live music photography

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hi, i don't know if any of you have much experience of it, but i'm interested in live music photography. one thing that's puzzled me for years is how music mag photographers (particularly those in publications like NME) get those slow shutter speed type shots were some elements of the photograph - for instance a guitar as its being thrown into a 'shape' - are fantastically blurred with light streaming from the moving object, whereas other elements of the photograph, such as the performer, are in perfect focus.

whenever ive tried to get something similar i just get these deranged shots were everything is a mad blur. they look beautiful, but for publication purposes are somewhat unusable.

i've tried this either by setting my camera to a low shutter speed or by holding the shutter open for a fraction longer than normal but i can't seem to get the desired results.

i'm a complete amateur so any advice would be very gratefully received.

-- david (zerokanada@hotmail.com), December 30, 2001

Answers

Rear-curtain sync.

See http://www.photo.net/photo/canon/mirarchi/concert/concer_4.htm, or here for a long tutorial about live music photography.

-- Josh Wand (josh@joshwand.com), December 30, 2001.


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