Concert Photography (pic)

Bryan our Photographer has been a musician for almost 15 years and has a deep love for music. One of the first bands Bryan photographed was Dashboard Confessional and a local band named Jordan’s Soul. After that he was hooked. He loves shooting concerts and bands around Utah. Concert Photography is an important part of our business. We have photographed everyone from Ice Cube to Ok Go, to local Rock-a-Billy Hall of Famer Hal Holiday, to Dashboard Confessional.

Concert Photography Tip

Concert Photography or Band Photography is one of the hardest types of photography. Your light is literally flashing, rotating, and changing colors every second or so. So here is a great tip on how you can take better pictures of favorite band.

The Key Steps:

• High ISO
• NO on camera flash
• Manual Shutter Speed

ISO. Most cameras, even point and shoot cameras, have an ISO setting. When you arrive turn your ISO to the highest setting. Concert Photography is known for having grainy and noisy images. Don’t worry about shooting with an high ISO. I typically will shoot any where from 1600 – 3200 ISO when photographing bands. Then turn off the flash! Go into your settings and manually turn off the flash. On camera flashes will not make a great “concert” feeling to the images.

Most musicians do not run and jump around the stage 100%  of the gig, so lower your shutter speed to where you can hold the camera still, yet capture a crisp image. I have shot as low as 1/8th of a second. Read the WALL TRICK under keep it still, from my last post. I have used the wall trick in venues that have walls.

Questions? Just leave us a note and we will try to answer them!

The Wedding Cell Phone Photo

This is one of my favorite photos. Just after the bride and grooms wedding  the mother of the bride answered a call from her cell phone. We planned to take a few family photos at the front of the chapel, and the bride was patiently waiting for the call to end. As the call became longer and longer her patience ran thin. I decided to move into position to capture the mother on her phone and the bride looking in disapproval. Photographers, especially wedding photographers must watch for those rare moments and take advantage of them.

See the large image below!

Cell Phone Camera Tips

•  Keep it still!
  The number one issue I see with camera phones is their shutter speed is incredibly LOW! Sure it takes 8 megapixel photos, but if they are blurry whats the point?  If you want a clear picture on your phone you must get still. The best way to stabilize a camera is using a wall. Simply lean against the wall and grip the phone or camera tightly with two hands. You will be amazed at how easy it is to take pictures in low light using the wall trick.
• Zoom is convenient for the LAZY
  As technology advances so does our camera phones. But digital zoom is still in its infancy. When you use your zoom on a low end camera  (such as a camera phone) it use less of the image senor (this captures the image). When you use less of the censor it causes more: noise, blur, color aberration, and loss of needed pixels. You may have seen Nokia’s 41 MEGAPIXEL camera phone. The reason it has 41 megapixels is to create a better zooming. So long story short, move closer to your subject instead of zooming in.
•  BUT I MUST ZOOM IN
  Ok maybe you need to zoom in because there is a giant tiger standing in your way … or whatever, don’t use your digital zoom, use your computer! This is a secret of cell phone photographers. If you need to zoom, do it after you take the picture. A program like Photoshop or Gimp can do amazing things with pixels, your digital zoom CAN’T!!!
• White Balance is your friend (aka your friend will not look orange or purple)
  Many camera phones these days have limited white balancing functions. Look in your manual for white balancing options. Auto white balance can be easily fooled, even on a $8k DSLR. I never use auto white balance. Let me say that again. I NEVER use auto white balance. Its easy, if I am in a room with tungsten lights I use the tungsten setting. Its that easy. Look no more oompa loompa colored friends.

  

We don’t often post things on our blog that don’t have to do with OUR photography. But this was to funny to pass up. We always wonder why Facebook bought Instagram for $1 BILLION. Well here is the video explaining it all.

Today this will be short. I have been really busy on getting our new and improved Professional Photography Website for Ogden, Utah. Details to follow. Ps here is the next photo of the day!

Utah Wedding Photography

Photo Day #14  | Photo Tip of the day |Wedding photo Preview

As you can see from the title of today’s blog post, its a triple header. I photographed this cute couple a few weeks ago and wanted to share one of my favorite photos that we made on possible the windiest photo shoots we have ever had. The wind was so strong in nearly took two assistants to hold the flash umbrella from flying away! But now that I look back on it… It didn’t seam windy when it really counted. We count our blessings!

Photo Tip of the Day 

On a cold windy day there is nothing more important then making your customers feel that you are trying to get them out of the cold as fast as you can. At LDS Temples couples, parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends gather outside the temple to congratulate the bride and groom. The photographer photographs this and then gathers the group on the temple steps for a picture. I always seem to get comments from grandpa or uncle Frank that as the photographer I need to hurry, so everyone can get back inside. We work hard to do so.

So here is the tip. Before the photo shoot, any photo shoot, scout the location before hand. Sure it is not always possible to see the location until the day of the shoot. So show up early and plan where you are going to set the group up and where the bride and groom will get their portraits. I always have a plan on where we are going. Even if I have been there 20 times. This also makes you look professional, because you LOOK like you know what you are doing. Large groups need to be herded (well, that is what it feels like) quickly, so I always ask someone in the wedding party that seems to know everyone, to help me “herd” the group. Make I plan, but don’t stick to it. If you see a good location, fit it in.

Leave a comment or share our tip and photo with a friend!