Interesting alternative to rock concert photos. Yesterday my favorite local band from Aachen was playing on a pretty big private birthday party. Energy saving garden lamps instead of an array of 500W concert lamps, and a relaxed acoustified set instead of rock action. But still Pencilcase was awesome and I even got a few nice shots.
The early shots were still pretty easy technically, with F/2.0-2.8 I got perfectly lit pictures even during dawn. They look like I shot them during daylight, but it was already in the middle of dawn.
But as it got really dark, I had to switch up to ISO3200 even with F/1.4. The pictures got noisy and the lamps in front of the band were causing glares.
I used my usual trick for noisy concert pictures, and gave them some kind of grunge look. That means:
- Boost clarity
- Boost Sharpening
- Adjust B/W mixing to highlight the musicians and create strong contrasts
- Adjust tone curves to give a very strong contrast
My favorite pictures from this shooting:
The whole set is on facebook: Pencilcase on a 50th birthday party