Comments on: Gig photography etiquette

By: Ollie

Ollie — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:47:23 +0000

I use my speed light at gigs quite allot, mainly because the venue i normally shoot at has crap light. So far I haven’t had one person complain and the venue manager is happy for me to be shooting with flash at the gigs. What i find annoying is people holding compacts up facing the crowd and taking shots of the crowd at eye level. More often than not recently it seems people are using phones with a flash so often if im lucky i can get more than enough light from other people’s flashes… (Makes you wonder how the bands feel)

By: geeewocka

geeewocka — Sat, 19 May 2007 22:53:07 +0000

I don’t see the need for flash at the Gaelic unless you plan on taking social shots
I’ve never had a problem with lighting being so dark that you simply cannot work with it
I’ve had more problems at the Annandale recently where I HAVE had to resort to flashing & unfortunately I can’t afford a speedlite
I agree with the above, paying kids these days find it more enjoyable to remember the show by washed out & blurry shots on their mobiles rather than watching the damn show
The flash in the crowd thing is pretty rude if you ask me, as it was said, the gaelic walls are too high for light to be bounced effectively

By: Ashley

Ashley — Sat, 05 May 2007 01:03:07 +0000

If the bloody lighting guys knew what they were doing then photographers dont need to use flash. Total darkness or bleeding red lights dont make good photos.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 04 May 2007 19:05:42 +0000

Good point Tal. Those external flashes do help the autofocus.

By: Talitha

Talitha — Fri, 04 May 2007 16:50:52 +0000

With pointing the flash backwards – there *can* be a reason to do it – you use the sensor on the flash to help you focus in low light. Maybe they were doing that and didn’t realize you can actually set the flash to “not fire”?

By: Roshan

Roshan — Fri, 04 May 2007 08:15:31 +0000

I too was at Essential and I have a feeling the “Pissed Off Punter” was more so talking about the upstairs stage at the Gaelic, thats where Children Collide played. It was a very small stage, where you were pretty much on the same level as the band, so when there were three or four photographers there they did pretty much take up the whole front of stage area, because the stage was quite small. Some were kneeling down right at the front, which was sensible, but if they were standing up then yes they could well have been blocking people’s views.
Lucky for me I am incredibly short and thus never block anyones view
I didn’t witness any of the flash pointing back to the audience though, but i was probably too busy having a good time to notice!

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 03 May 2007 23:33:30 +0000

I too was at the essential festival and had a similar annoyance during Bit By Bats set, and have had other experiences that have driven me mad as well.
I always assumed that when these dickheads were pointing the flash into the crowd it’s because they felt they didn’t need flash for the photo they were taking, but were too lazy to remove the flash from the camera. To me the logic behind this makes sense, but obviously the effect that it has on the audience members behind the photographer is either not thought about, or not cared about when they do it.
However, I’ve seen you photograph Dan, and the thing i noticed was how unobtrusive you were, so kudos to you.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 03 May 2007 21:59:07 +0000

Whenever I photograph I try to remain as innoffensive and unobtrusive as possible. People are there to see a band they like and have a good time, not have annoying photographers in their face.
The thing that annoys me is people with crap point and shoot camera who leave them on full auto mode and spend the whole gig snapping away and taking either blurry or completely washed out (or both) pictures.

By: Simon A

Simon A — Thu, 03 May 2007 21:23:46 +0000

I often wonder about the flash rule. I’ll admit I use my speedlite once and awhile, but never at a ‘big gig’.
Quite often at a hardcore/punk show in a local hotel or something the flash can work, and not many people there are as likely to give a toss compared to a crowd at say, an Augie March gig for example.
Also, usually the hotel gigs here have very low lights so a fast lens doesn’t always help much.
If there are good lights, why use a flash?

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 03 May 2007 19:57:32 +0000

Haha – good point Sean. I’m sure we’ve all been a bit dopey after a few beers.
And yes – i think i did pop up a couple of times in Yen. It’s cause i’m mates with those photographers and an easy target.