# Concert Photography - D7100



## J-Cal (Mar 14, 2017)

Hi everyone,

         I've been asked to take some photos of my band from time to time. This genre is totally new to me, and i'm just a hobbyist anyway. So I bought a Nikon 35mm 1.8 to shoot with on my D7100. I only took a couple of shots at the last job because I just didn't have time to take more. 

        I noticed that the musicians that were in consistent/even low light were much easier to shoot, although I did get some blur when they moved. The singers however, were much more difficult as they were in and out of bright lights, and often partially in them. 

      I have a couple of questions right off the bat. Sorry if they're really noobish. 

     One, when people are in the spotlights, should I be exposing for their skin? It seemed that if anything was blown out, it was their skin. Secondly, they had blue lights on them last show as that was how the room was decorated. I wasn't thrilled with shooting in it. Are there lighting colors that are more photogenic than others? 

    Thanks in advance!


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## Destin (Mar 14, 2017)

J-Cal said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> I've been asked to take some photos of my band from time to time. This genre is totally new to me, and i'm just a hobbyist anyway. So I bought a Nikon 35mm 1.8 to shoot with on my D7100. I only took a couple of shots at the last job because I just didn't have time to take more.
> 
> ...



Some colors are definitely better than others.. blue is especially difficult. Red lights look terrible in color but convert remarkably well to black and white. 

The spotty lighting is hard.. sometimes you have to let some areas blow out in order to show the mood of the scene properly. 

If you're blowing out skin in wide shots try shooting tighter and exposing for the skin. By shooting tighter there will be less surrounding area to underexpose. 

I generally expose wide shots for the mood of the stage and tight shots for the stage. The new "highlight priority" metering mode on some nikons is very helpful for this, unfortunately the d7100 doesn't have this mode so that isn't much help for you.


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## J-Cal (Mar 14, 2017)

Destin said:


> J-Cal said:
> 
> 
> > Hi everyone,
> ...


  Thanks Destin!  When you say "mood of the stage" what do you mean? Do you mean you just expose for the overall stage and if people are shadowed out you deal with it of fix it in post production?


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## Destin (Mar 14, 2017)

J-Cal said:


> When you say "mood of the stage" what do you mean? Do you mean you just expose for the overall stage and if people are shadowed out you deal with it of fix it in post production?



Well I mean that concert photography hinges on maintaining the dark mood of the stage lighting. You have to keep the color of the lights and the shadows play a big roll in keeping the mood of lighting that was present in the venue. 

You can't just blast the stage with flash or expose everything for the shadows or the highlights... you'll kill one end of the lighting spectrum and your photos will look nothing like the actual venue. You have to find a happy medium, with your exposure which is very difficult with the changing lights. It almost always fools your cameras meter so you have to shoot manual, but that makes it hard to keep pace with the changing lighting conditions.


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## J-Cal (Mar 14, 2017)

Destin said:


> J-Cal said:
> 
> 
> > When you say "mood of the stage" what do you mean? Do you mean you just expose for the overall stage and if people are shadowed out you deal with it of fix it in post production?
> ...



   Ok, that's what I thought you meant. I don't even own a flash yet and oddly enough I have never used the one on top of the camera. I always shoot manual. Although once in a while i'll shoot auto just to see what the camera picks out of curiosity.


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## greybeard (Mar 16, 2017)

This is what I would do:  Set your ISO to Auto, set the minimum shutter speed to a setting that will freeze your action (125-250), select (A)perture priority.  Set the Aperture to f/2.8 and snap away.  When shooting the lead singer in strong light, spot meter on the highlight and don't worry about the shadows.  You can bring them up in post or leave them alone, it may better capture the mood of the show.    Rock on


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## mdruziak (Apr 6, 2017)

One thing that I'll throw in here.  I agree with what @Destin  posted.  But regarding lighting and exposing for the face.  Some times you may want the faces in the shadows and other times you might not.  

So what do you do if a performer's face is in the shadows and you want the face lit?  You have to watch the performer and see if at any time he moves so his face (or instrument) is lit by the stage lights.  When he moves into the stage light, that's when you shoot your photo.  If the performer doesn't move into the light, then you need to take what you get.  You might be able to brighten up the face in post.


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## chuasam (Apr 7, 2017)

Not sure about your camera but my D810 has an exposure mode just for stage/concert. It looks like [.]* on the camera.
D810 TIPS | Technical Solutions | Nikon Professional Services


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## Destin (Apr 8, 2017)

chuasam said:


> Not sure about your camera but my D810 has an exposure mode just for stage/concert. It looks like [.]* on the camera.
> D810 TIPS | Technical Solutions | Nikon Professional Services



That's highlight priority..  works for some stages, as long as the brightest lights are on your subject. Won't work well with a strong backlight. 

And the D7100 doesn't have it anyway. One of the biggest things I miss when I pick up my 7100 instead of my 500.


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## J-Cal (Apr 9, 2017)

greybeard said:


> This is what I would do:  Set your ISO to Auto, set the minimum shutter speed to a setting that will freeze your action (125-250), select (A)perture priority.  Set the Aperture to f/2.8 and snap away.  When shooting the lead singer in strong light, spot meter on the highlight and don't worry about the shadows.  You can bring them up in post or leave them alone, it may better capture the mood of the show.    Rock on


Thanks for the idea. I will try this. I typically shoot in full manual (and avoid the other modes), as I want to learn as much as I can and control everything, but i'll try it.


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## J-Cal (Apr 9, 2017)

I have to admit, I can't seem to find a minimum shutter speed option on the D7100. I only spent a few minutes but honestly, I might just shoot manual with auto iso, and get a starting point, and then go from there.


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## Destin (Apr 9, 2017)

J-Cal said:


> I have to admit, I can't seem to find a minimum shutter speed option on the D7100. I only spent a few minutes but honestly, I might just shoot manual with auto iso, and get a starting point, and then go from there.



It's located in the "shooting" menu, under iso -> auto ISO -> minimum shutter speed


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## J-Cal (Apr 9, 2017)

Destin said:


> J-Cal said:
> 
> 
> > I have to admit, I can't seem to find a minimum shutter speed option on the D7100. I only spent a few minutes but honestly, I might just shoot manual with auto iso, and get a starting point, and then go from there.
> ...


Thanks. I got it. It just wasn't highlighted, although it does seem that the ISO setting over rides it. It I set the ISO limit too low it auto adjusts the shutter. Learning all types of little things tonight...


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## mdruziak (Apr 11, 2017)

J-Cal said:


> greybeard said:
> 
> 
> > This is what I would do:  Set your ISO to Auto, set the minimum shutter speed to a setting that will freeze your action (125-250), select (A)perture priority.  Set the Aperture to f/2.8 and snap away.  When shooting the lead singer in strong light, spot meter on the highlight and don't worry about the shadows.  You can bring them up in post or leave them alone, it may better capture the mood of the show.    Rock on
> ...



Or you could shoot in Manual and set the ISO to Auto.


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## greybeard (Apr 11, 2017)

mdruziak said:


> J-Cal said:
> 
> 
> > greybeard said:
> ...


Using Auto ISO with a safe minimum shutter speed and Aperture priority is similar to Manual-Auto ISO.  The advantage of the former is that it won't over expose and blow out your highlights the way manual with Auto ISO can when the light exceeds the your minimum ISO, it will adjust the shutter speed to compensate.  I have 2 setups on my camera that I use 99% of the time U1 is for action and has Auto ISO with minimum shutter speed at 1/1250 and Aperture Priority.  U2 is for general walk around and has Auto ISO with minimum shutter speed at 1/125 and Aperture Priority.  I use Full Manual for anything else especially when I'm using Flash.


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## mk04447 (Aug 27, 2018)

I used a D7100 for about 2 years and it's low light performance was always lackluster. I'd suggest doing test shots, find the maximum ISO you can live with and fix it at that point. Then try to take advantage of a stop or 2 in post. If it were me, 1000 tops for an emotional setting where you want some detail; might work though, you can get 3 stops safely in LR.


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## Destin (Aug 28, 2018)

mk04447 said:


> I used a D7100 for about 2 years and it's low light performance was always lackluster. I'd suggest doing test shots, find the maximum ISO you can live with and fix it at that point. Then try to take advantage of a stop or 2 in post. If it were me, 1000 tops for an emotional setting where you want some detail; might work though, you can get 3 stops safely in LR.



I’d disagree with this. You get less noise by raising the ISO in camera that you do by bumping the exposure in post, at least on an older body like the D7100. 

Newer bodies that are “iso invariable” can have goos results boosting in post vs raising iso in camera, but older bodies didn’t have enough dynamic range to pull this trick off. 

Shoot an image two stops underexposed at 1600 iso and then raise it two stops in Lightroom. Then shoot the same image exposed properly at 6400 in camera, which is two stops brighter. You should end up with similar looking exposures, however the one shot at 6400 natively is almost guaranteed to look better than the one pushed two stops in post.


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## mk04447 (Aug 28, 2018)

Destin may be telling the truth, I have to say I didn't think like this when I had the D7100. Having said that, I think it is worth a try if it doesn't matter if you fail.


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## SquarePeg (Aug 28, 2018)

@Gary A. takes a lot of excellent concert/stage  photos. Maybe he can offer some additional insight.


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