How to photograph live music

Concerts are one of the hardest things to photograph: it is dark, the light changes every second, and the performers never stop moving. A few settings and habits make a big difference.

Ask the venue or the artist's team what is allowed. Photography is often restricted to the first few songs, and flash is almost always banned, because it distracts performers and flattens the mood anyway.

• Aperture: as wide as your lens allows (f/1.8 to f/2.8) to collect as much light as possible.
• Shutter speed: around 1/250 s to freeze movement. You can go slower (1/125 s) for a singer standing still at a microphone.
• ISO: whatever the first two settings leave you, often 1600 to 6400. A sharp, grainy picture beats a clean, blurred one.
• Format: shoot RAW so you can recover colour and brightness afterwards.

A bright spotlight behind a performer makes the camera think the scene is bright and underexpose the face. Switch to spot or centre-weighted metering and expose for the person's face, or use exposure compensation to brighten the picture and let the lights blow out.

• Use continuous autofocus with a single focus point placed on the face or the instrument.
• Watch the performer, not the screen. Peak moments, such as a jump, a raised arm or a shared look, come in an instant.
• Change your position and your lens. A wide shot of the room tells the story of the night as well as the close-ups.
• Bring earplugs; you will be there a while.