Pictures at a Concert

[frank54]

I have a Fuji 550 and a Z-1. I have tried several times at different concerts to take a decent picture with no luck. I have always been in the front 5 rows. Used house light medium high and still get blurs. I don't use the flash either. I can't carry in a tripod so what else can I do?:confused:

[zdzislaw]

hi frank 54,
i am going to bed,got 5 hours,
if you still interested, we talk tommorow,
and there is plenty to do..for you,
promise will send you few letters,
chersssss for now, and good night...
regards
zdzislaw

[zdzislaw]

hi frank54,
right to bussines, what i say you allready know but as we put things together you may find something usefull, concerts you talking about i assume are pop,rock, punk and not classical, stop laughing, the latest requre say different approch,knowing your cameras back to front helps, also high iso helps (from 800 up)but honestly forget about postcard quality,not with equipment that you have and at hight iso,dont despair thou, rockers like to move around,well its you turn, work them out, every now and than they stop moving for a split of a second, they bend,sqat, turn their heads and draw expressions on their faces ,you have to follow their body movement with you camera,it is like panning, or else pre focus your camera at certain spot, and wait for him,her to come in to your frame,keep the camera in shuter priority or as i would in manual and bingo, times lower than 1/30s are common or even 1/15s and slower, steady hands,support your elbows, control your breathing,may help and of course lens fully open, pay attention to lightning on stage, use it to your advantage, now pictures out of focus or blur still have some value specially from concerts,
use blur wiselly, and dont stop on two or three takes, this is the beauty of digital, keep shooting,a bit of practise, carefull planning and chasing the artist with your lens(matter of saying) will do good,
than processing,good software and may be ninja program to fight off noise,
take this only as a general advice, you be the man behind the magic box,so do your homework, keep planning,keep talking to people, ask questions,keep adjusting the camera, dont live it in p,and keep your finger happy,
apology for the mish-mash,but running out of time,
stay well,
regards
zdzislaw
so be creative, planing

[frank54]

:) :) Many thanks to your advice!! I am new to all of this and went to a "rock" concert this past weekend and used your advice and it worked great! Being handicapped has its' own problems but I was still able to keep the camera steady and got terrific results. Thanks again for your time and advice...

[zdzislaw]

hi frank54,
if i made your day,you made my week,
cant believ my advise finally worked, alleluja,
i am at work writing on my pda, once i come home, will write few other things that i would like to share with you,
till then,
zdzislaw

[zdzislaw]

hi frank54,
as i promised i deliver, never to late,
previously i did mentioned the quality of pictures taken with your camera at concerts,will never be...and so on, by saying so i meant that above mentioned cameras have limitations and so have mine,
we can write pages about it, but the main reason is a lens, yes it is,
why? becaue our cameras dont open up lower than 2.8 (aperture at certain focal lenght)
dslrs thou have got lenses going down at least one full stop,right through
the hole focal lenght(zooms),the same apply for fixed lenght lenses,(dslr)
the hole idea is to allowed more light passed through,it is simple
but may cost you thousands of dollars(lens only)
dont want to write to much about it,posts or articles appear every now and then, and someone with better knowhow may explain it properly,

staying in the rock photo subject, i have seen back page of one of the digital photo magazines that featured rock photographer danny clifford,
check him out, he also claims that he uses f10 finepix, to prove it there are images taken by him with such fuji, true or not, but those pics may give you ideas how to tackle your private assigments(read hobbys) around the place,
kind regards to you all
zdzislaw