Fifer Photography Blog

Concerts can be fun venues to shoot. If you take some time and don’t rush things, they can be equality as rewarding.

Gear
Because concerts usually take place in the evening, if at all possible, use the fastest lens you have. An f2.8 would be the best, but even an f4 can do a decent job. If you have two bodies (or can borrow an extra one), put a long lens on one for taking close-ups and a wide lens on the other for taking wide shots of the band. That way, you won’t be standing there changing lenses as the action rolls by you.

Hangin’ Out
Instead of moving all over the stage, trying to catch that great expression or body posture. Slow down some. The band is not going to play 1-2 songs and leave. Usually, they are there for a couple of hours (at least). Pick out a person and ‘hang out’ with them for a while, even a full song. The important thing is to never take your eye from the view finder. If you have your camera down and they start to do something photo-worthy, by the time you get the camera up to your eye and focus, it will be too late. Constantly follow that person and refocus often, never taking the camera away from your eye. Then, when they strike that killer rock ‘n roll pose, you will be ready.

Don’t worry about the other band members ‘getting away’. If they are doing something interesting now, they will be doing the same sort of thing 3 songs from now… it is a part of their stage presence.

I used to worry about getting that killer shot at concerts. I would take a shot of one person… oh wait…. There is that guy over there! Quick, get that guy! I would get myself so worked up that I would inevitably forget basic camera stuff, like monitoring my exposure. With the camera at the ready all the time and on the same person, if they are having a ‘down’ moment, you can quickly take it away from your eye and make any adjustments, if needed (if you are really good and know your controls, you can do this with the camera still to your eye).

Now, instead of having to make a decision of what image is good enough to keep, you will be faced with what images do I want to/should I discard. You will have many more good shots than bad.

In 1994, Apple launched the camera pictured above. Given the name Apple Quicktake and built by Fujifilm, it boasted a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels at a maximum of 0.3 Megapixels. Models 100 and 200 were only compatible with the Apple Macintosh, while the 150 was compatible with both the Macintosh and Microsoft Windows.

The QuickTake 100 was released as an easy-to-use digital camera that connected to any Macintosh computer by way of an Apple serial cable. The camera had a built-in flash, but no focus or zoom controls. The QuickTake 150 kit included a separate close-up lens that allowed focusing at approximately 30 cm. Other than downloading the photos to a computer, there was no way to preview them on the camera, nor was there any way to delete individual photos from the camera (though there was a recessed ‘trash’ button which would delete the entire contents of the camera).

The QuickTake 100 and 150 stored images internally, not on cards, so they had to be used with an Apple serial cable and the QuickTake driver software.

The introductory prices for the cameras are as follows (prices U.S.),
Model 100: $749
Model 150: $700
Model 200: $600

Wikipedia has the full specs here.

If they knew where we’d be in 15 short years! Makes you wonder what is in store for the next 15.

This may be one of the very few times I deviate from my usual blog entries about camera related ’stuffs’, but if anything deserves being deviated to, this is it…

As you can see from the image above, we are no longer in Kansas. No talking about Nikon vs. Canon, f-stops, how to light your subject, etc…. No, I am going to talk about talent. More so, how society pre-judges people to assess talent based solely on looks. How your age is a determining factor of the worthiness of your contribution.

Shows like American Idol (man, it even hurts to type that name) have always been lower on my list of to-do’s than running a cheese grater between my toes. The last couple of days, I have seen floating on CNN a story about a woman on the show Britain’s Got Talent. Up until a couple of days ago, I blissfully ignored the story.

Then, I clicked on that story. What I found was astounding and saddening at the same time. A Scottish woman named Susan Boyle; 47 years old got up on stage and embarrassed hundreds, if not thousands of people by proving it is not what is on the outside that counts, but the inside.

As I sat there listening to her amazing voice, I couldn’t help but think of her 47 years of life. Of how people/society didn’t give this woman a second look, because she was not “beautiful”. As if beautiful can sing, or take a good photograph. And not just regarding her singing talent. What about the other aspects of her life? 47 yeas old and she has not had a kiss (something that usually happens in your teens). How many times had she been teased as a youngster? How long did it take before she started believing what she was hearing in those muffled whispers? How long would she have stayed hidden, burdened by societies cruelty? By the grace of God, somebody convinced her she was worthy… and the rest of the world benefited from it.

We can all learn from this. Don’t be so quick to judge others abilities based on their looks or their age. You could be slighting a Susan Boyle. Most importantly, don’t listen to others opinions on what you can or can’t do. Don’t ever let someone else define your happiness. You and you alone know in your heart what you enjoy and are capable of.

I now know there is a reason for why shows like American Idol (shit… I can’t get away from that name!) or Britain’s Got Talent are on the air.. For without them, the world may have never found out about Susan. I have the highest hopes that she will finally realize her dream of singing professionally and start to unwind the many injustices she has had to bare in her life…. And that many can find inspiration from Ms. Boyle and break free of their chains. God speed, Susan Boyle… God speed.