Expert tips for photographing concerts

Peter Hsieh is a student at Northwestern Polytechnic University. An avid photographer, he started writing a series of blogs on his passion for helping educate and inform newcomers to the craft.

For this blog, Peter Hsieh shares some expert tips for photographing concerts.

First, people have to understand that concert photography is a challenging field because photographers have no control of parameters. Unlike posed or studio photography, the photographers cannot direct the subject.

Peter Hsieh mentions that in concerts, photographers need to use relatively high shutter speeds. In some concerts featuring rock bands, high shutter speeds are needed to capture the movement of the band members who are constantly moving. Lenses with open aperture (f/2.8, f1.4) to take photos without noise are always a good idea.

For photographers who are near the stage, Peter Hsien says to turn off the flash. Using flash when they are a few feet from the main stage is a common mistake that photographers make. A flash does nothing but blur or dim the images in this distance.

Instead, photographers need to measure the light until they get proper exposure before adding the flash. This will help them get ambient lighting and freeze the subject’s movement.

Finally, Peter Hsieh reminds photographers to wait for the spotlight. There will be many times when a live event will be dark for dramatic lighting effects. A good way to capture the subject is by waiting for a spotlight to hit the performer for focused, strong lighting.