Concert Photo help

[R1FSR]

Hi
Newbie here so please be gentle with me.
Im open to full criticism as im a believer in mistakes make you better in what you do..anyway ive been lucky enough to shoot some great bands (personal opinion) over the last few years but my photos always seem to lack punch and im not sure what it is.
heres a few sample that you can all pull apart.

many thanks
Paul

[alltubeampeg]

I think you're on the right track. My knee-jerk suggestion would be to capture more expression. My second suggestion would be to try and find shots that happen in more dramatic lighting. If you have a moment check this gallery out:

http://www.paparazzibyappointment.co...te/music.shtml

The pictures of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs illustrate what i'm getting at (especially the one where the lead singer swallows the mic).

Good Luck!

[brmill26]

Well you have good taste in music, that's for sure. I recognize Joe Satriani, Dream Theater's bassist, and Steve Vai, I think. As for the photos, they all look very good. The DT bassist is somewhat blown out, but the lighting there is so extreme it'd be hard to avoid that. Satriani's arm is just a little blurred, but I imagine you'd need a pretty fast shutter speed to stop that.

Fantastic shots of some very talented people - welcome to PR!

[jbaldocchi]

Taking concert photo's is difficult. Changing lights, color intensity all are tough variables. I'd say learn to use PhotoShop and tweek your images with their tools. You can burn, dodge soften etc. Nice photographs and keep shooting.

Jim B.

[Herriot]

Of them all the third grabs my attention as the most interesting shot and is the onw that packs the most punch that you referred to. Am sure that this is a very interesting area to photograph given the lighting and the constant changes in the environment that must be taking place rapidly. Look forward to seeing more from you and welcome to the forum!

[R1FSR]

hi all
thanks for the comments and the warm welcome.
wonder if anyone can help me with another problem ..when viewing some photos on my monitor they look great..sharp and full of colour but sometimes when uploaded they lose clarity is it something to with the compression maybe ?

like this for instance

the pic looks out of focus and messy ..actually it is slightly out of focus wich is a shame .
but it looks far worse than actually is.

a few more pics

[gahspidy]

Welcome to the forum. i think you have done well here and the shots are good. Only the foot being cut off in #3 bothers me.
I feel as Alltubeampeg (alltubemarshalls are pretty good too)does in that all that might be neded to get these better are bettermoments of facial expression. I can't see the eyes in any of these and most have them looking down at their axes. That is what they are doing most of the time, but be ready for the moments when they look up as well. Hard to do, you have to fire off bursts of shots at when you predict these moments nay happen.
Good work

btw, these last pics are good with better expression but are a bit on the soft side as you say. Are you sharpening these before you post? Also, saving for the web and it's compression usually tend to desaurate color and pop somehow.

[R1FSR]

Any better ?

[gahspidy]

There you go, thats what i'm talkin about. Nice stuff.