

Concert photography is one of the most appealing areas of photography. At the same time, however, concert photography is also one of the most difficult. The reason for this lies in the shooting conditions, which have unfortunately become much tougher in recent years, to the detriment of the photographers and therefore also the photographic quality.

The cell phone-photographing concertgoers, who can probably be found at every concert, certainly do not think about whether a.) they are allowed to take photos during the concert at all and b.) whether they are allowed to post these photos on the Internet, i.e. publish them (which, despite or precisely because of their ignorance, happens regularly).

As a professional photographer, however, you have to ask yourself these questions in order to avoid the risk of being warned at great expense.

And it is therefore not uncommon for the clarification of legal matters, i.e. whether and how the photographer can take photos during the concert and then publish the photos (and perhaps which ones?), to be much more difficult than the photographic challenges (which, depending on the lighting situation, are often not entirely "without").

In addition to legal restrictions (see previous chapter), there are a few other special features that make concert photography stand out from other areas of photography.

For example, the fusion of two different hobbies is perfectly possible in concert photography, because listening to music or going to concerts on the one hand and photography on the other form a wonderful symbiosis. This may also be the case in other areas of photography (for example in nature photography, architectural photography, etc.), where two different interests can also be combined, but accreditation (if you get one) allows you to attend concerts free of charge, which is a clear monetary advantage for the concert photographer.

In concert photography, we photographers are merely "tolerated" - for reasons of press freedom, reporting, marketing etc.. We are not popular with anyone: neither with the musicians, their management, the organizer, the security or the fans in the audience. This is understandable, at least on closer inspection ...

If you want to dedicate yourself specifically to concert photography, you should make sure that the equipment you buy is as suitable as possible for concert photography. Not every camera meets the special requirements of concert photography. The same applies to lenses, memory cards, etc.

In order to take excellent concert photos, you not only need suitable equipment, but also experience or at least the knowledge of how best to use your camera settings. The following are therefore a few tips from professional photographers in the field of concert photography. Please note, however, that these can only be recommendations, as individual working methods also play an important role. For example, those of you who achieve the best results by using spot metering (please do not confuse this with autofocus single-field metering!) should continue to use it, even if I consider its practicality for concert photography to be limited (see below).

Good (concert) photos are not just a result of correct exposure and focusing. In addition to the art of catching the right moment, it is in particular the skillful composition of the image that decides whether the photo has a purely documentary character or stands out from the mass of concert photos.

In this second part on the subject of image composition, the aim is to develop a feel for how a concert photographer can not only document the musicians on stage, but also create images that stand out from the mass of concert photographs by using unusual camera angles or capturing spectacular moments.

The difficulty in concert photography lies in the rapidly changing, unpredictable lighting conditions that are characteristic of live concerts. In this respect, anyone who thinks they can fall back on patent recipes for setting up their camera is doomed to failure. Without first analyzing the prevailing lighting situation, it is not possible to make serious recommendations for settings.

Shooting good (concert) photos is one thing. As we have seen in previous tutorials, it is also difficult enough due to the difficult conditions. However, this alone is not enough. The post-processing also determines whether you can be a successful concert photographer - or not. Image selection and the organization of archiving (as the basis for successful image sales) are particularly important.