Photographing live music is all about fast action, low light and high ISO. Music photography is a genre that often pushes your gear to the limits. When the goal is capturing the emotion and energy of an artist on stage, you want gear that can excel in even the most demanding conditions. When I got the call to help create images for the launch campaign of the Nikon Z5II, I knew that photographing live music would be the perfect test to show off this camera.
My goal was to make real world images, from the venue and musicians to the lighting and the action. Nothing posed. I let the musicians do their thing, and I did mine.
Autofocus
In the world of live music, the photographer is at the mercy of many forces beyond their control. Any camera can focus well in good lighting conditions, but tracking musicians in the dim, low contrast lighting of concerts can be a grueling test.
The Nikon Z5II performed with absolute confidence in the conditions. Whether using face or eye AF or picking my own point of focus to track, the Z5II handled red washes or scenes of low contrast with ease.
Decisive Moment
One of the best feelings in music photography is nailing the decisive moment. With these opportunities, the last thing you want is to capture the moment, composition and exposure — but have your camera fail you when it comes to focus. We’ve all been there, but the Z5II leaves that feeling in the past.
It’s not enough to press the shutter release at exactly the right time to capture the scene—you need a camera as fast as the action and autofocus to match.
When photographing drummers, I’m always looking to ideally see two hands and two drumsticks. Mix in dramatic backlighting and swirling hair, and there’s a great challenge—and opportunity.
Backstage Candids
When photographing backstage with a band, I’m always looking for pockets of light. But ultimately you have to work in whatever situation you’re in. The Z5II lets you work in the dimmest light for those intimate moments, from available light portraits to candids.
Similarly to working with concert lighting, backstage candids can be much more about capturing a mood and feeling, so this always means embracing the light of the moment.
When you’re shooting candid moments, most of the time you want to be invisible. You want to make the viewer feel like they’re part of the moment without changing or interrupting the vibe.
“Similarly to working with concert lighting, backstage candids can be much more about capturing a mood and feeling…”
The specs of low light performance are well and good. But at the end of the day, you want a camera that simply delivers, so you can focus on connecting with your subjects, the moment, the light, and the composition. The Z5II offered exactly that.
Despite being performers, musicians can still be camera shy like most of us. When they’re in the moment, you want to be right there with them, without worrying if your camera can nail the focus or having to say, “Oh, just a second…” or “Just one more…”
Drummers
When photographing drummers, there are so many elements that provide a challenge.
From thrashing movements to hair and drumsticks obscuring the face, to shooting through microphones, cymbals, there’s a lot of competition. But for all these same reasons, drummers are one of my very favorite subjects, because they make you earn your images.
The Z5II’s autofocus handled all of these challenges with ease.
My favorite autofocus mode for live music is Nikon’s 3D Tracking. This mode lets me pick a specific point of focus and track it anywhere in the frame. It gives me the ideal of precise control and absolute freedom of composition.
There’s a certain thrill of capturing the energy and emotion of live music with technical precision—the best of both worlds. The Z5II made this execution feel effortless.
High ISO That Delivers
Music photographers live at high ISO. Whether it’s in dim lighting backstage or working in small venues, having a camera that can deliver clean files no matter the conditions is always a boon.
The Z5II’s full frame 24 MP sensor offers beautiful performance. Even with the extreme dynamic range of concert lighting, from bright highlights to deep shadows, the Z5II files render light and colors that are full of depth, accuracy and life—even at high ISO.
What’s more, I know that I can push the exposure in post-processing and the files will hold up. The latitude in the RAW files is beautiful to work with.
Stopping Time
Another thing I love about music photography is the magic trick of stopping time. To distill all the emotion and energy into a single frame. Photographing live music is about emotion, coupled with technical precision that’s possible as well.
The Z5II’s performance in low light not only lets me work in the darkest venues, but it gives me the freedom to use higher shutter speeds to freeze the action.
Red Lighting
Let’s get real. Music photographers hate red lighting. Not only are there aesthetic considerations, the low contrast treatment can be a huge challenge for autofocus with the low contrast and flattening effect it has. The Nikon Z5II shrugged off these conditions. If you’re a music photographer, you know.
When your gear performs in the most challenging lighting conditions like these, you know that everything else becomes easy.
Technical performance is only interesting because it lets you, the photographer, focus on your artistry. When you know your gear is going to perform and deliver the results you need, you simply don’t have to think about it. You can focus on connecting with your subjects, looking for beautiful light, and a million other things more important than the technical details.
The Nikon Z5II embodies this exciting level of performance. It not only lets you focus on what’s most important, it makes you feel confident in even the most demanding conditions. The camera excels with autofocus that locks on in dim lighting, clean image quality at high ISO and the speed to respond to the fastest action. This is an incredible tool.
Music photography is a series of solutions to constraints. Limits on light, angle, access and control. What you are in control of is your own reflexes and vision. The camera you want in your hands is the one that lets you feel confident in even the most demanding situations. The Z5II lets you thrive in these situations, both on stage and off.
Collaborating with other artists is at the core of music photography. I was so humbled to work with world class musicians for this shoot. Huge thank you to our musicians Liv Slingerland, Jess Bowen and Kate Gutwald for their talents and energy on stage and off.