100 Action Packed Concert & Gig Photographs
Concerts provide a rich atmosphere for any artist. The sights, the sounds, the people and the excitement-charged atmosphere all come together to create unforgettable experiences. Today we’ll discuss how you can effectively capture these events using your DSLR, and also take a look at 100 photos that you can use as inspiration for your own live concert shoots!
Hints & Tips For Shooting Live Concerts
So you’re going to a concert and hoping to get a few good shots? Think again. Shooting a live concert can be one of the most difficult tasks for a photographer. Poor vantage points, dark rooms, wildly varying lighting conditions, unpredictable facial expressions and constant motion all stack the odds against your favor.
The key here is to use all of these cons in your favor and turn them into pros. For instance, use poor lighting to capture amazing silhouettes, your cheap seat in the back to grab sweeping shots of the arena and the constant motion of the artists to experiment with intentional blur. Think about what you’re experiencing and how to translate that artistically into an image without necessarily being too literal.
Some general tips for shooting under these constraints include keeping your ISO high and your aperture open. This will help you pull in as much light as possible. Battling this is going to be your need to keep your shutter speed as quick as possible to capture the ever moving subjects on the stage without too much blurring. You’ll have to experiment a lot with different combinations to see what works best in your specific venue.
Depending on where you’ll be sitting, you’ll definitely want to pack a lens with a hefty zoom and preferably one that will allow a fairly wide open aperture (just beware of a shallow DOF). If you can afford it, a 70-200mm f/2.8 should work brilliantly.
If there’s a light show wreaking havoc on your settings, consider shooting in AV so that the camera quickly adjusts the shutter speed based on its own readings. One last trick that you’ll see quite a bit from dark shoots: if you find that your images have too much color noise from cranking up your ISO, try converting them to black and white. What appears ugly and accidental in a color shot can often appear classy and deliberate in black and white.
Bottom line, just remember that it’s going to be extremely difficult to get anything amazing, even if you don’t normally have trouble producing stunning shots. Don’t expect to figure it all out right away or to walk out with hundreds of professional grade shots. Even many of the photos below are great in composition while suffering from noise or lighting issues (or vice versa). Try to have fun experimenting and learning about how your camera resounds to the environment.
Need some more advice? Here are a few great places to start:
- The Comprehensive Concert Photography Primer
- 15 Top Tips for Band Photography
- Rock Concert Photography – 9 Tips on How to Get The Shot
- Concert Photography – A Beginner’s Primer
100 Live Show and Concert Shots
AC DC Concert Stage (Montreal) – Colorful Lights
AC DC Concert Stage (Montreal) – Colorful Lights
Coldplay Concert Stage (Osheaga 2009) with Fireworks & Butterflies
Bryan Adams Concert Stage
KISS Concert in Montreal – Kiss Alive 35 Tour
Van Halen Concert – Remote Controlled Helium Blimp
Beyonce Concert – BBC TVC – London
Franz Ferdinand Live Concert @AB Brussels Tour Gig-68
Beyoncé Concert
Britney Spears Concert – Sparks Falling on Stage
Glee- (Choir Concert Weekend, 05-06/02/2006)
Nazippé
Hands in the air – in concert
in Concert – blue
PJ Harvey
U2 – Croke Park – Dublin – 27 July 2009
Wygraj Sukces 2007 – Fram #1
To Excel and Ascend
Harmonica Hands
Sing it
guitar hero
The Flaming Lips Rock Austin @ SXSW
Unity in Diversity
Beautyproof
[Paper]tiger Jams {Explored}
Telefon Tel Aviv
Dir en grey
hives_01
Beastie Boys
Regina Spektor at Stubbs 2007–a black and white study
The Jazz Singer
Worship During Vertical Window’s Set
pipettes_04
Nx Zero
The Police Dress Rehersal – Vancouver
Arms Wide
david gilmour munchen 29/7/2006. 36 (B&W)
Anthony Green (Circa Survive)
placebo_03
26th 566
Charlotte Cooper of the Subways
U2 5/14/05 Philadelphia- City of Blinding Lights
Jonsi in Action
Chhom Nimol
Teemu Tuominen
Goggi, Popplagio
Vive La Fete @ Dour Festival 2009
Ra Ra Riot
siouxsie and the banshees_02
sonic youth_01
I’m no photographer…
Bloc Party @ The Concourse in San Francisco and cameras
taking back sunday_01
Antennen 2 (Schlachthof)
Bob Dylan That’s Right
shooting into the sun
The Donnas @ Rockefeller, Oslo
kind of blue
Maja Ivarsson :: The Sounds
Julian Casablancas
Mikko Salovaara
Eths (Festival Art Sonic 2008)
A Soul’s Expression
The Hague Jazz 2009 – Hugh Masekela
Deftones
Pitchfork Music Festival 2009
Parkpop 2008 – Jason Mraz
Return To Forever – 1976
Freddie Hubbard – trumpet
Kiuas
The Killers (37)
Katie Melua @ Tractor Tavern, Seattle 5-9-09
Picture perfect
The Avett Brothers
Violin
The Strokes (49)
Scorpions @ PPM Fest
Coldplay 16
My Bloody Valentine
Mankind
Zephyr in the sky at night I wonder
Leslie Feist/Cat’s Cradle
Blake Judd
moviestar junkies 05
david gilmour münchen 29/7/2006. 56
{ The Chap }
Ninja Dolls at Arenan, Falun
The Amazing Tim Swanson
Fresno
Ben Riley & Percy Heath
Nice Shirt
Scott Van Djembe
the hives – 10 – Pelle alone in the dark
Dag in de Branding 11 – Vic Chesnutt
“Contre-Jour Amour”
cesk freixas:avui serem el món
Damien Rice
oasis.gallagher.bros.001
Coldplay 39
Eagles Of Death Metal Concert @AB Gig Tour -51
Andre
Show Us Yours!
I hope the photos above inspire you to try your hand at shooting a few live performances. Once you get the hang of it, the resulting shots can be quite amazing and provide really unique portfolio pieces.
Use the comment section below to leave a link to your own live show and concert shots and be sure to let us know how you captured them!
Bonus points to anyone who can spot the author of this post in one of the images above!
Enjoyed this Post?
Subscribe to our RSS Feed, Follow us on Twitter or simply recommend us to friends and colleagues!
By Josh Johnson
How to Take Great Photos
Whether you've got a simple point-and-shoot, or a professional camera, you'll learn the basics of what every photographer needs to know to make their shots count!
Join our newsletter!
U-Design WordPress Theme only $35.00 
Modernize - Flexibility of W ... only $35.00 
Tinkerbell portrait retouching - More
Photo Basix
Just getting started? Start with our basix tutorials on the fundamentals. View All Basix Tutorials
Create a Tutorial, Get Paid!
Have something to teach the world? Want to earn money doing it? Tutorials, screencasts, and articles published here on Phototuts+ are largely contributed by readers just like you! We'll pay you great money for good content. Find Out More
I love shooting live shows. It’s always so energetic. Check out some of my shots here: http://andrislinz.ch/foto-portfolio
I love shooting live. It’s always so energetic. Check out some of my shots here: http://andrislinz.ch/foto-portfolio
Here are some of my shoots from the Muse concert in Milan! Love them! http://starlightphotography.tumblr.com/post/725292942/muse-concert-in-italy-part-2
I’ve been on a looot of concerts to take pictures. I was on tour with a Norwegian rock band to roskilde, so I documented the whole trip. You can see these photos + my other concert photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/driksrock/sets/72157623982258818/
Nichlas.
Great post!
i love nightlife photo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabor_gaya/4593203446/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gabor_gaya/4593229196/
I love live gig photography, running all over the place looking for that great shot! Here are a few of my gig photos, I’m still setting up my website.
http://ghuckle.co.uk/freelance-photography-services/photography-gallery/gig-and-concert-photography
I took this one during the Guns n’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy Tour, using a Sony point-and-shoot.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/uthyr/4455890896/
Nice roundup. All of those are really great photographs. I specially love “The Chap”.
I actually have quite a few gig photographs myself. I love all the different lighting setups on stage you get to use at your advantage. Actually it’s the only thing I have on Flickr. I have more on my DeviantArt account I believe. Check them out!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_morel/
http://cp-highwind.deviantart.com/gallery/
Nice photos!
Here you will find some of my shoots from the Queensmania concert in Padua (Italy) using a Nikon D300.
http://www.robertomarzola.it/index.asp?categoria=Reportage&galleria=3
One of my last shoots from a concert, presentation of the Cuban band “Buena Fe”.
Took in Merida, Venezuela, using a Nikon D60, ISO 400, 200mm, F5.6 and 1/15s
http://www.23hq.com/davidhdz/photo/5691302
Some nice concert photos !
Check this out,high class concert photos form André Weigel:
http://www.onelouderimage.com/
I love it !
And he is very cooperative,if you have any questions.
Really nice pictures of André Weigel.
I’m flattered that you used my Katie Melua photo above, but here’s one of Serena Ryder that’s a bit more “action packed” … http://www.flickr.com/photos/kirkstauffer/3478562465/ It’s going to be on the cover of the upcoming issue of Pollstar.
Here are my sets that I’ve shot in and around Seattle … http://www.flickr.com/photos/kirkstauffer/sets/
Wow Kirk you have some amazing pictures in your flickr gallery, I really like how youve caught Serena Ryder hair, excellent action pic.
I still haven’t gotten around to getting a good zoom with a wide aperture. (Due to a lack of $$$$
)
Here are mine shoots from Ronnie Scotts Jazz Club in London taken week ago. I used primes (35mm F2, 50mm f1.4 and 85mm f1.8), shutter speed of around 1/60 to 1/100, ISO from 200 (at the begining once it was some sun light) till around 800.
http://www.kurnikoff.com/temp/ronnie/
Great photos !
Im professional photographer and particularly interested in jazz and stage photography
Welcome to my blog updated with 2-3 new photos per week
http://juancarloshernandezjazzphotographer.blogspot.com/
Cheers
ha – nice shirt
And indeed, the greatest Rock and Roller of all time. Too bad nobody saw him in his prime.
Some recent shots I took of local artists in the Toronto area. With a D700 at 6400 ISO. These all had very weird colour shifts before BW conversion.
http://robertrafton.com/news/index.php/2010/sarah-elliott-of-little-champ-live-at-toronto-s-press-club
http://torontoportrait.blogspot.com/2010/06/marta-live-at-press-club.html
Great roundup. Very inspiring! I’ve been lucky to shoot two shows as the “semi-official/personal guest” photographer for local band Faint the Fiction. Link to the images is below:
http://kennethreynolds.com/?page_id=421
All photos in that album were shot with a Canon 40D and the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.
Amazing…
Congratulations, Nice Post
Here one of my Concert Images:
One of Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy in the 1st Writers and Poets Festival TO Roque Dalton
El Salvador, C. A.
http://rbrtanaya.deviantart.com/art/Venancia-171205758
Another Submission of the Same Concert:
http://rbrtanaya.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2txkfx
Nice post, just wondering if you were planning on crediting any of the photographers that you have borrowed images from (myself included).
I shot this one just a few month after I bought my first DSLR. It was also my first concert with a camera:
http://bit.ly/9s7eIc
Jarvis Cocker @ The Troxy, London
Canon 1000d, 50mm 1.8 II
Seen that you had my vive la fete picture in the set…one of my fav too!!!
Heres my page : http://www.flickr.com/photos/bourgol/
Ill be to Dour festival for the whole w-e to shoot the festival! Cant wait!
Dang! – The hardest thing is to get a decent camera in…
Here are Mr.Greg Dulli, Martha Jandová of Die Happy, Gianmaria Testa and Bobby Macintyre:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d-workx/308758230/in/set-72157594396444308/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d-workx/1118037001/in/set-72157594396444308/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d-workx/2413612209/in/set-72157594396444308/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d-workx/309766240/in/set-72157594396444308/
Cheers,
Dave
Great collection of images.
Here’s a compliation of images I took at a Police concert in Manchester.
http://www.victoriajohnson.co.uk/video-blog/190110the-police.html
got a fair bit of work here
http://www.flickr.com/someherophoto
http://www.benclementphoto.com
http://www.somehero.wordpress.com
this is one of i have
http://putueka.com/2009/11/29/the-show/
Wow, these are great! I love concert photography. Here’s mine: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitties-on-my-head/sets/72157623170479203/
Hi everyone,
I am a concert photographer and I confirmed that it’s not easy to get sharp shoot of concert but with the right tool, the right parameter and of course, be at the right place at the right time ( alot of right thinks to have!), you can have wonderful pictures. Take a look at my website for more images : http://www.fredericsune.com
Thanks for sharing,
Frederic
Great colection of concert photographs.
Here’s a link to my concert photography site (mostly jazz);
http://nowhere.no/konsertfoto/
Cheers
Hi. I noticed that one of my images is featured in this 100 best concert shots post (listed as ‘Harmonica Hands’). Yeah. Thanks for the kudos.
Here’s my info:
Artist: Randall Douglas
Photo: Harmonica Hinds
Site: http://www.randalldouglas.com
Email: randy@randalldouglas.com
More of these kinds of photos from this project can be found here:
http://www.randalldouglas.com/theblues.htm
They are also available for sale as fine art inket prints; email if you wish to inquire.
Very amazing shots! I wonder how much of this is re-touched though?
The titles all lead directly to the original Flickr page—that’s crediting.
I’m flattered a photo of mine (the one of Goggi from Sigur Rós) happened to land in here, too, but the title of the song is “Popplagið”, not “Popplagio”. It’s a d with a slash, not an o.
I have never tried consert photography before but got the chance to try out on some bands such as In Flames, Volbeat, VNV Nation and Combichrist at a festival last week. As said earlier, I have never tried anything of this before, but I put up some for you to watch:
http://www.joacimschwartz.carbonmade.com
Under “Concerts”.
Theres some great shots posted…. and some very mediocre shots. The Police one? Is that really action packed?
A few of my favourites that Ive shot….
RUSH – http://www.flickr.com/photos/heavymetaladam/4795390630/in/set-72157624497126292/
ENTOMBED – http://www.flickr.com/photos/heavymetaladam/4665553293/in/set-72157624194764960/
PORTAL – http://www.flickr.com/photos/heavymetaladam/4638987459/in/set-72157624134857438/
ECLIPSE ETERNAL – http://www.flickr.com/photos/heavymetaladam/4470556031/in/set-72157623722404168/
DETHKLOK – http://www.flickr.com/photos/heavymetaladam/4051254973/in/set-72157622679144314/
DOWN – http://www.flickr.com/photos/heavymetaladam/3937819579/in/set-72157622294332255/
DRAGONFORCE – http://www.flickr.com/photos/heavymetaladam/3979795979/in/set-72157622389180797/
JUDAS PRIEST – http://www.flickr.com/photos/heavymetaladam/3708855816/in/set-72157621219673574/
I wonder how much of this is re-touched though?
Probably a lot of it. To give you an idea, if you follow the link to my Chicago Blues Festival project, half have been retouched either a little or a lot (especially black and white one, since they were shot digitally in color), and half have been retouched very little or not at all. I suspect that is pretty typical. The capture is like the score (to borrow and update an idea from Ansel Adams) and the post work and end result (printing or as a digital image) is like the performance. So, if you dont retouch at all, you are ignoring a large part of the equation. Even people that claim not to do any post work will usually hand off to an amazing lab, so most professionals and advanced ameteurs retouch these days or rely on some sort of final adjustments as part of their process.
Here’s my concert portfolio: http://allaccess.carbonmade.com/
But most of my shots (concert or no concert) can be found in my
Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bamboo_live/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roxannenebres/
and DeviantArt
http://roxnebres.deviantart.com/
Check Out Some Of My Live Music Photography Under “Gallery” Im Only 18 And Half Been To Many Concerts (Not All Posted Yet)
Great shots! I posted a blog entry a while back for amateurs trying to shoot concerts with their pt-and-shoot cameras that might be of interest:
http://aperturepriorityphoto.com/blog/?p=17
Some concert photos I took with a Canon SD880IS:
AC/DC
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixelposeur/sets/72157625418224173/
Rush:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixelposeur/sets/72157624893567443/
some of my shots from DJ / band gigs around Shanghai and Beijing, China..
Acupuncture NYE party @ The Tank, 798 art district, Beijing:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekkicore/5312341459/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekkicore/5312930160/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekkicore/5312339893/
The Shelter, Shanghai:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekkicore/5309002892/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekkicore/5308415517/
Ricky Sixx @ Yugong Yishan, Beijing
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ekkicore/5262759989/