Sometimes you just have to get your ass out of the door to rediscover your hobby once again, as I did last weekend. Okay, this may sound more profound than it really is, but seriously: I think its very pleasing and important to start from scratch once in a while, to find out why you really love concert photography and where you still can improve and develop.

I had one of these moments when I attended U&D festival last saturday. It was a spontaneous decision to go there with some friends of mine, I quickly decided to grab my camera and off we went. No pit, no limits, no deadlines or other commitments, totally unknown surroundings and bands. These are, in my opinion, the perfect conditions zo experiment, to change your photography habits and work on your weak sides rather than heavily relying on your strenghts.

Actually the lighting was surprisingly good in parts, although I had to dial up the ISO setting to 3200 in the end, which brings the D300 to its limits. All the pogoing punks and rockers posed sporty challenge too. Unfortunately, this limited the possibilities to shoot from. You could either go very tight to the front of the stage, meaning you would have to go wide and photograph from a rather steep angle from below, or orientate yourself more to the back of the crowd and take the tele zoom to make your pictures with a flat angle.

In the end, the pictures aren’t the most important part of this concert for me. I’m more thankful for the joy and experience such “one man workshops” help me to achieve. More landscape format shooting, more active thinking about the backgrounds, the lighting and the composition rather than just shooting by instinct, more control over autofocus. If you don’t already do things like this, then what are you waiting for? Grab your camera and kick yoursel out of the door, just shoot something small or unknown to you. This is the only real way we photogs can evolve our skills and get better in what we love to do.

PS: I’d really like to hear some opinions on this topic. What do you do to improve yourself? You can also write me some general critics on my blog, I’m really interested to see who is reading all of this.

This will be a fast one, just click on “Read More” for the full information

Okay, I’m really going to make a quick one out of this. Still got lots of things to do so my time is as always very limited.

Party.San was a really cool festival. Their lighting setup was very good and the stage height was acceptable. Except for some ambient and atmospheric shots I used the 70-200 2.8 as standard lens. 70mm were good enough for full body shots of people in front of the stage, with 200mm being enough to reach the musicians in the back. Whereas daylight provided enough (but rather unattractive) light for stopping down, ISO200 and a shutter speed of 1/500s, ISO1600-ISO2000 was used with aperture wide open for the bands in the evening and night.

I really don’t remember how much Gigabyte in CF-Cards I carried with me, but I shot a total of 1359 pictures, everything in RAW. I used my normal laptop as storage device back in the car.

In a nutshell, the Party.San festival was a really pleasing experience. I like the shots I took back home from there, the bands provideded interesting shows and the weather wasn’t too bad. If you are into metal you should defenitely check it out.

A quite unusual bandmix, a worthy headliner but not too much fun with the support acts: In the end, the “Chaos over Europe”-Tour was mixture of pros and cons which evend out eacht other. And in terms of photography, the LKA once again revealed more shadow than light.

Take the deep red wash, throw in a bit of bright and overexposing blue, just leave out the real rimlight from behind and use tons of fog to make everything go “Wuuuuuush!”, there you have the conditions for this concert. The pit conditions were the same as always. A small pit and stage at the height of your chest, which has its pros and cons. On the positive side, I can go very near in person and wide on my lens, I like this style. On the negative side, you always have a perspective which goes up, forcing you to directly aim into the rear lights. Flares are guaranteed, washing out every tiny bit of contrast, together with the omnipresent fog.

Because of that, I had to apply a quite huge amount of post processing, mainly fixing the colors, improving the exposure (light was also very dim, but the fog limited me to ISO2000, since it is very prone to noise) and tune the contrast. This way, I could give some of the pictures an interesting look.

17-50 was on the body most of the time, 70-200 came out for some of the closer portraits. In the end, a concert to forget. You know this feeling, just when you leave the pit, watch the concert and in an instant, the lighting situation improves? I mean, it was no big difference, but it just sucks. The venues in Stuttgart where the bands of my interest play have mainly uninteresting light and only few acts make it to the bigger venues like Schleyerhalle or Porsche-Arena. And even there you’ve got to be lucky to get really interesting lighting schemes and backgrounds.

More festival pics to come.

Complete Gallery

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I got 2 months of free time now, enough time to digg up some old stuff that should have been released weeks, no, months ago. Whatever, I’m going to start with the Zabbaduschder Open Air and will be continuing with more Pics from Summer Breeze, Party.San and a few concerts (and there are some new pics in sight with Kreator in march).

What should I tell you about the Zabbaduschder Festival: located in Urbach, next to a water cleaning are or something like that, fortunately not smelling, on a small grass area, very relaxed festival with only a few hundred people, I’m having a wonderful time there with a lot of beer and meat every year. Mostly smalle bands and a few headliners, smaller stage with a mid level lighting set.

Same procedure as every year, Mrs. Sophie. Because of the small stage I could use my preferred style of wide angle shooting, there was no 3 song limit, you could enter the reasonable sized pit whenever you wanted to (which allowed me to make my own schedule and spend a comfortable amount at the camping site, enjoying .. beer, you know the deal). For sure, the lights aren’t to great, ISO2000 with f2.8 lenses and normal exposure times as well as fighting against some red or blue color washes include, but all in all it wasn’t too bad for a festival of this size.

Complete Gallery

And again, a little concert which already took place a few months ago. This time Demians from France and the well known Anathema from Great Britain took the stage

The set of this evening was everything else than easy to photograph. No pit, although the crowd remained very peaceful, tons of red was lighting directly into my direction in addition to the disturbing fog. And, for sure, there was nearly no front lighting. In the end I’m not too happy with the results, too many of the final pictures had to recieve  a moderate amount of post processing, especially tweaking of the contrast, to get an interesting look.

As always I used my D300 with the 17-50mm on top most of the time. With friendly talks and the search for the gap I could get some nice angels at the protagonists. Unfortunately I couldn’t use the advantage to shoot the whole set,  I got my signal to start to enjoy the wonderful show when a smiling Daniel Cavanagh threw a litte water bottle after me

Woho, can’t belive 6 months have passed since I wrote something down here. Well, I’ll put it in a nutshell: I got a lot to photograph and even more to do in general, but I’m still motivated to show you more of my work. No description this time, still using the same gear with on-camera flash this time. Enjoy!

Complete Gallery

And finally I succeeded, here is the first of the promised updates for metalfoto.de.
It seems as if my way to get the pictures and the text up here is way to complicated, but whatever.

I decided to put the pics of the DEATH FEAST OPEN AIR 2008 up first, they aren’t way to old right now and I just finished to write my report on it.

(More information, many more pictures and all the other Blablas? Hit the jump)

The DEATH FEAST is, as its name suggests, an absolute party for fans of Death Metal and Grind, especially the brutal stuff. CRYPTOPSY, DYING FETUS, BEHEADED, IMPALED, DECREPIT BIRTH, VADDER ABRAHAM AND THE SMURFS (just kidding), as much noise as you can possibly gather in one place.

It was my second festival this year as photographer after the Ragnarök Festival end of March. The number of photogs was quite small and belive it or not, I was the best equipped guy in the pit.

The stage and the pit were absolutely okay. The stage was about the height of my chest, I could lean forward perfectly, supporting my arms in holding the camera and still having enough place for my wide angle shots. If you went some steps back to the start of the barrier, there would just be enough distance between you and the musicians to use the 70-200 for portraits. In the front, I used my well tested 17-50mm lens of course, which worked as usual.

Because it is an outdoor festival, most of the day you can rely on sunlight. This has advantages and disadvantages, of course. One definite adavantage: mass of light. ISO200, 1/500s at f4? No problem, just nail the exposure and go for it. ISO400 to ISO800 would still be no problem, if you need the fast shutter speeds just dial them in. You won’t notice to much of noice because of the lack of darker areas in the broad sunlight. Disadvantages: When the clouds disappear, you will have really hard direct light in the afternoons, say hello to the hard shadows and contrasts. And, to be honest, daylight is not the same as well chosen stage lighting.

Because of that, I put the ISO up to 800 when we reached the afternoon hours. Then they began to use some of the colorful spots in the rear and released a bit of smoke in the background, and I definitely wanted to have them in the picture. Unfortunately, the stage lighting was not as good as I had hoped. Mostly light from behind and only traces of light coming from the front. You had to catch the moments when they used really clean, white light from behind, that was reflected onto the musicans by the stage. The rest of the time meant playing with colors and shadows, trying to squeeze a few useful frames.

Regarding my equipment I was as satisfied as always. D70s and SB-25 stayed in the car as Backup, fortunately I didn’t need them. D300 as main cam, switching back and forth between the 17-50mm and the 70-200mm, the SB-600 was with me but didn’t see any use. The Stealth Reporter D650AW got heavy from time to time, maybe because I always had a liter of beer in it. The only other piece of equipment that would be wort mentioned is the laptop I used to empty my cards, I always carry it with me when I hit bigger festivals. Nevertheless I should fetch some additional 4 or even 8 gig cards when I hit the giant 90+ bands festivals this summer.

Well, that’s it for today. You should already be able to see ten of my pics, the big gallerys will follow asap.

Edit: And here they are, have fun watching.

The complete gallerys of:

Thursday
Friday
Saturday

As concert photographer in my hometown Tübingen I’m absolutely used to bad lighting. Just a few colorful spots, that’s normal for most of the small locations. But I knew, this gig would be more challenging than any other gig before. Ever encountered a stage with just a living room lamp aimed at the ceiling?

(For more pictures and the complete Shooting infos take the jump)

Well, you can’t actually call this thing a stage, it is just a small, maybe 2,5m wide hallway. Lucky for me, I was surrounded by white walls, so I had the absolutely free choice on how to use my flash. Normally I like to get it off camera, but the location wasn’t suited to the strobist style. The only way would have been to set up one or two flashes on tripods at the two sides of the stage, aimed at the ceiling. But, to be honest, I don’t like to use the ceiling when I have to wonderful walls at both sides of the stage. The thing is: Altough the ceiling would work like a huge softbox for me, the light would still cover the faces of the musicians in a very direct way, like a very soft direct flash. But, when I use the walls, I get more off camera flash like I would be able to achieve in a studio, with more wrapping, interesting light. So I kept the flash on camera and tilted it in every possible direction to create flattering light.

For sure, I still kept an eye on my “ambient light”, so I dialed the ISO up to 800 instantly. And, because my flash light would just freeze the motion of the guys on stage, I experimented with long exposures between 1/40s and 1/15s at a standard aperture of f2.8. In addition, I could now do some weird stuff with my camera. For example zoom in on the exposures or even tilt the camera, which looks very silly but offers some nice seperation of the subject from the background. And the pictures look quite dynamic.

I really like these small venues and shows. They are not as easy to photograph as the big events, but they have a very familiar feeling and such a wonderful atmosphere.

The complete gallery

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Und noch einer meine heißesten Konzertwünsche erfüllt sich im April: Endlich gibts Schandmaul auch mal live auf die Ohren. Das neue Album rotiert bei mir ohnehin im Dauereinsatz, da kommt die Tour gerade recht. Und aus fotografischer Sicht bekam ich einen weiteren Stuttgarter Veranstaltungsort zu Gesicht, der mich absolut überzeugen konnte.

(Mehr ausgewählte Bilder, die Links zu den kompletten Galerien sowie die üblichen Shooting-Infos mit technischem Kram für Interessiere gibts mit einem Klick auf “Read More”)

Allzu viele Worte zu verlieren kann ich mir diesesmal eigentlich sparen. Das Konzert war, sowohl was die Vorband “The Seer” als auch den Hauptact “Schandmaul”, mit seiner 26. Song schweren Setlist, absolut hervorragend. Die Stimmung war am Kochen, mitgetanzt und mitgesprungen wurde bis zum Rand der Menge. Sehr gut, dass ich meine Ausrüstung mit etwas Blickkontakt im Fotograben liegen lassen durfte und so ebenfalls ordentlich mitfeieren konnte.

Schon der erste Blick bei der Ankunft machte mir klar, dass hier lichtmäßig einiges geboten werden würde. Zwar hätte es manchmal etwas mehr Frontlight und weniger direkt auf die Fotografen gerichtetes Backlight sein dürfen, aber damit kam man klar. Der Bequemheit halber drehte ich recht schnell auf ISO2000 hoch, um auch die etwas düsteren Situationen mit 1/200s ablichten zu können. In den helleren Situationen gings dann hoch auf bis zu 1/500s. Einige Bilder, bei denen das Licht doch sehr stark in die Linse fiel, musste ich nachträglich sogar um bis zu 4EV nach unten korrigieren, trotz 1/320s. Das ist für mich der Vorteil von Raw, gewisse Unstimmigkeiten bei der Belichtung vor Ort (normalerweise hätte ich diese Situationen immer direkt abpassen  müssen und auf ISO800 o.ä. reduzieren) nachträglich noch anpassen zu können. Ansonsten erfuhren sowohl das Tamron 17-50 als auch das Sigma 70-200 einen respektable Teil an Arbeit. Bei Schandmaul wurde die Bühne nach hinten nochmal ordentlich erweitert, Bassist, Schlagzeuger und Gitarrist waren so nur mit dem Tele zu erwischen. Aber auch für einige Closeups der Akteuere im vorderen Bühnenteil, vorneweg die Lichtgestalter Anna und Birgit, waren die 70mm bis 135mm des Teles gut zu gebrauchen.

Wirklich ein absolut fantastisches Konzert, wer die Möglichkeit hat sollte sich diese Show unbedingt anschaun. An Spass kaum zu überbieten.

Zur kompletten Galerie von:

The Seer
Schandmaul

 The Seer

Subway To Sally, definitiv eine der ersten Bands, die mich überhaupt in Richtung Metal geführt hart. Umso besser, dass ich die Band endlich mal live zu sehen bekomme (und das ist ja eigentlich alles andere als Schwer, nur bin ich bisher immer daran vorbei gestolpert). Macht aber nichts, dafür konnte ich sie diesesmal auch gleich noch fotografieren.

Zu den Galerien von:

The Old Dead Tree
Subway To Sally

(Und für die Interessierten: Ausgewählte Bilder sowie mehr Infos zum Konzert und den technischen Dingen gibts wie immer mit einem Klick auf “Read More”)

Größere Infos zum Konzert spare ich mir heute mal, das war nämlich kurz und gut genial. Wer dennoch mehr wissen möchte, auf metal.de könnt ihr ein entsprechendes Review zum Konzert von mir lesen.

Diesesmal also gleich zu den Shooting-Informationen. Ich war zu Beginn schon etwas gespannt. Anderst als bei meinem letzten Konzert wurde auf die LKA eigene Lichtanlage verzichtet und stattdessen auf ein recht großes Tourset zurück gegriffen. Viele Computer gesteuerte Köpfe von hinten, nur das Frontlight machte mir etwas Sorgen. Zu Recht, wie sich spätestens beim Opener “The Old Dead Tree” herausstellte. Kaum Licht von vorne, nur eine massige Lichtmauer von hinten, die nur sehr schwer unter Kontrolle zu bringen war.

Die Belichtungsmessung war nicht ganz so problematisch. Die ISOs schnellten schnell hoch auf 2500-3200, bei Verschlusszeiten zwischen 1/125 und 1/250 bei f2.8 (das 50 1.8er blieb auch dieses Mal wieder im Rucksack, zu wenig Zeit um effektiv darauf einzugehen). Diese Einstellung garantierte mir noch genug Licht auf den Gesichtern, während ich die starken Überstrahlungen von hinten später in der Nachbearbeitung über eine satte Kontraststeigerung kompensierte, die dem massigen, klaren Licht ordentliche Konturen verpasst.

Bei Subway To Sally wurde es zum Glück etwas besser. Die Seitenstrahler mit ihrem orangenen Licht traten stärker in Kraft und gaben mehr Detail auf die Akteure. Die Farbe Rot war zwar recht dominant, aber das anderweitige Farblicht frischte die Sache etwas auf. Das größte Problem hier war definitiv, den Sänger Eric Fish irgendwie unter Kontrolle zu bekommen. Nicht nur, dass dieser wild auf der Bühne herum eilt, nein, er klebt förmlich an seinem Mikrofon. Und kein Mensch will Musiker sehen, die ihre Mikrofone auffressen.

Die ISOs konnte ich hier etwas herunter nehmen und recht konstant auf ISO2000 lassen, bei 1/160s bis 1/250s.

PS: Die vollständige Galerie folgt diesesmal etwas später, eine Auswahl könnt ihr euch aber hier schon ansehen.

PPS: Und irgendwas stimmt mit der JPEG-Kompression dieser Bilder hier auch nicht so ganz, das wird morgen ebenfalls noch verbessert. Heute ist irgendwie der Wurm drin.