Live Music and Theater Photography: Notes and Theories

By Emanuele M. Barboni Dalla Costa

"A book for anyone wishing to approach photography in a professional and authentic way".

A selection of notes and theories collected over more than ten years of shooting a few metres from the scene.

The text is structured in more than thirty articles, some short, others more substantial. You will find technical indications as well as philosophical dissertations, reflections on photography as well as practical advice.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Author
The lights go off, the show begins
Show and photography, beyond appearances
A photography in motion: the choice of shooting points
Problem of blurred and underexposed photos in live show photography
Photographing the show: the live music concert
Some common mistakes in live show photography
Object-oriented or idea-oriented photography?
Camera, lenses, exposure, framing
Red stage lights: when black and white is preferable
Anthropocentric vision of the scene photography: the importance of the details
Photographing the hip-hop event
Nine tips to get an accreditation to photograph concerts
On the need to take stage photography beyond the journalistic purpose
What is the relationship between photography and theatre?
Time and analytical approach in scene photography
The importance of extra-diegetic elements in the photography of the show
3 objectives for the photography of the show
The inappropriate violence of digital watermarking applied to images
Notes on photographic texturing
Photographic seriality on the Internet: an ethical choice
Online photo portfolio: when twenty shots are not enough
Contextualization and selection of the photographic corpus
Photo backup: dealing with the nightmare of losing everything
Notes on vignetting
Optics cleaning
Manual optics and automatic optics
Photography, releases and rights/duties of the photographer
How can I protect my photos online?
Photographic medicine: abandoning oneself to find inspiration again
When the photographer doesn’t put love into it
A new lens? Better ten photo books
Does the camera make you a photographer?
Is Photoshop really that important?
Is Instagram killing photography? Let’s clear the air
Analog and digital considerations
Superiority of photographic contemplation over video
Colours: a compromise between reality and its reproduction
About Photography

• Language: English
• Publisher: Publishdrive
• Release date: Dec 11, 2021

Book preview

Emanuele M. Barboni Dalla Costa

Live Music and Theater Photography

Notes and Theories

Copyright © 2021 by Emanuele M. Barboni Dalla Costa

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

Emanuele M. Barboni Dalla Costa has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

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Contents

1. Introduction

2. Author

3. The lights go off, the show begins

4. Show and photography, beyond appearances

5. A photography in motion: the choice of shooting points

6. Problem of blurred and underexposed photos in live show photography

7. Photographing the show: the live music concert

8. Some common mistakes in live show photography

9. Object-oriented or idea-oriented photography?

10. Camera, lenses, exposure, framing

11. Red stage lights: when black and white is preferable

12. Anthropocentric vision of the scene photography: the importance of the details

13. Photographing the hip-hop event

14. Nine tips to get an accreditation to photograph concerts

15. On the need to take stage photography beyond the journalistic purpose

16. What is the relationship between photography and theatre?

17. Time and analytical approach in scene photography

18. The importance of extra-diegetic elements in the photography of the show

19. 3 objectives for the photography of the show

20. The inappropriate violence of digital watermarking applied to images

21. Notes on photographic texturing

22. Photographic seriality on the Internet: an ethical choice

23. Online photo portfolio: when twenty shots are not enough

24. Contextualization and selection of the photographic corpus

25. Photo backup: dealing with the nightmare of losing everything

26. Notes on vignetting

27. Optics cleaning

28. Manual optics and automatic optics

29. Photography, releases and rights/duties of the photographer

30. How can I protect my photos online?

31. Photographic medicine: abandoning oneself to find inspiration again

32. When the photographer doesn’t put love into it

33. A new lens? Better ten photo books

34. Does the camera make you a photographer?

35. Is Photoshop really that important?

36. Is Instagram killing photography? Let’s clear the air

37. Analog and digital considerations

38. Superiority of photographic contemplation over video

39. Colours: a compromise between reality and its reproduction

About Photography

Appendix: Interview for fotografodigitale.com

1

Introduction

What you find in your hands is mainly a diary, a selection of notes collected in over ten years of shots taken a few meters from the scene.

The text is structured in over thirty articles, some short, others more substantial. You will find technical indications as well as philosophical dissertations, reflections on photography as well as practical advice.

Live performance photography has historically been placed in the sad category of second-rate photography. During my studies, which lasted more than ten years, I noticed how unequivocally lacking was any sort of philosophical, aesthetic or even just practical approach to the subject. I would like in my own small way to contribute to the growth of the dignity of this unexplored and undervalued subject.

This text does not have the ambition to resolve the question in toto. It aims, however, to lay the first acerbic theoretical seed in this branch of photography.

Born as a passion, and for many years becoming a job, the photography of events related to music and theater has been a journey full of questions

In this text I have collected my reflections, hoping one day to be useful to some young and intrepid stage photographer

2

Author

I want to see my artists come out of the darkness, where everything is black, where their thoughts, their fears, their paranoia float. Where their music is born, their expression My scene photography must shock for realism and cruelty, for the firmness and truth of that (and only that) instant. It must tell a story, going beyond what really happened (this is photojournalism) to create a new reality, stimulated by the imagination.

Photographer, photography theorist and musician, Emanuele M. Barboni Dalla Costa (Milan, 1981) is known in Italy and abroad as one of the most promising and original stage-photographer around

After his three-year degree with a thesis on digital photography, in 2009 he obtained his Master’s degree in Entertainment Sciences in Milan, presenting an experimental thesis on theatrical stage photography.

This first publication allowed him to express his personal vision on the subject, unhinging some theorems of the classic photography of the show to propose an idea of photography that moves away from the mere archival purpose, highlighting the distinction between reproduction and creation.

His vision of photography crosses the boundaries of photo-journalism to create new and obscure realities: Zonk Volta has managed to create his own aggressive, dirty and hyper-detailed world and to populate it with characters who struggle on a stage, barely illuminated and filmed in their moment of cruelty or, if you prefer, primitive essence.

His photography, dramatic and Faustian to the extreme, is rendered by the unprecedented combination of analogue optics and digital equipment, refusing any kind of automation and additional lighting (flash).

In addition to his work as a set photographer, Emanuele has also taught graphic arts and design.

M. Guolo - Photographer

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E-mail: [e-mail]

Website: https://zvarts.wordpress.com/

3

The lights go off, the show begins

Light and its colors are fundamental elements in photography for the realization of valid and fascinating shots.

As said before, the photographic apparatus lives of light, just like the human sight. In the absence of light sources, neither the camera nor the human eye are able to decipher the signs present in the visual field.

In the case of the live show, which comes to life in the dark and ends with the dark, photography takes on a series of techniques that have little to do with photographs taken during the day.

The live show, being represented in theaters, arenas, stadiums, etc. lives exclusively on non-natural lights. The artificial lights can be of various entities: direct, diffuse, bull’s eye, multiple, intermittent, white or colored.

Each show has its own lighting system and it is therefore very difficult to predict its movements, even more so if there is a lighting technician (essential in the theatre, less so in small concerts).

The light in