Future Villains

Welcome back again to the show that never ends.  As I mentioned during my Steel Panther photo update, I had also managed to snap off a few pictures of the opening band, Future Villains.  They were the opening act on Tuesday night and I found it very difficult to get any photos of them at all.  While there were fewer bodies surfing by me during their set, the lighting for their part of the concert was very low.  I once again was shooting at f/1.8 during this show, though I also had to up my ISO into the Extended Range of my 30D, which is 3200.  I don't really like to shoot at ISO 3200 because I feel it results in lots of noise, but I also wanted to have some photographs of the show, so ISO 3200 it would have to be.  Before you go and think that this was nothing but a fun experience, I'd also like for it to be known that I did learn a little bit about shooting low-light shows.  I asked my buddy Pierre Bourgault if there was anything I could do to improve my shots, and he mentioned that by shooting at f/2.8 or f/4, my photographs might have been a little bit sharper since the 50mm lens that I was using isn't very sharp at f/1.8.  I'm not sure if I would have been able to do so during the Future Villains set, but I could have done so for sure during Steel Panther.  I'll keep that tip in mind if ever there is a next time.  To try and combat the low lights, I tried to take my shots while the band members were moving as little as possible and while the lights were at their brightest.  Getting back to Future Villains, they put on a good show.  They're a new band from California and they mixed some AC/DC and Deep Purple classics into a set of their original songs.  They were also nice enough to wait in the lobby while everyone was leaving to try and sell some merchandise and to thank everyone for having come to the show.  The first photograph you see here was shot at f/1.8, 1/400sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm.  The second photograph was taken at f/1.8, 1/200sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm and the third photograph was taken at the same setting.  Here are a couple more photos to round things out.

f/1.8, 1/800sec, ISO 3200 at 50mm

f/1.8, 1/80sec, ISO 1600 at 50mm.

So ends my little adventure in concert photography.  It wasn't a perfect outing, but I still ended up with several photographs of both bands that I really like, and I also managed to learn something along the way.  The counts as a success in my books.  Can't wait until next time.