Gig Photography - Etiquette

The practice of taking pictures at gigs has exploded since the advent of the pocket-sized camera and the camera-phone. Where once was a sea of cigarette lighters, instead is a sea of square blobs of light as everyone tries to capture the moment on a piece of silicon.

My view of Epica, courtesy of the guy in front of me.

There are many who are annoyed by this practice. I am one of them, to some degree, although I am more forgiving than most. Photographs I can understand; they capture a moment. Videoing the event I don't get. A live music event is right there, in front of you. If you're just going to spend the whole time faffing with a gadget only to watch it again later, without the atmosphere, lighting or volume, then what's the point even being there? Watch it on YouTube the next day instead. It's free, and you also get the added bonus of buffering.

But philosophy aside, there are practical issues that need to be dealt with. These are both social and technical. Much of the etiquette of gig photography is, or at least should be, self-evident. Basically, don't get in anybody else's way, obstruct their view, or otherwise influence the event that they have paid (with money and/or time) to see. Like everything else in life, it all boils down to "don't be a dick." Look at this guy:

He held his camera up for 20 minutes. I know that because there were big numbers on the screen counting how long his recording was. It was long enough that he had to switch arms twice because they got tired. The people behind him were tired, too. Tired of seeing the whole thing through his tiny screen.

There are some key rules that I try to stick to that, as much as possible, avoid getting in people's way. They're very simple, but apparently don't occur to most people.

1. Keep out of the way

Don't stand right in front of somebody and block their view. Try to be discreet (and, indeed, discrete). Stand to one side, or get near the front and get lower down.

I am more aware than most of this because of my height. Even when not taking pictures I have to be careful not to block other people's view. Well, I don't have to; many tall people see to have no problem with standing in front of someone 12" shorter than they are. But I do, so I avoid it.

2. Turn off the screen

Bright screens are distracting. Like fireflies flitting through the audience, they can be really irritating. And like spotlights right in your eyes, if one goes up right in front of you it can incite you to murder. Or at least pent-up frustration.

But what if your camera doesn't have a viewfinder? Well, get one that does. Or if you have one of those micro 4/3rds jobbies, get the optional add-on viewfinder. They're very nice. Alternatively, check out rule 3.

3. Be brief

I am aware that not everyone has the benefit of being 6'3", and using a viewfinder would result in lots of backs of heads. Fair enough, I wouldn't deny your picture-taking rights. But be brief. Turn it on, lift it up, frame and shoot. Then turn it off.

When you've taking your shot, avoid chimping. That is, avoid checking every single shot on the back of the camera before deciding it wasn't quite right and shooting another. In fact, best thing is to turn the picture review off altogether, otherwise you're breaking rule 2.

Instead of the usual "frame, shoot, review, frame, reshoot" cycle, use continuous shooting. Even my cheapest compact camera supports continuous burst shooting. If you can limit the number of continuous shots, set it to 3. That way you don't get too many, but the chances of catching the ever-changing lighting just right will be drastically improved.

4. Don't use the flash

Remember rule 2, about how annoying tiny little screens can be? That's magnified by bursts of very bright light from your little compact camera's flash. Especially if you forgot to turn off pre-flash and red-eye reduction. Many small cameras can flash up to 5 times for a single shot, somewhat like a strobe. Distracting, especially if you're unlucky enough to be stood next to somebody with one of those cameras.

And the problem, really, is that even if the flash goes off, it likely won't do any good. The distance between most of the audience and the band is way beyond the range of an average consumer level built-in flash. 10 feet is probably all you're realistically going to get, so anything further than that is just going to be annoying with no benefit.

Instead of flash, bump up the ISO. Most phone cameras have fixed aperture and shutter speed and use ISO control anyway, so leave that as is. Other small compacts have ISO options up to about 1600. Set it to 1600. Leave it there. The fact is that if you get some high ISO grain on a 12 megapixel image, it'll be all but invisible by the time it's scaled down to 1.5 megapixels and put on Facebook.

That's all folks

That's it. That is my list of rules for gig photography etiquette. Four simple little rules that will ensure you get a few good snaps to share with your friends, and the rest of the audience won't hate your guts for it.

Tune in next time, where I shall reveal my hints and tips for getting good pics and extol the virtues of the Fuji Finepix S5700.