My concert shots from the pit turned into ghost blur, what did I do wrong?

was at a show in Austin last Saturday, shooting from the front row on my old DSLR. I set the ISO to 3200 but still got these soft, smeared faces even though I was holding still and the stage lights seemed bright. Has anyone else nailed live music settings without getting that weird motion ghosting?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_wren20d ago

Honestly, it sounds like your shutter speed was just too slow for the movement happening on stage. That ghosting is usually from motion blur, not light issues. Tbh, it’s like trying to take a sharp photo of a kid running past you, the camera sees the movement even if you don't feel it.

patriciah5117d ago

so are you saying that even if I bump the ISO up to like 3200 and crank the shutter to 1/500, the stage lights themselves are still gonna mess with the color? cause that's what happened to me, the whole thing had this weird orange cast even after I fixed the blur. @the_wren, I get the kid running past thing, but the kid doesn't usually have a spotlight changing colors every two seconds. maybe the real issue is the light flicker, not just the movement? I had a shot where the singer was standing totally still and the edges of her jacket still looked fuzzy.