Up until today, all of my blog posts have been about shooting sports, no surprise right? So now for something completely different – Rock and Roll! Or is it really all that different than shooting sports? Let’s look at some of the common elements:
- Sports photos should evoke an emotional response from the viewer (so should rock photos);
- Sports photography is optimized with high frame rate cameras (yup – check that one off for rock);
- Fast glass is needed for sports photography (check that one too);
- Great shots often depend on great access (always true); and
- Rule #4 – Pick the background and let the action happen (again, always true).
Although we had been back from Copenhagen for less that 48 hours, we were invited by my friend Rupert to the 4 on the Floor Concert at the Minnesota Zoo.
Not only is it a great venue for a concert and a beautiful Minnesota summer evening, but it was also a great opportunity to really test the capabilities of my new Canon 1Dx. I will write more about using at the Olympics, but what I was shooting there was outdoor and during the day. Rock concert light, and usually the lack of light, is certainly more challenging than shooting during the day.
You can be the judge, these were all shot at 2,500 ISO, the first image was with my 8 to 15 mm f/4.0 Canon fish-eye and the remaining where with my 70 to 200 mm f2.8 IS II.
Personally, I think the results are pretty amazing. You can click on the first image to see a larger image and see the details a bit better.
Finally, here is Rupert working the crowd and shot at ISO 6,400!
Competitive Image 