Question by Hello S: can anyone give me photography tips?
well i will be attending to a rock concert soon. i know the place will probably dark. i have a sony h50. im practicing to be a concert photographer. so this is my first time going to a concert to take pictures of the bands. but i want them to come really nice and neat and noticeable regardless how the light is low i am familiar with some things but not entirely everything so if any photographer out there can give me tips to improve it or to take pictures in the dark, please answer, whatever it is i’ll be grateful! thanks
Best answer:
Answer by Little Pooky
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/H50/H50A.HTM
Just looked at the review of your camera. It does not do well beyond ISO 400 (even if it can go up to ISO 3,200). So you’ll get a noisy photo.
Flash (of any kind) should not be used. Whatever lighting they set up on stage, a flash ruins it–and it’s distracting, too. Probably most important thing is the stage is probaby too far any way.
You need to use a dSLR for a clean shot. I hate to sound like a Sony basher, but Popular Photograhy magazine reports that even their top of the line 24 MP dSLR does not do well at all at high ISO. Canon and Nikon do better.
Here is one ISO 3,200 http://www.flickr.com/photos/little_pooky/3453338843/ Canon 5DM2 with 135 mm f 2 lens.
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We agree that your camera will not do too well at higher ISO’s but if the stage lighting is bright enough, go to 800 ISO anyway (reduce noise in post leater) and see if you can maintain a fast enough shutter speed so you don’t get any camera shake. (usually if you have a steady hand, no slower than 1/20th sec.)
We do disagree about using flash in certain circumastances. If you are close enough for it to reach, use it by all means but play around with slow shutter speeds. This way the flash freezes everything and then the slow shutter lets all the colour and movement fill in creating a very alive look and feel. Vary your speeds from 1/20th down to a couple of seconds. Good luck!
You have a nice camera but, unfortunately, it isn’t a good choice for low-light, non-flash photography. The conditions you’ll be shooting in call for a very fast lens – at least an f1.4. Your camera lens has a maximum f-stop of f2.7 (at the 31mm equivalent) which is 2 stops slower than f1.4. If you zoom all the way (465mm equivalent) your maximum f-stop becomes f4.5. Completely unsuitable for low-light work.
If you can get really close to the stage you might be able to get some decent results at 31mm. We already know that your camera does poorly at ISO 400 and above but your only real option is to use at least ISO 800 and maybe try a few at ISO 1600. The March 2009 issue of Shutterbug had an article titled “Noise Reduction Comes of Age” by Joe Farace. You can read it at http://www.shutterbug.com Just type the title of the article in the Search box.
Shoot in Aperture Priority and make sure your Sony’s image stabilization (Super Steady Shot) is ON.
Good luck. Remember, its better to have a noisy picture than no picture. Just don’t plan on making prints bigger than A6 (4×5).
If you intend to actively pusue concert photography then you’re going to have to seriously upgrade your equipment. A DSLR with a 50mm f1.4 lens should be your first purchase. Sony, Nikon, and Canon all make excellent ones to choose from.