Bass player
This is Sam, bass player for Greta Van Fleet performing in concert at the Rebel in Toronto.
This is Sam, bass player for Greta Van Fleet performing in concert at the Rebel in Toronto.
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Jul, 2018Views
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Awards
Peer Award
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken at The Rebel entertainment complex on the waterfront in Toronto.Time
This was an evening shoot in a theatre club.Lighting
Typical rock concert lighting.Equipment
Since media photographers are only allowed to shoot for 2 songs (we're in the pit in front of the screaming fans), I just shot with my Nikon D750 and Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 lens. Flash is not allowed and you literally jostle with the other 15 photographers in that narrow space between the edge of the stage and the audience.Inspiration
I had applied to photograph the group Greta Van Fleet some months before. They only green lit me to be included with media photographers the day before but I was ready. Once I got down there, it seemed someone forgot to get my pass and didn't seem to get my confirmation email that I sent right away after receiving the invitation. I waited 4 hours and then when it was time for the photographers to be let in - I thought all was lost (I would miss this chance to shoot the band) - someone came running out calling my name with the pass in hand. I had already put my equipment away in the photography backpack so I had to scramble to pull it out as we entered the pit in front of the stage. It was all chaos with the crowd going crazy when we got in there. My theatre and club photography experience stood me in good stead on camera settings so I was pretty prepared to go once I got the camera out. It was pure adrenalin and fast shooting to find all those "money shots" like this one. Using a spot meter for the highlights on the performers is key in this situation so you don't inadvertently overexpose and blow out the other lighting. You can experiment with shutter speeds if you want to accent motion but I generally go with Aperture Priority and use AF-C for continuous focus on the moving performer.Editing
I did mostly regular post processing for light and colour. Some adjustments were made to mitigate the high ISO's I had to use in the club with the low lighting - so to eliminate a little bit of grain - although not too much since that texture can actually add to the quality of the final images.In my camera bag
Nikon D780, Nikon D750, Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VR, Sigma 24-70mm f2.8, Nikon SB800 Speedlight flash, 1 x 128GB Extreme SD, 3 x 16 GB fast SD cards, 5 AA batteries, 4 AAA batteries, 2 wireless triggers, gray card, specialized ear plugs for concerts, cloth & brush for cleaning lenses, a pen and multiple business cards.Feedback
I always say not to "shotgun" and hope you score that one "money shot". Try to get some signature shots of each performer in the band but look for facial expressions and poses. Try to find those special moments. In this particular situation when I only had two songs to grab as many images as possible and, competing with 15 other photographers in the pit, I did shoot quite a few photos in that short time frame. But my experience shooting performers gave me a bit of an edge to anticipate the right moments. I would say to others who would like to try this - get out to some clubs and photograph the performers. Practice, practice. Make errors and figure out what works best. Deal with the lighting challenges and see when your performers are emoting the most - those expressions are what make the photo. Here you can see the emotion on bass player Sam Kiszka during the performance. This experience was also a blast for all the photographers. When we got kicked out after the second song, it was WOW! that was awesome! The energy in that club was fire.
