stu352 Loc: MA/RI Border

Stage lighting can be challenging. If you shoot any with available light, you may not want to believe your camera's meter. Look at your histograms and look at the "blinkies" that identify any blown out stuff in your image.

mindzye Loc: WV

Having shot a Lot of groups (live music and photography - superb combination!) your 16-35 or your 50mm will come in handy for overall setting shots-depending on how close or far you will be, keeping in mind your 35 is technically an upper range wide angle.

You later mentioned you have a 70-200; Take it! Up close of musicians' /faces with the excitement and emotions of playing, instrument action shots are great. I agree w/ a later post that recommended to check your 'blinkies' for overexposure. Take a couple of test shots and adjust your WB to suit.

So far as illumination, if you have a speedlight, and particularly one that swivels, you can produce some great light effects w/ bounce lighting off ceiling or sometimes throw a light just to the side; even a combination of the two works well. I've even experimented with bounce lighting off ceiling w/ the light pointed up and backwards. It works in producing some interesting soft light bounced add-ons. Don't worry too much if they have colored strobes as varying colors of the set and musicians can be unique and interesting.

Be sure to move around for different perspectives; if possible, get low and shoot up as well - some great view perspectives can be had. Try, and get used to, low light shots: a higher shutter speed or a higher F stop can produce some great rim lighting or isolated 'high light only' effects.

That being said, keep in mind that if you have a dark background w/ a well lit subject (again musician face/ bust, hands on instrument, etc. ) you will get a dark to black background. The rule of 3 stops or less of lighting will render an image w/ a black background. Note here- You will Not be able to produce this with auto iso - you will have to use a manual setting for the highlights and meter off that source. Same goes for landscapes, etc.

It's work but a tremendous amount of fun. Happy shooting!
Would be interested in some after images. Good luck.

mrozzoo Loc: Illinois

if a jazz band group shot is needed 16-35 mm with or without flash

if candid action shots are needed 70-200 mm

flash if needed for a group shot if they are posing for it... bounce flash perhaps for lighting candids

Auto white balance will be fine...

center weight metering will help vs. matrix metering..... ISO suggestion 800

a monopod will help..... it will be a fun night.... just chill and enjoy your new adventure!

Rick from NY Loc: Sarasota FL

Surprised no one mentioned auto iso. Cut yourself some slack and focus (pun intended) on shooting rather than obsessing over hi iso. Simplify your task. Set your camera to manual, set the aperture to somewhere around f5.6 , shutter to 1/250th and turn on auto iso with no upper limit and just shoot away. Also, set your camera for rapid shooting high and shoot bursts. You’ll increase your odds of getting a good shot.

In my experience, when shooting a group, shooting wide open to preserve lower iso and higher shutter speed will bite you on the butt. Yeah, you get lower iso but you also get smaller depth of field which may create more problems than grain if only one of the band members is sharply focused. There are MANY considerations an experienced gig photographers will address, but the cardinal rule is that the grainiest pic is better than an out of focus one or one where dof affects the front to back focus.

Since you aren’t experienced, I urge you to use the above settings first, look at your results immediately and tweak your aperture and shutter speed as necessary. If it’s a rock band moving around, you’ll want a ss to freeze action. Determine the widest aperture and lowest ss to look good. I generally find those points, increase the ss 1 click, stop down one click just to be safe. Once you achieve sharp focus and dof, forget it and just shoot. Auto iso allows you to name you ss anf f stop and floats the iso for proper exposure. So even if the house lights come up, you don’t have to fiddle. Auto iso is a game changer for sports and event shooting.

Oh - and leave the flash home. It will distract the band, tick off the audience and have you miss shots while waiting for the flash to recycle. Not to mention the limited throw and spread of any hot shoe flash.

As for lens selection, if you shoot as I suggested, you only need the zoom. You don’t want to be changing lenses in the dark or in a cramped corner where you’re likely to be situated.

Have fun and remember - your not a pro and you’re doing the band a favor. Get sharp, well exposed and grainy pics and your job is done.

Rick from NY Loc: Sarasota FL

Oops

Rick from NY Loc: Sarasota FL

This fellow mentioned a very important point that I forgot. Exposure. Set your camera to image review with the histogram showing to judge exposure. If you aren’t experienced with reading histograms, you can study up and practice before hand. I would start out with regular evaluative metering rather than center weighted, but if a bright light or anything else fools the meter, I would certainly try center weighted. And, if your exposures are off using whichever method you use, don’t change your pre set manual settings. Instead dial in +/- exposure comp. If you are shooting raw (which you certainly should be), you can cure a lot of exposure issues in post (including excessive grain), but always best getting it as good as you can in camera.

jcboy3

The last pub shot I did had typical pub lighting, which is not great. I shot mostly 50mm f/1.4 1/100s 6400 ISO and 85mm f/1.2 1/200s 6400 ISO. If I had to be closer than I was, I would have used a 35mm f/1.8 lens, but I was fine for distance at that pub. I was shooting for the band, so I could shoot from wherever (although I try very hard not to disturb the audience).

Bring your 50mm. If the others are your only wide lenses, then bring the 16-35. You can get good results with the 16-35; the D750 is very good at high ISO. It's a jazz band, so you can usually get away with slower shutter speed at 1/50s if needed.

In my opinion, 14mm is too wide.

Do you not have anything longer? When I got my D750, I also got the 24-120 f/4 kit lens. If you have it, then bring it and leave the 16-35. If not, then if you have anything around 85mm to 100mm, bring it as well.

If you don't have anything, then I would look at it as an opportunity to fill a hole in your lens collection and get one.

mindzye Loc: WV

[quote=Rick from NY] If you aren’t experienced with reading histograms, you can study up and practice before hand. I would start out with regular evaluative metering rather than center weighted, but if a bright light or anything else fools the meter, I would certainly try center weighted.

I agree w/ this as a starting point. Well taken.

If some dramatic lighting on a close up is desired, then the use of spot metering is required as it will highlight the portion of the scene you want to, well, highlight, and the rest should trail off into varying degrees of darkness.

For overall scenes your assessment is spot on - to coin a phrase.

fosis Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Don't be afraid to raise your ISO. Post processing will take care of the noise.
Do be afraid that your shutter speed is too low; blurry shots - unless very intentionally crafted - are not sharp, not acceptable.
Make sure your exposure is adequate. Don't blow out your highlights, but don't lose the shadows; contrast will be very high.
After the first 3 songs, I envision a wide shot from the back of the entire place, to show the setting, the crowd's enthusiasm and the band in the spotlights. Several bracketed exposures to get it right with your 14mm f 2.8.
Capture the excitement and get their faces. These are portraits, in a crazy situation!
Good shooting!

William Royer Loc: Kansas

Good guidance above. My only comments would be: a) recommend shooting in jog+raw for greater post options; and, b) a reminder that it is easier to fix ‘noise’ in post-processing than to deal with camera shake/blurred images. So don’t be shy about higher ISO’s.

bobforman Loc: Anacortes, Washington State

I've been in most bars within 50 miles of Bellevue. If you let me know which one I can probably tell you about the lighting.

chrisg-optical Loc: New York, NY

The D750 is a competent low light level shooter so that is a good start. I would take the 50 and 16-35, shoot both wide open (1.4 and 4 or maybe a 0.5-1 stop down), ISO up to 1600 - you can use M mode with auto ISO with max of 2000 perhaps - set shutter to 1/60 - with those focal lengths that should be fine, especially if those lenses have VR. Be sure to shoot RAW so you can recover shadow areas - lighting is likely to be directional from various sources - incandescent and neon probably in a pub. Use Auto WB and any adjustments can be done in post with RAW. A flash will help of course to fill shadow areas but use a diffuser on the head.

MJPerini

The D750 is very good in low light, use that, I would bring a tripod. Flash would not be appreciated in club (maybe ok between sets) You probably will get an 'assigned vantage point' even if not don't block sight lines.
You should be fine.
You will most likely find very dim ambient light with bright often colored spots so very high contrast.
It is short notice, you gave warning, don't put pressure on yourself, and remember you only need a few nice ones to make people happy, so more than that is a bonus.
Depending on the venue there is sometimes a sound check before the show, be there for that, you can get comfortable and maybe even use flash (although many clubs have dark ceilings)
Good luck

btbg

Depending on the size of the venue and how close you can get the 70-200 might actually be your best choice. I would take it just in case. Make sure that you meter for the stage lights or the performers faces and not for the surrounding darker areas. I typically shoot in manual mode for concerts and other stage performances as it lets me dial in the settings I want.

I would suggest 1/250th of a second or faster unless you want to do something like blur the drummer's hands and sticks deliberately. If you want no motion blur you may have to push your shutter speed higher. As to fstop I would try different f stops. If you are focusing on just one performer then wide open is probably the way to go. If you are trying to get the entire band in sharp focus then you may need to stop down even as far as f5.6 or f8, depending on how they have set up. ISO is the least of your worries. Yes, you want to keep it as low as possible, but it is more important to have sufficient depth of field for your photos and a fast enough shutter speed than it is to keep your ISO down.

I would also check with the band in advance and find out if they want you to get on stage off and on for closeups, or if they would prefer that you give them more space. Some bands play to photographers on the stage and others would rather you keep more distance.

Don't be afraid to push it to 10,000 if needed. Pub settings could have great lights, or they could be incredibly dark. Since you are not familiar with the venue be prepared for either. The big thing creatively is fill the frame. That means either getting close, or using a big lens. If you don't take the 70-200 then be prepared to zoom by moving your feet.

Also keep in mind that you do not want to negatively impact the pub's patrons view of the concert, so keep as low a profile as possible while still getting as close as you need to be. With bands low angles often work great, so if you just get low you are out of spectators line of sight, plus have more dynamic compositions.

Also, as was previously stated, it might be a good idea to take a flash if the band wants photos of themselves together either before or after the performance.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

50 f1.4 on the FF D750 unless you’re REALLY close. Start with 1/125, f2.8 and auto ISO and see where your ISO is (anything from 12,800 is acceptable and a 6,400 limit is better) then if the ISO isn’t maxed, crank the aperture down to f4 for more DOF. If the ISO still isn’t maxed, move the SS up to 1/250. Forget the tripod - 1/125 to 1/250 SS will address the camera shake if you’re reasonably steady. The D750 is good in low light/high ISO, so keeping your ISO down is your last priority (fix the noise and WB in post), behind freezing the motion (unless you want some blur of fast hand movements) and having adequate DOF to keep your subjects in focus. Shoot raw…