Mundy in Profile @ Dolans Warehouse in Limerick

I know that I posted this gallery previously, but I am taking the liberty of reposting it as it is now the first collection within my Gallery on JonathanBourke.Com. Please feel free to check it out!

Apart from loving the music, and Dolans Warehouse for that matter, I love concert photography. It is by far and away one of the most challenging genres within photography. One second you are dealing with extremely low light levels, and the next, you are blinded by light. And all the time, the artist is jumping around stage like someone possessed. Compact cameras will not cut it in this environment. They are just too slow.

Digital SLRs with standard lenses might manage one or two lucky shots. Image Stabilised lenses are not going to help either… you might be able to hand hold the lens in the low light, but the rapid movement on stage will still be a blur.

High ISO’s and Fast Lenses are your friends. Most of my concert shots are taken with a Canon EOS 20D at ISO 1600, and a Canon 50mm F1.4. Even then, I am happy if I have 10 shots out of a hundred which are acceptable. My settings are pretty much:

• Aperture Priority, set to something like F2.8 max, sometimes right down to F1.4
• ISO set to 1600, 800 if I can get away with it
• Focus mode set to AI Servo… i.e. will attempt to track moving objects
• Centre Focus point selected
• Metering normally set to Evaluative, but I sometimes use Partial
• Drive mode set to continuous

And here is the kicker, White Balance set to Auto. this is an issue which is often discussed in relation to concert photography; i.e. how do you get accurate colours with all those crazy lights? My response to this is “Who cares?” In my mind, the crazy colours add to the drama and excitement of the event. I would never want to subdue them…

Mundy, introducing a little feedback!

Mundy @ Dolan’s Warehouse

I just posted some new shots on Flickr from a concert by Mundy at Dolans Warehouse in Limerick. Enjoy!

Yet again, this is the place to be for intimate live music. All shots taken with a Canon EOS 20D using a 50mm F1.4 lens.

Feel free to comment on these here, or on Flickr.