How to Improve your Live Music Photography

On a day-to-day basis I'm hard at work on many photography related things, which also includes my work at livemusicTO. livemusicTO focuses on the music scene in Toronto; hosting events, blogs and artist interviews as well as live music photographs.

Thanks to my 'job' over there I'm often browsing many live music blogs and websites trying to stay in touch with what's cool and currently revolving around Toronto musically. Time and again I notice a few things that bother me a bit and I think a lot of photographers are missing the mark. The frustrating part isn’t necessarily that they aren’t talented enough or don’t have enough passion, it’s simply that they’re using the wrong techniques or equipment to get the job done right. Some common faults: poor timing, bad clarity, too many of the same images and wrong flash or camera settings.

I think what a lot of young photographers forget is that the power of a photograph lies in its ability to tell a story. And this applies as much to live music photography as it does nature photography. If all your photographs are the same close crop of the lead singer or drummer for example, you’re missing more than half of the “story”. The collection of photos as a whole should ideally share the experience of being there. If the viewer leaves your gallery only knowing the colour of nail polish the lead singer wears, you’ve missed the mark and the lasting value of your images will be lost. Sure, one photo might be spectacular, but if the pose you’ve captured is almost identical to the other 100 images you made public… it’s going to be less memorable.

I recently had the opportunity to explore these ideas when I photographed Aaron Gillespie (The Almost, Underoath), Parachute Band and NineOFive at a concert in Ajax, ON last month. In my attempt to tell a story, I discovered some keys to success that I’d like to share with you.

1. Use more than one lens. You’d be amazed what a difference it can make sometimes to simply try a different lens. Swap out the telephoto for a wide angle and see what happens. Constantly switch back and forth and keep things interesting.
2. Focus on more than just the band. The band is great and all, but guess what – so are the fans! And capturing the energy of the crowd as well as the band is imperative in telling your “story”.
3. Move. Too many photographers stand put in one spot. Move around, hit all four corners of the venue and see what different perspectives offer. The fog or lights might look really dumb at the front of the stage, but when you take a step back they look super epic. Get into the center of the crowd and see what it looks like from their point of view.
   
4. Use the right ISO. If your photos are going to be used for web-only, why not max out your ISO settings so you can get the fastest shutter speeds possible? By the time your photo is shrunk for web, the harsh grain will become fine grain and you’ll get rid of the annoying blurs that most live photography images have. You want to be able to freeze all the action. 
5. Shoot in Manual, Shutter or Aperture priority. The automatic settings on your camera are working against you, they are the enemy. Switch to manual, or if you're not comfortable with that yet use one of the priority modes so you can have full control over the clarity of your images when shooting people that are on the move constantly. You'll also be able to compensate for the lighting, and capture the most beautiful colours once you harness the power of these shooting modes.
6. Use a diffuser on your Flash. No one wants to see a band caught in the headlights of an on-coming car (aka your harsh on-camera flash). Buy yourself an inexpensive diffuser to reduce the harshness of your flash and help spread the light evenly on your subject.
7. Leave the tripod/monopod at home. You’ll look like an idiot, but more importantly you won’t be able to move fast in reaction to the band’s movements if your camera is attached to a fixed object. Being mobile is essential to capturing exciting photos. Anticipating the band’s next move is everything and if you’re stuck on a pole your chances of being able to move quickly or creatively to capture the next lunge or stage dive are limited.

So this concert wasn't your typical high energy club show. It was inside a church, the venue had seating and so the crowd wasn't able to move a whole lot. It posed a great challenge for me to tell a story or capture the live energy. Sometimes it helps to add context to the event by showing the crowd lined up, the posters lining the halls or the catering/production/sound checks. Sometimes as a photographer you have to create energy for yourself. Find crazy perspectives no one else will think of, that help tell a story, share a message or portray energy whether or not it was even there.

A stranger should be able to look at your photos and know exactly what they missed if they weren't there. Hopefully what they missed was a damn good time, thanks to your photos. I don't claim to be an expert on the topic and I'm not always the best at practising what I preach, but I hope some of these tips help you next time you're out shooting a live music event. - Matt Vardy.

Aaron and his management liked the photos so much that one of them became the
Echo Your Song (Live) album cover!