Hi all. On Saturday I had an opportunity to attend a guitar concert at the OC Pavilion in Santa Ana, CA. I had a front row seat as well as backstage access during the show. Given the low light conditions, I only brought my 2 fastest lenses since flash was forbidden during the performance.
Thanks M. Sabatella for your tips on gig photography.

Here are 3 shots from the Cosina 55/1.2 and 3 from the S-M-C Tak 105/2.8, all shots are wide open and using ISO1600. I don't even like to use 800 but could not get any reasonable shutter speed without going to 1600. There is no noise reduction applied to any of these.
I was surprised to get several I liked:

#1 Nashville guitarist Johnny Hiland


#2 Fusion guitarist Scott Henderson (Stu Hamm on bass)


#3 Innovative solo acoustic guitarist Trace Bundy


#4 Multi Grammy recorded drummer and original Pat Metheny Group member Danny Gottlieb


#5 Jazz bassist and original Pat Metheny Group member, Mark Egan


#6 Muriel Anderson joins german flamenco group Tierra Negra onstage

[dragonfly]

What a great concert. Sorry I missed that one. Did you need a photo pass for your camera?

[mikeSF]

What a great concert. Sorry I missed that one. Did you need a photo pass for your camera?

no pass. I was there as a VIP guest of the show sponsor - they invite me each year and generously let me roam around the dressing rooms, green room, eat dinner with the artists, etc...this time, they knew i had luggage with me and even assigned me a dressing room!
That said, i hope i didn't violate any rules by tromping around taking pictures. in the past, i would come with no camera and just watch and chat with the artists.

During soundcheck, i did walk around onstage and even got right up on some of the musicians to shoot over the shoulder or tight face shots...i used handheld flash during soundcheck.

[mikeSF]

Here is one from the wings, behind the soundman.

[Ash]

You got some privileged access there to get these great shots
Well done and thanks for sharing Mike.

[mikeSF]

thanks Ash!

[Rense]

Yes, nice shots under difficult light circumstances.
The first guitarist is my favourite!

Love the board shot... very cool...


And 3-4-5-6 also are working for me... The cosina wide open is tough, but you got some very nice shots.

Too bad your not shootin' the Lawn Vultures on Saturday... have a great gig yourself.

Lets do lunch next week... if the rain ever stops

[tcom]

Very nice series. Thank you for posting them.

[juanraortiz]

I just can´t believe these were taken at 1600 ISO with a K10D. I don´t see any noise. I never get this result with my K10D. Fantastic job and a miracle too!!

[JimCT]

From a local gig last weekend K20D

[mikeSF]

I just can´t believe these were taken at 1600 ISO with a K10D. I don´t see any noise. I never get this result with my K10D. Fantastic job and a miracle too!!

thanks - i was very surprised since it was my first time ever turning that dial to ISO 1600.
One thing i did in PP was to darken the blacks - i bet that reduced some of the low level noise.
if you look at the mixing board photo, you can see plenty of colorful noise on the front of the board.

[mikeSF]

From a local gig last weekend K20D

nice.
#2, #2!

[mikeSF]

Yes, nice shots under difficult light circumstances.
The first guitarist is my favourite!

thanks Rense.

Love the board shot... very cool...


And 3-4-5-6 also are working for me... The cosina wide open is tough, but you got some very nice shots.

Too bad your not shootin' the Lawn Vultures on Saturday... have a great gig yourself.

Lets do lunch next week... if the rain ever stops

thx Gus. since it was too dark and i was manually focusing everything, i switched to burst mode and shot 3 or 4 while turning my focus ring, knowing one of the 4 would probably catch focus. that Cosina is difficult to focus even in optimal conditions.

have a great gig - wish i could be there to see you rock the house!!
my gig is a birthday bash at the Westin and then another on Sunday.

lunch - yes!! definitely. in the spirit of the rains, perhaps some Monsoon Burger??

Very nice series. Thank you for posting them.

MONSOON it is.... let me know what day...