Raymond Lam Fung @ Arena of STARS

I and some of my photographer friends were invited to shoot for a concert at the ARENA of STARS at Genting on 19 December 2009. Little did we know that it was a celebrity concert by Hong Kong based actor and singer, Raymond Lam Fung! He is well known in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Canada and even in the US.

Here are some shots of the concert which we enjoyed very much as the stage set up were very challenging indeed for any photographer. It’s even trickier as there were massive arrays of lasers, neon and spotlights throughout the stage performances.

Basically, shooting concert is an amazing opportunity to capture some great images. It can be a real challenge to work with the constantly changing stage lighting especially with its different colors.

Rule One

The first rule of thumb when covering any concert or stage performances is never use the flashlight. Not only will the constant flashes annoyed the audience, it will also affect the performers on stage. A flashlight will also instantly kill the creative atmosphere or ambience stage lighting.

Rule Two

Use a high ISO of 1600 with the widest aperture possible and

changing your shutter speed as you go along.

Rule Three

Of course, stick to manual mode as the stage lighting condition can change so drastically.

Such constantly changing lights can drive your camera metering crazy

so it’s better to have manual control.

Rule Four

You don’t need a tripod or even a monopod.

If you have the luxury to move around to shoot the concert, it’ll hinder your freedom.

Rule Five

For sharp and clean image, remember to keep your shutter at 1/250

or faster to capture your subjects on stage.

Rule Six

RAW is the name of the game!

Shooting in RAW will help you eliminate the problem

of the constantly changing light conditions, it helps tremendously with WB later.

Rule Seven

Always carry two cameras with you, one hooked with a zoom lens of 70-200 f2.8

and the other either a wider 17-40 f2.8

keep in mind the crop factor if it’s not on a full-frame camera.

Rule Eight

Compose and frame your shots carefully,
always anticipate the next steps

and be alert or ahead of what’s about to happen.

Don’t shoot like a ‘machine-gun’ which I notice is the trend of a new digital photographer.

The shutter sound can be extremely annoying to the audience too!

So these are my golden rules for shooting a concert or stage performances. Of course, it’s always different method with each photographer so you should find your own way and decide what’s comfortable to you.