Unfortunately there will probably be no shows this tour for me. So I’ve been getting my fix by watching clips on Youtube & Periscope. Now that the shows are moving to Europe I’m hoping there will be more chance to see multicam shoots.
In the past I have noticed that the quality of people’s videos varies quite a bit, with quite a bit of the inevitable shake & focus problems. But even worse, the dreaded GHOST U2! Those overexposed shots where the band’s faces are totally white.
So I thought I’d start a thread, where people could help each other out, with tips about how to get good quality video footage. I’m far from an expert, only filming one show (which wasn’t worth chasing up a multicam, as it was Paris i+e, the DVD venue). But I’ll try to throw out some tips on what I’ve learnt. Hopefully Remy, whose photos are amazing, & others, will also have some pointers.
Today I’d like to discuss getting exposure right, & the biggest problem with many concert videos, overexposure!
A word of warning. This will be EXTREMELY long winded, & complicated for those that are looking to shoot in manual mode. But bear with me, as there’s simple solutions (in method 1) for those who don’t want to delve deeper into concert videography. If that’s too much to read, just skip forward to the BOLDED text in the appropriate section. Method 1 (EXPOSURE COMPENSATION), for those wanting to shoot in AUTO, & not wanting to delve too far into camera settings or techniques. Method 2 (SPORTS SCENE mode), for those with a very basic camera & no other options. Method 3 (MANUAL MODE), for those that would like to take control of their camera (the best option). Method 3 is very long & complicated, if even reading the bolded text is too much, just skip to the bottom to read a SUMMARY OF THE SETTINGS TO CHOOSE.
Tip 1: GETTING EXPOSURE RIGHT.
OVEREXPOSURE
Overexposure causes ghosting. Those annoying images, where the band’s faces are totally white. No details can be made out, just a fuzzy bright white blur.
Cameras are not intelligent, they don’t know whether they are at a concert, at the beach, at a birthday party. All a camera does is follow a set of rules! For exposure, the camera evaluates the scene, & TRIES TO MAKE THE AVERAGE PIXEL’S BRIGHTNESS GREY. It adjusts the brightness by adjusting three things.
- APERTURE. The opening of the lens’s diaphragm, which lets light in. The larger the aperture (lower f-stop), the more light that is let in.
- SHUTTER SPEED. The time for which the shutter is open, letting in light. The longer the shutter speed, the more light that is let in.
- ISO. The sensitivity of the camera’s sensor. The higher the ISO, the more
sensitive the sensor will be, & the brighter the image will be.
But what happens at concerts? There’s a tonne of BLACK BACKGROUND behind the band members, which takes up much of the scene. This blackness is totally acceptable, but the camera doesn’t know this. So it tries to brighten the background. This brightens the whole scene, overexposing the band members, blowing out their faces until they are totally white.
How can we stop this overexposure from happening? TAKE CONTROL OF THE CAMERA!
We can do this in a couple of ways. By taking total control by shooting in MANUAL MODE (adjusting the aperture, shutter speed & ISO ourselves), which I’ll explain later. But this may be too daunting for some people, & may not even be possible with some cameras. Another, simpler option, is adjusting a setting called EXPOSURE COMPENSATION. Many basic cameras will have this setting, & it should be adjusted when shooting in AUTO. I’ll explain this method now.
METHOD 1. ADJUSTING EXPOSURE COMPENSATION.
As I said earlier, the camera doesn’t know that a concert is supposed to be quite dark, & tries to brighten the scene, ruining the image. But we can tell the camera that it’s OK for the scene to be darker than an average grey. We do this by adjusting the EXPOSURE COMPENSATION. Many cameras, even when shooting in AUTO, will let you set the Exposure Compensation. If we set to the exposure compensation to a negative value, the camera will adjust the exposure so that the scene is darker than an average grey. While if we set the exposure compensation to a positive value, the camera will adjust exposure so that the scene is lighter than an average grey. As I said, for concerts the average pixel should be darker, so we WANT TO SET THE EXPOSURE COMPENSATION TO A NEGATIVE VALUE.
I’ve only shot with this method once. I set the exposure compensation to -2, but the image was still slightly overexposed. Some cameras will only go as low as -2, but for cameras that will go lower, I think -3 would be about right. So for this method,
SHOOT IN AUTO, & ADJUST THE EXPOSURE COMPENSATION TO -3.
METHOD 2. SHOOTING IN SPORTS SCENE (when no other methods are possible).
For basic Point & Shoot cameras with no exposure compensation settings, the only option usually left is to choose the SPORT SCENE mode. It’s not usually a desirable option, as fast shutter speeds usually result in the camera using higher ISO’s (creating more noise). But it usually results in darker images, & darker images that have some noise are much more preferable to overexposed images. I used this method way back, on the Vertigo tour with a P & S camera. Think most cameras now will let you adjust the Exposure Compensation, so only use the SPORT SCENE method, as a last resort, when dialling down exposure compensation isn’t an option.
METHOD 3. MANUAL MODE (the preferred method).
Take total control! I’ll just discuss full MANUAL Mode here, not Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority Modes. If using these, you’d have to set the ISO or the Exposure Compensation to get correct exposure. I find it better to shoot in full MANUAL Mode. So let’s explain it. I also won’t talk about metering modes like SPOT METERING. This can be used (with metering on band members faces) successfully for concert photography, but is probably not appropriate for videography.
Now this is going to get complicated! As I said previously, a camera sets its exposure by changing 3 variables, SHUTTER SPEED, APERTURE & ISO (sensitivity). When shooting in manual mode we set these 3 variables ourselves. I’ll explain each of these variables below. Concert photography/videography is a low light environment, always trying to get enough light onto the cameras sensor. IT’S A BIT OF A BALANCING ACT! If we push one variable too far, the others variables will have to compensate, & we may end up with poor results. Luckily, the exposure levels throughout the concerts usually don’t change that much. Although there are exceptions (like 360’s UV, which was very dark). But generally you can set the 3 variables, leave them, & still end up with pretty good results (if they have been set correctly in the first place). Much better than if we let our camera shoot in full AUTO anyway. Advanced operators will change things on the fly, but it’s not absolutely necessary. All sounds complicated, but I’ll explain it below. The 3 variables are;
- ISO (Sensitivity).
I’ll start with ISO, just because it’s the least complicated. ISO is the sensitivity of the sensor to light. It has a linear relationship to exposure. Double the ISO & you’ll double exposure levels. The problem with ISO is creates noise in our images. Who remembers seeing old concert prints, with their grainy images? Looked pretty cool when using film, but looks pretty crappy in the digital world, with the coloured noise – incidentally noisy concert images often look better when they are converted to black & white), & they somewhat replicated the old grainy film look. The amount of noise in an image is a function of the camera’s sensor size. At a given ISO, cameras with large sensors will produce less noise, while cameras with smaller sensors will produce more noise. What’s it all mean? Large expensive DSLR’s (with their large sensors) can produce acceptable images at much higher ISO than camera phones & cheaper P & S cameras (with their much smaller sensors). To complicate matters, the more pixels on a sensor, the more noise. I may write more about this, in a tip for choosing gear, if I have time.
What’s it really all mean?
DO NOT USE AN ELEVATED ISO LEVEL THAT WILL PRODUCE A LOT OF NOISE. THE LOWER THE ISO THAT YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH THE BETTER! Though too low ISO will result in dark images. Camera phones & simple P & S cameras (with tiny 1 / 2.3” sensors) probably should not exceed ISO 400. Advanced compacts (with 1” sensors) may have decent quality at 800 ISO. Mirrorless ILC (with MFT & APS sensors) may be OK a bit over 1,000 ISO. While full frame DSLR’s will be OK for a few thousand. Note: these numbers are just best guesses. So what I’m really saying is, if you have a choice, choose a camera with the largest sensor possible (if the camera isn’t too bulky), & don’t push the ISO too high.
- SHUTTER SPEED.
The time that the shutter is open & an image is recorded. Shutter speed has a linear relationship to the light that reaches the sensor. Double the shutter speed, actually halving the time the shutter is open, & you halve the light that reaches the sensor. Not too complicated. But what other effect will changing the shutter speed have on our images? A very slow shutter speed results in camera shake when hand held, so requires a tripod, & is inappropriate for concerts. A slow shutter speed results in blur of the subject. Blurred band members, while they walk past you. So why don’t we use very fast shutter speeds? Very fast shutter speeds result in only low levels of light reaching the camera’s sensor. To compensate for this we must open the camera’s aperture (it’s likely to already be wide open), or increase the ISO (the sensor’s sensitivity). But raising the ISO too far creates other problems (noise), which I’ll explain below. So it’s a balancing act, choosing the fast shutter speed that doesn’t push the ISO too far. For concert photography shutter speeds between 1/60 second & 1/250 second are used. 1/60s will blur movement slightly, 1/250s will freeze motion, resulting in a very sharp image (if it’s focus properly). Some blur may be acceptable, some may even be advantageous to the image. Have a look at some of Remy’s brilliant images of the Edge. Look at Edge’s pick hand, there may be some slight blur, highlighting the motion of Edge’s hand. I’d guess that Remy usually shoots with a shutter speed of around 1/100s.
As I said, for concert photography we want fast shutter speeds to freeze motion (or leave a tiny bit of blur to highlight motion). Luckily, for videography we can have a little bit of a blur on single frames, usually it’s actually desirable! This slight blur actually makes frames flow better, making motion look more natural. Very sharp images on the frames can make motion look choppy, & is usually not desirable. Only in unusual circumstances (the battle scenes in Saving Private Ryan were shot at fast shutter speeds to make the scene look more frenetic). So for concert videography we can slow the shutter speed down, CHOOSING A SHUTTER SPEED BETWEEN 1/50s & 1/60s. There’s actually a rule for this, called the 180 degrees rule. All it means is, CHOOSE A SHUTTER SPEED THAT IS HALF THE FRAME RATE.
FOR PAL CAMERAS WITH FRAME RATES OF 25 FPS (frames per second), CHOOSE A SHUTTER SPEED OF 1/50s.
FOR NTSC CAMERAS WITH FRAME RATES OF 30 FPS, CHOOSE A SHUTTER SPEED OF 1/60s.
DO NOT USE FAST FRAME RATES, OR FAST SHUTTER SPEEDS! This is for action footage & slow motion, not concert videography! Fast frame rates require faster shutter speeds, resulting in less light & poorer images (as ISO will be increased)! Stick to either 30 fps, 25 fps or 24 fps. It may actually be beneficial to talk to your multicam editors & choose to use the same frame rate between filmers where possible, to ease editing?
- APERTURE.
The opening in the lens, that lets light in, expressed in f-numbers (f-stops). This gets complicated! The larger the f-stop, the smaller the aperture, & the less light that reaches the sensor. Also, it’s not a linear scale. f/1.4 lets in double the light of f/2.0, which lets in double the light of f/2.8, which lets in double the light of f/4.0, which in turn lets in double the light of f/5.6! Complicated! But the general gist is a lens with a large maximum aperture of f/1.4 (called a fast lens) lets in 16 times as much light as a lens with an aperture of f/5.6. For concert photography you usually want the largest aperture possible, letting in as much light as we can get! With more light, we can decrease ISO, decreasing noise & improving image quality. But fast, large aperture lenses are expensive! Zoom lenses usually have smaller maximum apertures (referred to as slower lenses). Zoom lenses with large maximum apertures are very expensive!
But there’s a bit of a problem, as well as cost. Aperture effects depth of field. Depth of field is the area that will remain in focus, anywhere outside this area will be out of focus. A shallow depth of field means only a small area will be in focus. Unfortunately a large aperture produces a shallow depth of field! When focusing on Bono’s mic, using a large aperture f/1.4 lens may result in Bono’s face being out of focus, due to the shallow depth of field! A smaller aperture, such as f/5.6 has a deeper depth of field, making it easier to keep everything in focus. But, as described above, this won’t let enough light into the lens. Catch 22! For concert photography we usually choose the larger aperture possible, & deal with the shallow depth of field. It’s not a big issue in photography, we can bin the few images that are out of focus. But it’s not so simple for videography. When filming we don’t want the camera to be constantly hunting, trying to get everything in focus. Concert lighting plays havoc with camera’s auto focus system. Who likes watching those concert clips on YouTube which are often out of focus, willing the camera to get the focus right! Depth of field is a complicated issue. It’s effected by aperture, but also by the focal length, & distance to the subject. If I have more time I’ll write about this in another tip.
CHOOSE THE LARGEST APERTURE THAT WILL GIVE YOU AN ACCEPTABLE DEPTH OF FIELD. This will be very dependant where you are on the field. The focal length you’re using, the distance to the subject, to quality of your camera’s auto focus, you may even choose to shoot with manual focus (more on that later, in another tip, if I have time).
Zoom lenses complicate the issue further. Often the maximum aperture of a zoom lens varies over the range of the zoom (focal length range). So often a zoom lens will say something like f/3.2 – f/5.6 on the barrel. In this case, when the lens is zoomed out the maximum aperture is f/3.2, & when the lens is zoomed in the maximum aperture is f/5.6. An aperture of f/5.6 lets in half the light of f/4, less than half the light of f/3.2. So for this case, if we set the aperture to f/4, strange things happen when we zoom. When we’re zoomed out the aperture will be f/4 (our chosen value, as it’s smaller than out maximum possible aperture of f/3.2). But as we zoom in we’ll reach a point where our maximum aperture is smaller than f/4. So the aperture will close over the remaining zoom range, until it is only f/5.6 when we’re fully zoomed in. Resulting in less light reaching the sensor. If we’re shooting in full manual, & have set our shutter speeds & ISO, as we zoom in our image will get darker. This is not a good look. You’ll see this in Roman’s video, at 0:33.
(Incidentally, in this case, the darkening actually improves the video, as everything has been grossly overexposed, because he is shooting in AUTO without adjusting exposure compensation. Zooming in forces the aperture to close, darkening the image, reducing the overexposure).
So what’s this all mean in regards to zoom lenses. For ILC’s (interchangeable lens cameras), if you’re loaded or are renting, choose a lens with a (fast) constant aperture lens. Something like a f/2.8 lens would be great. For those without deep pockets, or not looking for new gear it means,
SET THE APERTURE TO THE MINIMUM SIZE OVER THE ZOOM RANGE. For example if the lens is f/2.8 – f/4, set the aperture to f/4. However, when reducing the aperture, you’ll have to increase the ISO to get correct exposure levels. For a lens that is f/3.2 – f/6.5, choosing an aperture of f/6.5 may increase ISO levels so high that unacceptable noise is a problem. In this case you’ll have to choose between slowing the shutter speed (not a good idea below about 1/50s), using elevated ISO levels (definitely not a good idea), or opening the aperture more (which is the best option). In this case, you can choose to live with the darkening as the camera is zoomed in, or choose not to use the zoom at all (probably a good option).
EXPOSURE LEVELS, & CHOOSING SHUTTER SPEED, APERTURE & ISO (for MANUAL mode).
Above, we’ve worked out that we’ll be using a shutter speed of either 1/50s or 1/60s (dependant on whether our camera is PAL or NTSC). We’ve somewhat discussed what aperture will be set to (depending on our lens, & where we’re on the field compared to the band). So how do we match these up with the ISO? First we must determine the exposure level at the concert. Photo pros will do this with light meters, but we don’t have that option. So we use something called EXPOSURE VALUE, which I’ll describe below.
EXPOSURE VALUE (EV). Exposure value is a number that represents all possible shutter speed & aperture settings that result in the same exposure. Any combination of shutter speed & aperture, which results in the same exposure value (EV), will have the same exposure. What the heck! Double the shutter speed (halving the time the shutter is open), & you must open the aperture to let double the light in, to get the same exposure. Complicated! All you need to know is, you don’t need a light meter, and all you need to do is look at a chart (or take my word for it). People have determined the exposure values for different scenes. A sunny day will have an EV of 15, a very overcast day will have an EV of 12, a sunset also 12. Home interiors 5 to 7, night time traffic 5, an aurora -3 to -6, & importantly, A WELL LIT STAGE SHOW HAS AN EV OF 8!
FOR WELL LIT ROCK CONCERTS, THE EXPOSURE VALUE IS 8 (approximately). Of course it varies from show to show, but U2 shows are very well lit, & I think an EV of 8 is about right. This is important! We can use any combination of shutter speeds & apertures (& ISO’s) that will give us an EV of 8, to have correctly exposed images at a well-lit rock concert. Now we just need to look at the below chart, & determine what settings to use.
Say we’ve chosen to use a shutter speed of 1/60, we find that on the x-axis of the chart. Follow this up until we reach our diagonal line for 8 EV. If we now follow this across we get an aperture (f-stop) of f/2.0. So if we choose to shoot a rock concert with settings as follows, shutter speed of 1/60s, aperture of f/2.0 & ISO of 100 (note: the below chart is for ISO 100), we’ll have correctly exposed footage! We’re happy to shoot at 1/60s, but what happens if we don’t have a fast lens that shoots at f/2.0, or we want to increase our f-stop (decrease our aperture size) to increase our depth of field. Each time we move down one row on our chart (increasing our f-stop by one stop), we halve our light. So we must double our ISO to get correct exposure! So if we are using a slow lens with an aperture of f/5.6 lens, at 1/60s, we must set the ISO to 800 to correctly expose rock concert footage. Do it on the graph. Follow 1/60s up the vertical line, until you reach the diagonal 8EV line. Follow this across the horizontal line, until you reach the axis. You’ll have an f-stop of f/2.0, for ISO 100. Now to decrease the aperture one stop to f/2.8, you’ll have to double the ISO to 200. Decreasing the aperture again one stop, to f/4, requires that you double the ISO again, to ISO 400. And decreasing the aperture once more to f/5.6 means you’ll have to double the ISO one final time to ISO 800. So choosing these very different settings, (of 1/60s, f/2.0, ISO 100), (& 1/60s, f/5.6, ISO 800), will result in the same exposure (although image blur & depth of field will be different).
For those that don’t like charts, we can use the table below. As above, this table is for a base ISO of 100. Start by finding our correct EV of 8. Follow this row across (highlighted) until we find our correct shutter speed of 1/60s. Follow this column up (highlighted), until we find our f-number of 2.0. So again, for correct exposure at ISO 100, if we choose a shutter speed of 1/60s, we should choose an aperture of f/2.0. Again, as above we may not want to choose an aperture of f/2.0. Each time we increase out aperture by one stop (say from f/2.0 to f/2.8, or from f/4.0 to f/5.6), we must double our ISO. If we increase our aperture from f/2.0 to f/5.6, we have increase it by 3 stops. So we must double of ISO 3 times, from ISO 100, all the way to ISO 800 (as 100 doubled is 200, 200 doubled is 400, & finally for the third time 400 doubled is 800).
For those with cameras shooting at 25 fps, & choosing a shutter speed of 1/50s. You’ll be using a slower shutter speed, so letting in a little more light than 1/60s (around 120% of the light), so decrease the ISO slightly. Not big steps, such as going from ISO 200 to ISO 100 (which would halve the sensitivity), just little steps from say ISO 800 to ISO 600.
Too complicated, & way too long. Let’s simplify it all. When shooting in MANUAL Mode, all you need to know is;
CHOOSE A SLOW FRAME RATE OF 30 FPS (OR 25 FPS). Choose a shutter speed that is half the frame rate. If you’re filming at a shutter speed of 1/60s, choose one of the following combinations below to correctly expose your footage.
FOR 1/60s, CHOOSE EITHER;
SHUTTER SPEED: 1/60s ________1/60s ________1/60s ________1/60s ________1/60s
APERTURE:______f/2.0____or____f/2.8 ____or____f/4 ____or___ f/5.6 ____or___ f/8
ISO:_____________100 __________200__________400__________800_________1600 (not recommended, ISO’s too high)
Apologies that the table's hard to read.
I know you won't have to read it. Your photos are amazing! 
Thanks for taking the time.