3. DO use zoom lenses

There is definitely a place for prime lenses. Mostly everything that isn’t concert photography. At shows, you often aren’t able to zoom with your feet because of the size of the pit. Sometimes you get lucky, but that’s just it. You get lucky. Most of the time, you’re limited to either a physical zoom, or cropping in post (try to avoid this). My recommended setup for most concerts is a full frame camera (like the Canon 5D or 6D) with a 24–70mm f/2.8 like this one here. That’s the setup that I use at probably 80% of the shows I cover. For bigger shows, I like to add a 70–200mm f/2.8, and sometimes even a second camera body, but don’t worry about those if you’re just starting out.

As a side note, I generally don’t use a strap or holster with a single camera, but when I use two cameras, the BlackRapid double strap is my best friend. You can get it from Amazon, or rent it from LensRentals for something like $10 for the weekend. If you’re feeling extra fancy, or if you have some money to blow, check out the Holdfast MoneyMaker. I’ve been drooling over one of those for the better part of six months now. Everyone I know who has one loves it.

4. DON’T skip on the post processing

You probably already have a good idea of why you should be shooting in RAW. If you don’t, read this. All those reasons go double for concert photography. I can’t tell you how many concert photographers I come across whose work SUCKS. Not because they’re a bad photographer, but because they aren’t processing their work properly. Don’t be one of those people. It’s easy to take a good photo. It’s more difficult to produce an excellent final product.

The more you learn about Lightroom, the better. In particular, learn how to use and create your own develop and export presets. I have a full set of presets that I created myself that allow me to batch process a whole show’s worth of photos in under 10 minutes. Don’t rely on presets that you find online. Mastin Labs and Greater than Gatsby do some great work, but they are targeted to portrait photographers, and won’t help you with concert shots. Besides, there’s no guarantee that they will work properly with your camera. My stuff is geared towards Canon since that’s what I shoot, but I’ve got a buddy who shoots Nikon, and he had to do some significant tweaking to my presets to adjust for the difference in the RAW files that his camera produces.