
Written by Neil Milton
Earplugs, mate. What? Earplugs. What? You’re going to want to get yourself some earplugs, seriously. Cheers!
And so began my 18-year-long relationship with music photography. Photography filled a much-needed space at a transitional time in my life. My band had split, and too many fireworks, the indie record label that I owned and managed, was on hiatus so I was desperate for something creative to do.
Having friends who were in bands, owned record labels, or promoted shows, it was a natural step to set the guitar aside and aim my camera at the stage. From small bars in the center of Glasgow to concert halls and 1k+ capacity venues within 6 months, it was quite a ride.
Some of the first bands I photographed were Scottish stalwarts such as Biffy Clyro, Idlewild, and the Twilight Sad, but soon I was photographing touring artists like Ólafur Arnalds, Crystal Castles, and Sigur rós.

In those early days, for the most part, I would make photographs with a Nikon D300 and my Leica M8 – Leica’s first digital rangefinder. The D300 had autofocus, the Leica entirely manual and both had a cropped sensor. Back then, higher ISOs on the smaller digital sensors still suffered from obnoxious, ugly noise. Reviewing EXIF data on those photos from back in the day, I see that I rarely ever pushed my ISO higher than 1600 and, of course, never used flash.
As regular readers will know, I began shooting in film during the first year of the pandemic. In autumn 2022, I had the opportunity to make photographs of …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead as they came through Warsaw on their European tour. Out of practice and with only a little understanding that shooting music on film was a very different game, I pushed my Kodak Tri-X, plugged my ears, and took to the pit.
In this series of articles, I will cover several aspects of music photography, from making photos and composition choices to strategies for getting started on your scene. Though some of this may be second nature to many readers, I’ll start with the basics of photographing in challenging, low light, pointing the camera at musicians on the stage.



Choosing a Film Camera for Concert Photography
My analog cameras of choice are the Leica M3 and Leica M6. The M3, though the perfect camera for street photography lacks a light meter that is a necessity in shooting music in low light. The M6 with its simple centre-weighted metering is the obvious choice between the two.
I am, nevertheless, the only photographer in the pit at any given show using a rangefinder with prime lenses and manual focus. The sensible choice is an SLR, particularly one that has a zoom lens attached and a quick autofocus.
Why do I hinder myself with an arguably outmoded system for this form of photography? Much like in my niche of street photography, the rangefinder forces the photographer to be in the right place at the right time – I need to move my feet rather than the zoom ring of the lens. That appeals to me.
Nevertheless, though, an SLR is a good place to start.


Choosing a Film Stock
Low, almost absent, light photography on black and white film using a manual focus rangefinder and no flash. No bother, eh?
The next step is to choose a film stock to use. Often the advice in low light is to use a 3200-speed film, however, this is at times short-sighted.
With rare exceptions, most 3200-speed film is rated as such but is true 800-speed film pushed to 3200. Though it is best to experiment and find what works best, I had a fridge full of Tri-X 400, a film famous for its latitude, so I stuck with what was familiar.
Early experiments saw me pushing Tri-X to 1600, but the shows photographed at the time were darker than expected. Small rooms, bare lights, brooding music, and dark stages.
Over time, and with experience, it becomes easier to know that, for instance, Dragonforce are going to have a bright brash stage show whereas Mogwai will have muted, moody lighting. For the former, Tri-X at 1600 is perfect. For the latter, I have not dared to push to 6400 yet, but I ring every little bit of light out of 3200 when I can.
Of course, pushing film, even Tri-X, to its limits will have consequences. Tri-X, a textured film at the best of times will accentuate its signature grain, and at 3200 it will take the contrast right up to the line. For some, it may be too much. For others, just right.


A Note on Developing Your Film
When developing my own film, my go-to developer for day-to-day and my street photography is the ever-dependable Kodak D-76 diluted 1:1.
In a pinch, it can be used to develop Tri-X and push to 1600, but, for 3200, it doesn’t have the punch needed. After some experimentation with several high-speed developers, Ilford’s Microphen (undiluted) pushed (sorry) its way to the front.
Using Microphen can double or triple development time, which can be frustrating, but it brings out at least a stop of latitude further than D-76 seems to. In addition, if a gentle swirl agitation is used rather than inversion Microphen seems to tame some of that distinctive Tri-X grain.


The Exposure Triangle: Aperture and Shutter Speed Settings for Concert Photography
With the ISO set, and without stepping on the toes of my next article, there are some obvious considerations to make when it comes to the other two sides of our exposure triangle, aperture and shutter speed.
Aperture
In the ideal world I do wish we lived in, there would be several options for aperture choices when photographing performance on stage. If lucky enough to photograph Taylor Swift, Beyonce, or the next big K-Pop band, there will be enough light to illuminate a city, so stopping down to f/5.6 or even f/8 may be an option, especially when longer depth of field will help catch the array of dancers behind the pop star. Alas, club and theatre gigs are rarely an ideal world and are where the camera requires all the light a stage can give, so the aperture needs to be thrown open wide and the wider the better.
An aperture of f/1.4 or even f/1 one would think would be desirable, however, setting aside even the increased cost, there are consequences to going quite so open. With such wide apertures, these lenses are perfect for low light photography, but the softness of the image near the edges of the frame becomes more pronounced and, of course, the depth of field is so shallow that the distance from eye to the end of an eyelash can fall outside acceptable focus, never mind the distance from a guitar headstock to the 12th fret.
More likely an aperture of f/2 or f/2.8 is a better choice to maximise the light while avoiding making the act of focusing an impossibility.
Of course, even then, with such wide apertures, depth-of-field will be in short supply, so deciding on a point of focus becomes pivotal. The goal is to focus on your subject, however, in changeable, often back, light, manual focus can be difficult.
I can not tell you how many times I’ve found a line of contrast to focus on, a guitar neck, a microphone stand, then later realized the depth of field wasn’t wide enough to catch the singer in focus, too. This, like most things with film photography, comes with experience.


Shutter Speed
Many singer-songwriter types can be frustratingly static on stage. Sat on a stool with their guitar, hovering above a looper pedal, engaging, exciting photos rarely they do make. Movement makes for a dynamic, eye-catching gig photograph and for sweaty, kinetic energy, there’s little better than a noisy club gig.
Still, for that movement, we need a shutter speed that will freeze it, or at the very least, come close. Returning to that ideal world, to freeze motion, 1/250th of a second or faster is preferred, however, these circumstances will certainly not be ideal. Even with a wide aperture, the darkness of a club venue may still require a slower shutter speed of 1/60 or even 1/30.
At these speeds, one can either work with the motion blur to create experimental trails of light and body parts, or one can choose to anticipate a movement and shoot at the beginning, or wait until a flourish has finished before making a shot.
Having dealt with the movement on stage, one still needs to minimise our own quivers and shakes. To avoid undue motion blur from camera shake, the minimum shutter speed will depend on the chosen focal length. The rule of thumb, I’m sure discussed elsewhere on Shoot It With Film, is to avoid a shutter speed lower than the focal length of the lens.
When shooting with my 75mm Voigtlander prime on the Leica M6, I have a choice of 1/125 or 1/60. Though it would be safer to choose the faster shutter speed, 1/60 isn’t too far below my focal length, so I opt for this and brace as I shoot – though with this lens I will rarely drop to 1/30 for fear my middle-aged body lets me down.


Final Thoughts
On your next adventure to a music show, keep these low-light considerations in mind, and in the next article in this series, I will discuss more specifically photographing bands on stage: What to look for, where to look, and how best to compose for rock and roll!



Thank you so much, Neil! Neil is a regular contributor here at Shoot It With Film, and you can check out his other articles here, such as The Leica M3: A Comprehensive Guide and What is Zone Focusing and How to Use It for Street Photography.
You can find more of Neil’s work on his website, and sign up for his street photography newsletter here.
Leave your questions about shooting concert and gig photography on film below in the comments!

Blog Comments
Curtis Heikkinen
March 8, 2024 at 11:13 am
Outstanding images accompanying a very informative piece. Excellent work. I most likely will never engage in this kind of film photography but your text and images really drew me in.
Neil
March 10, 2024 at 6:01 am
Hey Curtis – thanks so much for your comment. I’m glad you enjoy it. A lot of the low-light advice is helpful outside of concerts, so should be useful anyways. Cheers!
Orrin
March 10, 2024 at 11:14 pm
Nice article. Last autumn I shot a Japanese fire festival with Ilford 3200. It was my first time to do something like that.
Reading your article allowed me to reflect on this.
Using a longer zoom, 150-300mm, and a tripod is a bit different than a live concert.
Neil
March 12, 2024 at 1:39 pm
Hi Orrin – thanks for your kind words. I’m glad you enjoyed the article. Yeah, having the stability of the tripod certainly gives more options for longer lenses. All the best!
Rich
March 12, 2024 at 10:08 pm
Having Anton Corbijn as an early and career-long influence and having photographed a lot of arena, theater, and shed shows, I was thrilled to see your post in my inbox. Great images and pointers. I don’t get much chance to photograph concerts these days, but since getting back into film, I have been itching to give it a go. This may give me the inspiration to see if I can reach out to some folks and make an opportunity.
Neil
March 13, 2024 at 1:34 pm
Hi Rich. Thanks for your comment and I’m happy you enjoyed the article. The ongoing series will delve deeper into it all over time. 🙂 You should get yourself back into it. If and when you do, let me know how you get on! Cheers.