I often get emails asking what 'special' equipment I use to get these photos....
well this is how I do it....The first thing to get is a digital camera. It needs at least 3 million pixels and have at least a 3x optical zoom. See the camera test link page at the bottom of this page for an interesting test of 3 cameras at the Limehouse Lizzy gig. The next thing to get hold of is a good sized memory card (the biggest your camera can take , if possible), then after that a mini or tabletop tripod or monopod.
If you have all the above, then the rest is easy. I like to try and capture the 'atmosphere' of the gigs at the Limelight. It is a great venue, with good lights. To me, its important to capture the lighting on the stage, not the light from the cameras flashgun. I don't use flash in any of the 'live' shots that I take.This creates a BIG problem - camera shake.
I'm glad to say that there is an easy solution. Put the camera on the tabletop tripod (that gets rid of the 'shake' due to your movement), then just take HUNDREDS (literally) of photo's.The slow shutter speed that the camera uses without flash means that almost all of the pictures will have some movement in (some will be terrible), as the people in the band just don't stand still. If you take enough pictures though, this will not be a problem. Even if only 1 in 20 comes out anywhere near sharp, if you take enough shots, you will get enough good ones to do a website like this. You should even get some that will be sharp enough to print out at A4 if you are prepared to do a little work on them. You can use any photo editing program to 'tidy' them up.
The lighting at the Limelight is quite 'intense' at times and can produce some great pictures. I find that I often have to correct the colour of my shots (I take out some red) and I always need to sharpen them.
Well that about covers it.... if you like close-in pictures taken with flash, well that's fine, but its just not my style. For my close-ups I either use the maximum zoom setting on the camera , digital zoom or I crop a larger shot to make it look like I took it close in. For the wider shots, I use the lens at wide angle, or sometimes I 'stitch' 2 of my half-stage shots together. Sometimes I have even stitched 4 shots together to make one full wide stage shot. You get more detail that way. If you like 'moody' shots then I hope you will enjoy looking at the stuff I have done and come back often to see what other bands I have captured at the Limelight.
Feel free to use any of the shots for your own pleasure, but please ask me before using them on your own website or in any publication. I do like to see where my pictures end up! Linking to this site is fine.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the staff and management of the Limelight as they always seem to be polite and helpful. Thanks too to the bands that put on such great shows. I seem to enjoy every visit, even when it is to see a band that has a musical style that is not what I would 'normally' listen to.
Thank you for reading this and I hope that you will give this way of rock band photography a try.
NEW BIT>>>>>>>>> Have a look at this camera test using 3 'normal consumer-type' digital cameras. It was done at the Limehouse Lizzy gig
UPDATE.... Nov 2005 to July 2006, I now use a Nikon D70 as my main camera body with 17-55 f2.8 or 28-70 f2.8 Wide zooms and an 80-200 f2.8 telephoto
UPDATE.... July 2006 onwards, I have been having trouble with the lighting at the Limelight (very heavy use of red which swamps the ccd on the Nikon) so I now use a KonicaMinolta 5d body with my Nikon 80-200 and a cheap KM wide-angle zoom. The ccd in this camera is not swamped so easily. I have also been changing some shots into Black and White as this gives a very nice effect on some pictures.
Martin's Gigs at the Limelight index page - 2003
www.crewe-limelight.co.uk takes you to see what else is going on at the Limelight in Crewe.
Contact me via the contact form on my Limelight bands Photo page.