Hi Everyone
Today I am going to look at how to photograph musicians and the different genres involved, because it can vary widely depending on the type of music. As an event and corporate photographer based near Edinburgh, I have often photographed rock music festivals and jazz concerts, however I have less experience in photographing classical music and I discovered there are a few differences, so I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at the essentials and differences in photographing different types of music. There is a good article online by DP Mag on this subject, which I recommend to people starting out in this area – How To Photograph Musicians – Digital Photo (dpmag.com)
- The Size of the concert hall/venue and how this effects the music photographer
One of the important things to consider is the size of the venue, if you are in a small intimate place then the protocol is very different from a large auditorium, you are more likely to be seen and may have to put your camera on silent mode.
2. The type of music you are photographing
When you photograph an outdoor rock concert the noise is overpowering and you wont have any issues with shutter noise, you will probably be given 5 minutes or so to move about freely to do as you please, this was the case anyway when I photographed Midstock Festival a few years ago
Midstock 23 | midstock (midstockfestival.com) and I am sure the rules are pretty similar for other event photography gigs in Scotland. With rock music you can move around and vary your position when you have been accepted as an accredited photographer, however with classical music it is totally different, you wont be able to move and may be in a poor position at the side of the auditorium, there will be moments of silence and you have to respect that, also you will have to shoot in silent in case it puts off the musicians and or the audience, so its totally different.
3. What to look for as a music event photographer in Scotland
Again it depends on the type of music, but you will always try and get close ups of the musicians, expressions of their faces, shots with and without the back up musicians if there are any, some photos of the instruments, also the crowd if possible, especially at rock and pop concerts, try and capture movement by the participants, vary your film speed, try and get some motion blur for instance.
This is just a start but more to come on this subject, just keep experimenting and good luck.
Kind Regards
Colin Wright
www.edinburghphotographer.com
