“Jim Morrison” with Break On Through, an amazing Doors tribute band, 17 December 2011. Nikon D90 with a 50mm Nikkor f1.8 lens, 1/100, f/2, 1250 ISO.
Break On Through to the Faster Side
There’s nothing like a nice fast lens. I like shooting concert photos with natural light most of the time, and a fast lens always helps. I’m using the Nikkor 50mm f/1.4, which at $300, is a pretty good bargain. There’s another 50mm lens, the f/1.8, for scarcely more than $100, which is a steal. Dark light? With a big aperture, I can still shoot at 1/100 and “freeze” the action without getting too much noise (grain).
I like to wander. I took the above photo of “Jim Morrison”, singer of the Doors tribute band Break On Through”, while standing next to the drummer on stage. I really like the look of someone who is backlit.
Who is the Pharoah Of Them All? The legendary Pharoah Sanders at the Catalina, this one taken with the same Nikon D90, but with a much slower lens, an 18-200mm VR, shot with a rather “low tech” method of minimizing camera shake! 😀
Take It As It Comes
Sometimes, you don’t always have what you need. Here at this gig with the legendary Pharoah Sanders at the Catalina, I didn’t own the faster lens, and had considerably slower 18-200mm VR Nikkor zoom lens. I got away with less movement by using the VR (Vibration Reduction) technology AND by squeezing the camera tight against one of the posts to minimize camera shake while shooting. I still picked up a bunch of noise from having to bump my ISO quite high, so I had to spend a little time in Photoshop cleaning that up. But my philosophy is that I’d rather get the shot with a little noise than not get the shot at all. And this photo has been one of my most popular concert photos, and something I personally treasure.
Equipment: Nikon D90, 50mm f1/4 (first photo); 18-200mm VR Nikkor lens (2nd photo)
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