how to shoot an indoor dak bright-light concert?

[beezlebuber]

hello new to the site and photography. i recently purchased a nikon d-70 and would like some info on lens, apeture ,or whatever can help me take better pictures at metal shows. thanx

[stormseye]

OK - I think I see what's going on here. You're miffed that nobody has answered your question. You might have been wiser to post it in the Digital Camera forum, and you should also realize that you are asking a question that is both very broad and very technical.

That said, I'll give it a shot. You're talking about low-light situations, so you'll need to find a combination of wide aperture and slow shutter speed that works for you. Your photos may well be blurry! However, you can make this work for you in an artistic sort of way. You may also wish to try higher ISOs (start with 800) - these may be grainier, depending on your camera, but grain can also add texture and feel to a photo. You may wish to consider using a tripod, though this might not be feasible in a concert. Try a monopod. They will help you hold your camera steady, and monopods are less intrusive.

Buy a book on basic photography techniques, read it, and then experiment. You will probably be disappointed with your initial results. Keep trying. Try different combinations of ISO, aperture and shutter speed. Since you are using digital, you don't have to worry about wasting film. Push the shutter, see what happens, try again. Delete the ones you don't like.

Go out there and give it a whirl. And try a little patience and diplomacy - it will help whenever you're dealing with your fellow human beings. Good luck.

[clickaway]

Don't forget also to choose the right white balance. This can be tricky, but you can always play around with the colour balance in Photoshop.

It may pay to experiment at a small concert before you go off and shoot something big.

Best of Luck,

Ray

[stormseye]

You might also try spot metering, rather than matrix metering.

Find others (maybe even here on PBase) who are doing things similar to what you would like to do. Really look at their photos and ask questions.

Still the best thing you can do is take lots of pictures - experiment.