August 10, 2007 - Stephen Stills performs at the Hawaii Theatre. Exposure details: Canon EOS-1D Mark II, EF 70-200mm (at 195mm), 1.4X tele-converter, Manual, 1/125 sec at f/4, ISO 3200, Daylight setting

I’ll admit it… one of my favorites things about my job is getting to shoot concerts. As a musician, it’s great to be able to see legendary acts up close and personal. So, I was glad to be assigned to the Stephen Stills show last week at Hawaii Theatre.

I’ve been shooting bands since I started photography back when I was a student working at UH’s Ka Leo O Hawaii. The first band I ever shot was Pearl Jam on their Ten tour at Andrews Ampitheatre. Good times. Ever since then I was hooked. Combining live music and photo is one of my favorite things.

Every show is different, though. Everything from staging, to lighting, to shooting positions vary. You never know what you’re going to get until you show up at the venue.

One thing that’s for sure though, especially with big acts, is that we’re limited to shooting the first three songs (sometimes it’s two, sometimes it’s just the first 30 seconds of the first three songs) with no flash. I don’t care much about the flash thing, since I rarely use them, but the song limit thing can be tricky.

Sometimes the songs are short. Sometimes there’s little or no light. Very little time to really get a wide variety of good pictures. But then again, I’ve been doing this for 15 years, so I can usually pull something out of the hat.

I arrived at Hawaii Theatre about an hour before show time so I could get my pass, find the shooting position, and ponder my fate.

Things were pretty low key, and I was told that I could go down to the front, but to be mindful of those there to watch the show. I decided I’d park down at the right of the stage. There was a mic and two monitors in the center of the stage, so I kinda gauged things with my 70-200. Seemed a bit loose, but whatever. I had no clue what the lighting would be like, but guessed it would be one of those minimal “light-up-the-solo-guy-in-the-middle-of-the-stage” affairs.

Right after 8, he took the stage. There were a few lights from the front, and some from behind for the rim. Not very bright. It looks bright with the naked eye just looking at a guy lit on a dark stage, but it wasn’t really that much light.

I set my ISO to 3200, and the exposure was around 1/250 or so at f2.8. For concerts I almost always use the daylight color setting. The stage lights are funky no matter what, and trying to compensate just makes it look even stranger.

I was shooting from the side, but it was pretty loose. I shot some full-body shots, and some horizontals. I like my stuff tight, and the straight 200mm wasn’t cutting the proverbial mustard. So I pulled out my 1.4X converter and stuck it on. My 200mm was now like a 280mm. I’d lose a stop of light, so I’d have to lower my shutter speed, but since I have image stabilization on the lens, a slow shutter speed wouldn’t be a problem. I was kinda worried about subject movement, though. But then it was just a matter of shooting when he was still (har, har…. Stephen Stills… get it?… sorry).

Anyway, I moved a little more center at this point, kneeling to keep out of the way of fans. The angle was better, and the increased focal length was much nicer, too. There wasn’t a lot going on aside from him playing and singing at the mic, so I figured I keep tight to look for expression on his face.

Before long, my three songs were up, and it was time to leave.