High ISO Settings: The Secret to Concert Photography

[@jcasey912]

Good video! Some of my own thoughts: I just don’t worry about high ISO, because in some situations it’s a necessity. Even in a daytime, outdoor show I’ll set an ISO value seemingly high and just use higher shutter speeds while using the shutter speed to set the exposure value, a technique I generally employ for stages anyway. That way there’s only one setting to worry about. Since early in the digital days (with my old D100) I’ve tried to limit ISO to about half the highest ISO level. With modern sensors (the past, well nearly a decade) they are easily usable at what were once unusable levels. And outdoor covered/lighted stages will require a different (sometimes lower) exposure setting, so unless the sun is hitting the stage you probably won’t be shooting at base ISO. But sometimes you have to employ a high ISO to get the shot, particularly an energetic (Punk is a great example) band on a low light stage. And if need be, noise reduction software can get you the look you may want (even Adobe’s is getting pretty good).

[@robertc.maxfieldiiphotography]

Hi JCasey! I will admit I do the same thing some times. We have one festival where there is a very dark indoor stage(it's in a warehouse) and the other is outdoors in bright sunlight. I leave the ISO set for the indoor and when I get outdoors I increase the shutter speed and aperture. That way I am not changing the setting all the time. The shows happen all day about 30 minutes apart, inside then outside all day long. The higher ISO allows you to get the higher shutter for the moving acts. Punk bands especially. AND the wide angle lenses give you the larger depth of field so is forgiving focusing wise. A lot less chance of blur. I think I would still use selective metering and focusing just to make sure the subject is properly exposed. I can not tell you the number of peoples work I see with bad exposure, blur and noise. Drives me almost as crazy as the shots with the subject smack in the middle on every photograph. I've been shooting a lot of country and blues artist recently so things are a lot slower. It takes a different mindset. I sometimes really miss arena rock shows (a lot)! Thanks for watching!!! Appreciate the comment! -R

[@dalvinderbasi3495]

ISO is not sensitivity to light. It is amplified gain. It is in practice no different to bumping up your exposure post process. You are a more experienced photographer than I am, so I am definitely not trying to contradict you, but sometimes we can all forget or overlook things, experienced or inexperienced. By the way I enjoyed your video. A lot of information you provided, and for me to learn from. One mistake I made was I tried to photograph a concert with a smaller sensor camera. I bought a bridge camera so that I could get reach, because I didn't want to spend money on a longer lens, as I don't regularly photograph concerts. In hindsight, I should have used a full frame camera and rented a long telephoto lens.

[@robertc.maxfieldiiphotography]

Hi! dalvinderbasi3495, originally in the US ISO was called ASA. ASA rated the sensitivity of the emulsion on film to light. Larger grains of silver more sensitive the film. There is more to it than that but.. .Digital is a little different but the concept is similar. But it is more of turning the gain up and down like the volume on a stereo, sort of. The sensor takes in light and depending on the gain level is how the photo is recorded. So technically you are right and I think I tried to over simplify things a bit. It's the old film guy in me I guess :) . The way it is defined and I will post the link in this reply is this: What is ISO? In simple terms, ISO is a measure of the sensitivity of the camera’s sensor to light. The lowest ISO setting of most digital cameras is 50, 100 or 200. At this setting, the camera’s sensor is least sensitive to light. At higher settings, like 3200 or 6400, the sensor is more sensitive to light. It can be confusing because Digital is different in some was than film. digital-photography-school.com/understand-iso-digital-camera/ Thanks for watching and the comment! -R

[@dalvinderbasi3495]

@@robertc.maxfieldiiphotography Thank you for the very informative reply. I really appreciate that. Yes of course ASA for film and ISO for digital sensors are different. ASA was sensitivity as you mentioned, digital being different. Thank you so much for your reply, and very interesting and informative reply.

[@1960hawklord]

Shame you don't tag on a number of photos with the settings on the end of your video.

[@robertc.maxfieldiiphotography]

Hawklord that is a good point! I usually do that but did not on this video. I am going to need to cure that! Thanks for viewing! -R