இ Fuzzy Wuzzy's Summary:
ѾѾѾѾѾ Highly recommended with warm fuzzies!
More than two years ago, I read Alan Hess' excellent book on exposure,
Exposure Digital Field Guide, which thoroughly covers the topic of exposure under a variety of shooting situations. In that book, Alan has eight chapters that discuss the eight common scenes that you may encounter to get properly exposed photographs: event photography, portraits, landscape and nature, night and low-light, sports and action, wedding photography, wildlife and animal, and ending with "creative exposure" where you are purposely overexposing or underexposing to create a mood or effect. Since Alan is a professional photographer who specializes in concert and live-event photography, having done it since the late 1980s, it is only fitting that his latest photography book is entirely devoted to the logistics and techniques of photographing concerts.
Even though this book discusses all of the various aspects of concert photography, most of the information presented here could be applied to various other event photography such as performing arts, weddings, sports and action photography, and indoor/low-light photography. Since there are only a few books that are entirely devoted to concert photography, this book fills a unique and important niche. But if you remove the drums, keyboards, and guitars from the stage, you can really also apply this book's information to the photographing of any kind of indoor/low-light or performing arts scene where both the ever-changing stage lighting and moving performers can be a challenge to photograph (e.g. theater, live shows, plays, dance performances).
The book begins by discussing the business, logistics, legal matters, etiquette. Alan also tells his story of how he got started with photography and photographing concerts. As with any kind of show business dealings, it often boils down to who you know and how you can network with people to get where you want to be. Chapter 4 talks about and offers suggestions for the camera gear and lenses that you may need for concert photography. As with other forms of indoor or low-light action photography, you need fast wide-aperture lenses. Chapter 5 provides some basic guidelines for exposure, with some quick discussions about shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. If you still frequently wrestle with how to adjust these three exposure-related settings on your SLR camera, I would recommend that you also read another book that is dedicated to talking about exposure such as Alan's book that I previously mentioned above. Because concert stages can be so unevenly lit, Chapter 4 includes a good discussion about the different metering modes.
Chapter 6 provides a ton of good tips on composition as it relates to concert photography that can also be applied just as well to photographing sports, dancing, and other action scenes. When composing for action shots, some composition principles such as the old "Rule of Thirds" concept matter less than catching the shot at the right split-second moment, and getting the focus, angle, and background positioned optimally. Timing is everything with action photography, regardless of whether you are photographing musicians, football players, or ballet dancers, and Alan provides excellent tips on how to anticipate the ever-changing movements and lighting of the musicians. I smiled to myself when Alan suggested "Photograph with both eyes open" because, even though I learned this tip many years ago during the pre-digital and pre-Internet days, I am still surprised at the number of supposedly experienced photographers who look into their SLR viewfinders while closing the other eye. Alan's "shoot in burst mode" suggestion applies to any action photography. For this reason, I like the 8-shot-per-second continuous shooting speed of my Canon 7D because I can be assured that somewhere in my burst, I may have captured that perfect moment frozen in time.
Chapters 7 through 11 cover the different variables, factors, and considerations involved in photographing different kinds of venues, from small bars, to bigger shows, and outdoor festivals. Each chapter includes an insightful "My Photo Bag" page where Alan describes the cameras, lenses, and accessories (e.g. always pack earplugs!) that he brings to each kind of venue. If you get the opportunity to photograph from the stage or go backstage, Chapter 12 offers suggestions and etiquette tips so that you do not look like an obnoxious idiot. Chapter 13 is a brief chapter that talks about considerations that can vary depending upon the genre of music and band that you are photographing. The book ends with Chapter 14 talking about post-processing and offering workflow suggestions.
Each chapter in the book ends with a two-page "Pro Tip" section that interviews a different professional photographer in a question-answer format to give you lots of different perspectives on concert photography. A nice variety of Alan's own concert photographs fill the book, accompanied by explanations of how and why he photographed the scene. The book's Appendix includes a brief discussion of camera accessories, a collection of Web links, and a good discussion of copyright laws. Until I read this book, I was actually not aware of the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act".
This is an excellent book both if you are hoping to get into concert photography as a professional or if, like me, you just want to photograph your favorite bands in action for your own use.
