concert

Taylor Swift Sony RX10 IV

Taylor Swift Fan Found a Clever Way to Bypass Eras Tour Camera Rules

Taylor Swift's Eras tour has been an absolute smash hit, with attendance at each show averaging more than 72,000 fans. With nearly 70 shows on the docket throughout North America and ticket prices averaging nearly $500, ticket sales alone could eclipse $2 billion per CNN. Unsurprisingly, many fans want to take high-quality photos and videos at the shows.

Concert Photography: A Complete Guide

One of the most exciting things to photograph is a live concert. Rock concerts in particular have an air of electricity about them that you can feel. When you are hired to photograph one you automatically feel like you are a part of that excitement.

Concert Photographer Shoots Striking Bokeh Panoramas

In Summer of 2019, while working with Elbow in Manchester, concert photographer Peter Neill had an idea. He decided to try and stitch an epic panorama... with a twist. Instead of using a wide-angle, he would use an 85mm f/1.4 and capture a pano of the stage and the crowd, but with a shallow depth of field and bokeh.

How I Got Outsmarted by a Kid with an Umbrella

I’m an experienced concert photographer. From the largest stadiums to the smallest, dirtiest night clubs, I’ve photographed thousands of bands and seen it all. I’m damned confident in my ability to anticipate the shot and be in the right place at the right time. Or, at least I was until last Saturday night.

How to Shoot Concerts: Tips from a Pro Music Photographer

I am writing this concert photography guide in response to several ‘How to’ guides I have seen online that don’t quite hit the mark on how to take great live concert photographs. Most of the articles focus too much on the obvious, like concerts are dark and avoid things in your way (like mic stands and such). Personally, I think it is a bit patronizing to suggest that you are letting the photographer in on the ‘professional secrets’ if it is written by a non-professional music photographer, so this is my guide.

Film vs Digital in Music Photography: I Shot the Same Show With Both

Film is very rarely used in music photography anymore. The reason for this is primarily because of social media and instant news. There’s no time to go home and start pouring chemicals onto film to develop it or wait until the morning until a lab opens to do it for you.

Turning Every Frame from a Concert Into a Timelapse of the Show

What would it look like if I made a timelapse out of every single picture that I captured during a concert? I had occasionally been toying with this idea since I saw a wedding timelapse by photographer Kevin Mullins a while ago.

How to Shoot Double Exposure Concert Photography

I recently shot a series of double exposure photos of the band I Don’t Know How But They Found Me at The Knitting Factory, and they've received a great response. So, I thought it would be worth explaining how I took them!

Camera Settings for Concert Photography Beginners

This guide is intended for concert photography beginners. If you have a DSLR camera and are interested in how to control your camera settings to take great photos at concerts, this guide is for you. If you're an experienced photographer who just hasn't shot shows before, there may be some helpful info in here along with plenty of stuff you know already.

Annoyed Musician Shoots Audience with Phone Instead of Playing His Solo

Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer hates when people at the band's shows spend the whole time staring through their screen—shooting the performance on a 4-inch box instead of experiencing it for themselves. So last year, during a show in Turin, Italy, he turned the tables.

Photographer Flips Off Musician After Being Called Out for Using Flash

Musician Ryan Adams got into another very public scuffle with a photographer this week. Midway through his set at the 2017 Gasparilla Music Festival, Adams, who suffers from Meniere’s disease, called out photographer Joe Sale for using flash photography and potentially putting the musician's health at risk.

Concert Photography Jobs: How to Make Money by Shooting Music

There are a lot more music photographers than there are music photography jobs — that’s just how it is in this corner of the industry. It's a port of entry for many hobbyist photographers, and the result is saturation of the market. A lot of budding photographers are willing to work for free, making the gigs that are out there even tougher to get.

My Ever-Evolving Workflow as a Music Photographer on Tour

I've been touring with bands for about 4 years now, and my workflow has changed nearly every tour, allowing me to spend less and less time editing, and ending up with an organized, easy to manage body of work after each tour is done. I think this is crucial to not only the quality of work you can put out on tour, but also your sanity.

This Pouch Locks Smartphones Away in No-Photo Zones

The battle between musicians and their smartphone-wielding concert goers is a constant tussle. Smartphone-free zones are difficult to enforce, and even if you don't want to watch the show through a screen you might lack the self-control to leave your smartphone alone. Enter the Yondr pouch.

Pop Star Adele Shames Fan for Setting Up a Tripod at Her Concert

Many of of us have done it: rather than enjoying that amazing concert or live event you're at, you pull out your camera and end up watching most of it through the LCD screen. Well, pop star Adele ain't havin' it, especially if you go so far as to set up a tripod.

I Shot with the Nikon D500. Here Are My Thoughts

It’s been a big week for Nikon announcements at CES 2016 in Las Vegas, with launches of the Nikon D500, Nikon D5, and new SB-5000 Speedlight. The new D500 is a camera that many people have been waiting a long time for — a successor to the Nikon D300/D300s and a true flagship for the Nikon DX line of APS-C cameras. The D500 packs in many of the same new, next-generation features as the Nikon D5 that was also just announced, including a brilliant new autofocus system, EXPEED 5 image processing, and a whole lot more.

With the Nikon D500 now official, I am extremely excited to say I had the privilege of shooting with the D500 to create images for its launch. I’ve had to keep this project under wraps since August, but now that the camera has been announced, I can finally share my thoughts on this new DX flagship DSLR.

Watch The Muppets Cover the Song ‘Kodachrome’ by Paul Simon

Kodak's iconic Kodachrome film was retired from service back in 2009, but back in 1973, American singer Paul Simon immortalized the classic film stock in his hit song "Kodachrome."

The new ABC series The Muppets recently posted this short music video in which Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem -- the rock band of The Muppets -- perform "Kodachrome" live in concert.

How to Shoot Your First Concert… at a Crappy Venue

So you're getting ready to photograph your first concert? That's awesome. Chances are, it’s a less-than-perfect venue -- that's usually how it works out. It’s kind of like getting your first car. You don’t start out with a Jaguar. You get a baby blue minivan with doors that don’t shut in the winter…

An Open Letter to Performers, Published on Behalf of Thousands of Photographers

Restrictive concert photography contracts have been a big story in the photo world over the past several months. Taylor Swift, the Foo Fighters, Dweezil Zappa, and Janet Jackson have all made headlines for their extremely strict -- and often rights-grabbing -- contracts that photographers and reporters must sign before covering a concert.

Now a number of the media industry's biggest associations and organizations have published an open letter to performers on behalf of thousands of photographers and journalists in the United States.

What It’s Like to Shoot a Concert on Stage at London’s O2 Arena

Earlier this year, music photographer Adam Elmakias shot one of the biggest shows he has ever covered: a performance by the American pop punk band All Time Low at London's O2 Arena, which has the second-highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the UK.

To share what shooting a show of this magnitude with stage access is like, Elmakias attached a GoPro to his DSLR and had the camera rolling while he did his thing. The 1.5-hour behind-the-scenes video above lets you step into Elmakias' shoes, and the photographer's narration helps fill in what's going on.

Concert Photographer, Where Did Your Integrity Go?

Over the last couple of weeks, the matter of photo contracts has once again been debated. First came Jason Sheldon’s blog post, calling Taylor Swift out on her hypocrisy when attacking Apple for demanding musicians give away their music for free while doing the exact same thing to concert photographers in her photo contracts. If you’re reading this, you’re probably well aware of that whole ordeal, so there’s no need to get into it further other than to say that I fully support Sheldon’s views.

Standing Up for the Concert Photographer… By Standing on Their Neck

Last week, the Washington City Paper made a stand against what it considered an unfair concert photography contract presented by the Foo Fighters with an article entitled "Why We’re Not Photographing The Foo Fighters." Concert photographers everywhere stood up and slow clapped for the headline, the main idea of the article, and the stand it took on photographers rights.

In the last paragraph of the article however, the City Paper did something even worse to photographers than the Foo Fighters ever could have: they called on the fans to submit photos of the show, and they offered to pay for them.

Newspaper Rejects Foo Fighters Photo Contract, Will Buy Fan Photos Instead

There's a revolution brewing in the world of concert photography. After photographer Jason Sheldon penned a viral open letter to speak out against Taylor Swift's concert photo contract, a major Irish newspaper decided to boycott photos at Swift's recent concert. Now a Washington newspaper has followed suit with another major player in the music industry: the Foo Fighters.

The Washington City Paper says it won't be sending a photographer to this weekend's Foo Fighter concert due to the fact that the band's contract "sucks." Instead, the paper hopes to buy photos directly from fans who attend the show.