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November 21, 2009 |
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Created and Maintained by: The Photoimaging Information Council |
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JOHN BENTHAM |
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In February 2009, John Bentham photographed folk music legend James Taylor at the world famous Hard Rock Café in New York City. Located on Broadway at 44th Street in the heart of Times Square, the Hard Rock is itself a music icon. From the very first café in London, the Hard Rock has grown to include 138 locations in 42 countries with a rock memorabilia collection of over 70,000 guitars, instruments and other items. Bentham was the official photographer for Musicians On Call, an organization that brings live and recorded music to bedsides of patients in healthcare facilities. James Taylor performed at the benefit to support the Musicians On Call mission. James Taylor has been a singer songwriter for over 30 years with 40 Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platinum releases, Five Grammy Awards and numerous other accolades and nominations to his credit. In addition to the live show, Taylor appeared on the red carpet for a press photo op prior to the show and at a VIP Meet and Greet following the performance. Bentham photographed Taylor at all three opportunities and talks below about the challenges of the shoot.  Equipment: There were some equipment restrictions and technical difficulties to deal with on this shoot. Foremost being a “No Flash”rule during the performance. Photography was also limited to shooting from the back of the house. This meant I could not position myself in front of the stage, which is a more desirable vantage point. Thankfully, I had anticipated the pesky no flash rule and been warned beforehand of the back of house shooting restriction. For the live performance I used a Canon f2.8, 70-200mm Zoom mounted specifically on a Canon 40D which has the smaller APS digital sensor. This extends the zoom range of the lens once you apply the X-Factor. To work out the X-Factor on Canon bodies you simply multiply the focal length of your lens by a factor of x1.6(Nikon cameras have an X-Factor of x1.5). When using a 70-200mm lens, this equates to a working zoom range of 112–320mm. From the back of the house this focal length was long enough for me to get relatively close up shots without having to lug a 300 or 400mm lens around all night. Whenever possible use an IS or VR Lens (Image Stabilization, Vibration Reduction) if you have one. The spot the publicists had reserved for photographers was a stairway leading down on to the floor of the venue. It was off to one side and had limited sightlines. Using my All Access Pass as the official event photographer, I had previously scouted the venue and befriended the Hard Rock’s lighting tech. As long as I was very carefully not to disturb his wiring he allowed me to shoot from beside his lighting booth instead of the photographers “pen.” This offered me a more center-stage viewpoint. Additionally, since we were not allowed to bring tripods into the venue (also very common at concerts), this location had the added advantage of a low railing in lieu of a tripod to rest my lens on.  For this event, photographers were only allowed to use flash shooting on the Red Carpet. Typically, photographers are not permitted to use flash at a live performance. Although depending on the venue it does happen. The final word is often up to the individual artist. In addition to shooting headliner James Taylor at The Hard Rock, I also shot up-and-coming singer/songwriter Matt Nathanson at an intimate pre-headline performance for VIP’s in the Hard Rock’s New York room. Prior to Matt’s gig ,I checked with his manager who approved photography as long as I didn’t use flash. There was also a video crew filming the first song with an on-camera light thus I was able to poach their lighting for the first song. After the first song the lighting became quite limited very fast since the venue and performance were somewhat impromptu with no stage lighting provided. I had anticipated this by temporarily spinning a few of the existing track lights away from memorabilia displays (apologies to The Ramones and Cindy Lauper) on to the mic stand just to give me an edge. This only boosted the exposure up about 1/2 stop but by shooting at f2.8 and shooting at a relatively high ISO I was able to get some fun but blurry in-action shots of Matt Nathanson performing. When shooting in low light the faster your lens (wider the aperture) the higher your shutter speed can be, which reduces the chance of camera shake and minimizes subject movement. With a faster lens you also don’t need to raise the ISO as high, thus minimizing the low light high ISO digital noise issues you get at very high ISO’s such as 3200. You pretty much need a full time f2.8 lens (or faster) to shoot this type of work. The kit lenses supplied with most DSLR’s have limited capabilities. A kit lens will allow you to shoot at f3.5 if your zoom is set to 18mm (only 1/2 stop slower than 2.8), but when you zoom out to 200mm the mechanical limitations of the lens restrict you to shooting at f5.6 or even f6.3 depending on the lens, which is too slow to shoot live concert shots without using flash.  For live shows it’s best to shoot at a shutter speed of at least 1/60th, higher is even better but certainly no slower than a 30th of second. At a 1/30th there is little risk of camera shake if the camera is supported but the subject movement can still be quite blurry, even if the subject is seated. You are better shooting at 1/60th second and bumping up the ISO a stop. Stage lights are actually quite bright. Typically you might end up shooting at f2.8, 1/60th second at 800 ISO. On a relatively new camera the noise issues of older cameras are not too much of a problem thus 800 ISO looks very good. Quite a bit of the background, the areas not lit buy the stage lights, will just go black, this is fine. You are trying to get the correct exposure on the face and perhaps the instrument the subject is holding. Nothing else matters in this context. If you are shooting a band instead of a single performer you will often find very different exposures on the individual members of the group. Adjust your exposure per person for individual shots and for group shots get the exposure correct on the front line and let the others go. Photography restrictions, the first 3 songs rule: Typically, photographers are only allowed to shoot the first 3 songs of the act. Then they must leave the front of the house, or leave the hall entirely. A nasty rule. These restrictions are in place for a number of reasons. Firstly, this is to protect the sightlines of the audience, especially those in the front rows, the higher priced seats, especially at a benefit concert where these seats are reserved as VIP seats (read big donors). Secondly, photographers can often distract performers, especially if the photographers are using flash. Thirdly, the artist and/or manager want to limit the availability and access of photographs. Something rare is considered more valuable. Managers and agents want photos released to the public but not a glut of photos that people will tire of. They have an impetus to sustain a demand for new photos of their artist. On one occasion when shooting Maroon 5, the other photographers and I were limited to shooting the first 30 seconds of each of the first 3 songs. We were led in to the front of the stage, then hustled out after 30 seconds, then led in again for the next song, and led in again for the third. The whole process of being led in and out seemed more disruptive than being allowed to remain for three songs. Thankfully you don’t see that too often.  Meet and Greet Shoot: Since I was the official photographer for Musicians on Call I was the only photographer allowed to shoot the post performance Meet and Greet. Usually these take place in a lounge or Green Room following a performance. A Meet and Greet is an opportunity for music industry people to schmooze with artists. In this context, the VIP donors were rewarded with a chance to have their photo taken with James Taylor. These type of functions can be a little hairy; you have a performer who’s just come off stage either hyped up or exhausted, or both, and a limited time to photograph approximately 200 zealous adoring fans in groups of 2-10 all of whom also want to get their own cell phone shots and autographs. It can be a little nutty and you must maintain control to keep it running smoothly. This can mean having to resort to being a little bossy with the fans at times. Remember there is a fine line between being forceful and obnoxious. The artists will appreciate whatever you can do to speed up the process, however you still need to get the shots, but the fans, many of whom are VIPs, are important too.  Thankfully their are often handlers, managers or press agents around to help shuffle people in and out, and move along the occasional clinging fan. I make sure I have an All-Access Pass around my neck when shooting these, people tend to listen more if they perceive you as someone in charge rather than a random photographer. At the beginning of the Meet and Greet I take the opportunity to introduce myself to the artist as the official photographer for the event. This gives you a slight personal connection to the artist (however facile or tenuous) and enlists their cooperation in addition to separating you from the paparazzi. When you’re finished thank them for their cooperation and for posing, you may see them again at another event. For the Meet and Greet I usually shoot a wide lens on a full frame sensor body, with no X-Factor, in this case a Canon 16-35mm 2.8 Lens on a Canon 1Ds Mark II. But I also have another body set up with a lens ready as a back up. If anything goes wrong with a camera you just swap it out, you don’t want to have 200 people staring at you while you try to figure out what’s wrong with your camera, figure it out later. Most of the shots will be taken between approx 30–35mm on the zoom range. Ideally you don’t want to shoot groups of people with a lens as wide as 16mm but its nice to be able to zoom out a bit wider if you have to suddenly go from shooting a group of three to a group of ten people. With a sometimes boisterous crowd there is often no room to physical move back and use a longer lens, especially if every time you back up a fan jumps into your frame with a Cell phone camera. The 16-35 handles this very nicely and without too much distortion as long as you remember not to put larger people on the edge of frame where they blow up.
When it is time to actually shoot the Meet and Greet photos, people are usually ushered into your frame in groups. Be ready, have your camera set, with your test frames already shot. People do not like to wait and artists get frustrated having to hold a pose. It is expected and accepted that a photographer will shoot these with flash so thankfully that is not an issue. It is very helpful to have a flash with a quick recycle time to achieve this. I use external battery packs attached with cables to my Canon 580EX flashes. This makes the recycle time almost instantaneous in addition to an almost limitless number of flashes (600+) when the flash is used on Auto setting. I never need to stop and replace AA batteries, nor change lenses and the whole thing is over pretty fast and painlessly.  It’s very important to shoot multiple images of each grouping. If you are photographing a group of 3 people shoot 3–4 frames, with a group of 8 people shoot 5-7 shots, invariably someone will blink or make a goofy expression. You are hoping to get one shot of each group where everyone’s eyes are open and no one looks like they are yawning. You will endear yourself to artists, managers and VIPs alike if you delete the goofy face photos later. I make it a policy to never release those photos of artists. For this type of group shots you are not worried about ambient light; your on-camera flash is providing the light. You should set up your camera and flash to produce an aperture of at least 5.6 or 8 to get the depth of field required to get everyone in the group in focus. It also helps your focus when photographing a larger group (6+) to curve the people on the outside in towards you a little to form a semi-circle. Have fun with a shoot like this but get the job done. It’s interesting to meet famous people but don’t be intimidated by them, they’re just people, even though many of them have accomplished and earned more than you or I ever will. You still have to come back with the photos.  © John Bentham
John Bentham is an award-winning photographer specializing in documentary and portraiture. His clients and publications include AUDI, Ericsson, Mercedes-Benz, Newsweek, The New York Times, People Magazine, Pfizer, Rolling Stone, Sony, Time, United Technologies and Vanity Fair. His photographs have been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Paris, Tokyo and Prague and have received accolades from Kodak, Nikon, Photo District News and The New York Times. John teaches photography workshops for The Digital Photo Academy and at Lehman College in New York City.  © John Bentham John Bentham Photography - http://www.johnbentham.com Musicians on Call - http://www.musiciansoncall.org James Taylor - http://www.jamestaylor.com Matt Nathanson - http://www.mattnathanson.com Hard Rock Café - http://www.hardrock.com Digital Photo Academy - http://www.digitalphotoacademy.com JOHN BENTHAM PHOTOGRAPHY T: 212-366-5686 C: 917-553-6226 E: bentham@mindspring.com
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