I wrote a post last year about taking concert photographs with compact cameras.
It seemed to be quite popular so I thought I should follow it up with some more tips.

1. Get Close

Needless to say (and yes I did read the comments on the last post) the closer to the action you are the better.
Lenses on compact camera tend to be variable aperture lenses which in practical terms means the more you out zoom the less light they collect.

2. Catch lights are your friend.

There are always people firing flashes at concerts, usually from a distance where they’d make no difference.
At least not to their photos, if you can time it right they make a world of difference to your photographs.

Fat Freddy's Drop

3. Crop out distracting elements.

There’s always going to be stuff that creeps into the edges of your frame in this kind of environment.
If you can avoid it getting into your photo then great if not, don’t sweat it you can crop it out later.

Sparks

And yes I chose the guy from Sparks on purpose because I know that you’re secretly scared of him.

4. Timing is key.

Shooting action in a dark room with a slow lens is difficult if not impossible but if they were all to stand still and hold a pose for a second or thirty?
That’s what happened here, they played statues at the end of a song.

Dhol Foundation

5. Use the crowd as part of your image.

Cropping out that seven foot tall guy with dreadlocks who stands in front of you isn’t always possible so you might as well make him part of the image.
Concert photos without a crowd can feel a bit cut off from reality so use it to capture the atmosphere of the show.

Morrissey

6. post production

There are 3 things that I’ll do in post production.
Firstly edit out the sharp photos from the blurry failures.
*note you will have a high failure rate but that’s OK*

Secondly, Compact camera images will tend to be a bit on the noisy and mushy side.
So some noise reduction is almost a certainty.
You could also tweak the exposure levels and contrast.

Finally the image will need some sort of sharpening.
Personally I like using the high pass filter to sharpen.
If you were using Photoshop you duplicate your layer and then go to Filters>other>high pass.
I’d run this at about 3 or 4 and then set the blending mode to overlay and play with the opacity until it looks right.

Hope you find my tips helpful and if you do please share them.
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