Concert and Live Music Photography: Pro Tips from the Pit

I picked up J. Dennis Thomas's book recently because I had reached a plateau in my concert photography business and needed to know how to "take it to the next level". The book contains many beautifully composed color images of mostly prominent rock and jazz performers, used to illustrate the many photographic concepts that Thomas brings out. Most notably, the section on editing your images stands out as an excellent primer to anyone just starting out and may even offer a seasoned pro a refresher around specific white balance techniques or housekeeping habits, like keywording, in popular photo management tools like Adobe Lightroom. I found some inspiration in these photos and perhaps some reassurance by referring to their stated camera settings, that creating such images as these is within reach, provided I had already made the right investment in a pro camera body, lenses, and photo management software. However, creating the images once you are allowed in the venue and perhaps on a paid assignment is where I found your mileage may vary most. Unfortunately, the professional concert photography business is full of "chicken-and-egg" conundrums, where getting paid and gaining access to the venue, is the most difficult juggling act and this book cautions the reader against earning a living following this pursuit. For example, about one page is spent warning about the increasingly common Rights Grab contract, but there really is no good advice how to build a profitable concert photography business. I suspect that anyone reading this book has probably planning to make a sizable investment in photo gear and is looking to try to earn it back somehow. I only wished the author could tell us what business strategies work and which ones do not and that is perhaps for another book.At the tail end of the book, there is some advice as to who to reach out to prior to getting access to the gig, but little else for the photographer's messy image licensing world after that. Instead, the author encourages the reader to play nice with other pros in the photo pit, steer clear of flying objects (and people), and be prepared with the right gear for the venue. There is a section on gaining access backstage to meet performers and I'm sure that there are a myriad of other ways to get fantastic band shots (e.g. at rehearsals), gain the trust and access to the performers, and consistently get greenlit into venues, but again it is up to the reader to discover and try them out on his own. My main misgiving (perhaps with the industry as a whole rather than this book, specifically) is that if you follow the conventional route into the photo pit for the requisite fifteen minutes, without ever interacting with the performers, you will miss out on the most creatively satisfying aspect of photographing musicians; the collaboration between the performing artist and the visual artist.Update: In conversing privately with the author in greater detail, I learned that the book is intended for an intermediate level of photographer looking to build a strong portfolio, rather than geared towards more seasoned professionals looking to diversify an already strong one. Also, with the plethora of new photographers, inexpensive high ISO cameras, and internet speed marketing has virtually eliminated what once was a lucrative career option for some, in the same way that editorial and photojournalism once represented high-end careers in photography. J. Dennis Thomas covers the important technical and logistical challenges of concert photography from a positive, practical and productive outlook.

This was a great book and I learned so much! Such great advice and personal examples. I will be taking the authors advice on Friday shooting my first show!

Yes my daughter loved it

I got this after seeing a photographer friend post about this on Instagram. Haven't been able to finish this yet as I've been super busy but I am really love what I've read so far and cannot wait to finish it. I highly recommend this book for any photographer, beginner to pro or if you are looking to get started.

Covers all the basics - technical, logistical, big arenas, festivals, small clubs, post processing and marketing. Includes lots of good picture examples. This book is full of practical advice from a working pro. The Kindle version is as good as the printed version - you don't loose any pictures or drawings.

Gave as a gift and they love it. Said it's very informative.

I really enjoyed reading this book as it contains lots of practical information on getting started in the field. I have already put some of the knowledge to good use. I look forward to growing in my pursuit of becoming a real concert photographer and will be able to come back to the book for future reference.

This book is a very good overall guide for starting concert photography.

I've been doing big name concert photography professionally for some months. I bought this book soon after starting out in this field (when I was shooting mostly in pubs and small venues) in the hopes that it would provide solid, in-depth information, particularly with regards to processing photos which are often overexposed in a single colour channel or require extensive colour work to get a natural feel. The problem is that the book is filled with a lot of frankly not particularly helpful waffle, and most chapters needlessly repeat information from previous ones. If you removed the repeated info, this book would probably be half its length. Furthermore, I don't understand the necessity to repeatedly explain basic photographic concepts like shutter speed, ISO and aperture when people who are shooting gigs are likely to already have a good understanding of these.I guess this book may be useful to someone who has just bought their very first camera and has an ambition to learn concert photography, but for anyone who already knows how to use a camera and is looking for very in-depth information for techniques on processing punchy, publication-ready images, you're not going to learn much here. I daresay many of the photos used to illustrate the book are not particularly impressive either (although it's fair to point out there are also many great photos - but in the art world, we say you're as good as your worst work, tending to assume that the good ones are flukes when they're accompanied by ones of lesser quality).Additionally, at the risk of coming across as a terrible pedant, I couldn't help but notice numerous grammar and spelling mistakes throughout. This gives a very poor impression.

I've taken a few gig photos in the past and received just enough positive feedback that I decided I wanted to know how to do it properly. I bought this book and was glad I did. The range of advice given is excellent, from how to shoot in small, badly lit venues, to large stadiums, through how to get into the photographers pit and all the way to guidance on how to post-process your photos. I read it cover to cover in a couple of days and plan to have a re-read soon. There are plenty of excellent photos to have a look at and each photo had an overview of the camera kit and settings used to learn from. The book is very well written but it wasn't until I saw one of his photos that looked familiar that I realised that I already owned another of his books (the Nikon D3100 Digital Field Guide) so I suppose that make me a fan :)Update: I still find myself referring to this book on occassion ... in fact I did so this morning!

Great product

This is a top class photographer whose book is an inspiration, I'd never come across any of his work before reading this book, his photo's speak a thousand words, and he has captured a new angle to live music photography, I can't wait to grab my camera and get to work at the next live gig !!!!

Love it! Great present!