Concert photography: Top 10 tips from a professional music shooter

A shirtless guitarist passionately reaches out to fans from the stage, illuminated by dramatic, colorful concert lights.

While it’s becoming more difficult to make a living purely out of music photography, there are still talented, well-connected, and hardworking photographers who are able to do so. Great concert photography takes more than a camera that performs well in low light – it's about timing, instinct, and experience.

Few understand this better than Kevin Nixon. With decades of experience in the industry, he's well-placed to explain how you can take better shots at live music events.

Here, he shares his top 10 concert photography tips to get you started.

10 top tips

1. Practise your craft
Practise, practise, practise. Develop your skill, hone your technique, take lots of images – digital storage is cheap!

2. Camera equipment
You should be familiar with your equipment and aware of the different shooting modes and controls on your camera.

3. Digital retouching
Become familiar with Lightroom. It is essential to establish a workflow and a style, but don’t overcook your images.

4. Back-up
Always back-up your images. Computers fail, hard drives fail. Personally, I back-up everything twice on separate hard drives.

5. Shooting etiquette
Know how to behave in the pit, as nothing is more sure to isolate you from other photographers than being disrespectful while you are shooting.

"Look for interesting shapes and angles from the performers, and try and convey the energy of the gig through your photo" (Image credit: Kevin Nixon)

6. Self-promotion
Sell yourself! Get a website, utilize social media. Remember, less can be more, so if you shoot a gig, don't put 30 shots from the same show on Instagram – two or three is perfectly adequate.

7. Study other photographers
There are loads of great music photographers out there, so look at other people's work.

8. Selling your services
Remember, your images have a value – you are worth more than a credit!

9. Be realistic
The chances of making a living shooting music are very slim, but with practice and perseverance, there is every possibility to make inroads into the industry.

10. Enjoy
Finally, enjoy the experience! It can be challenging, frustrating, and incredibly difficult at times, but ultimately it is great fun and can be incredibly rewarding.

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