We had the pleasure of capturing some candlelight concert photography at the San Diego Natural History Museum in Balboa Park, on behalf of FeverUp.com. A talented string quartet performed musical selections by Queen to a sold-out auditorium.
We captured the scene while staying out the way of the audience, then handled close-up action portraits after the performance.
This was hands-down the darkest concert we’ve ever photographed. The little LED candles cast just enough light for our eyes to adjust but certainly not enough for an average camera to capture. Luckily our Canon R5 mirrorless camera excels in both low light photography and image stabilization. The ISO settings were our highest ever attempted in a professional setting, up to 32,000. And the shutter speeds were our slowest ever for handheld photography: 1/20 of a second! But the results were right on target.
We love capturing concerts and event photography in San Diego. This was a very special event from the great crew at FeverUp.com. We highly recommend you attend one of these Candlelight Concerts ASAP!
Please enjoy some of our favorite shots below.
Then continue on to our other website for more San Diego concert photography.
Find more Event Photography and specifically Concerts on BPM.photo.
Music lover?
Head over to BPM Live Sessions for tons more San Diego concert photography and live music videos.
For my fellow photographers:
I shot this ultra-low-light concert using a Canon EOS R5 mirrorless camera body and mostly a Canon EF 24-70mm F2.8L II IS USM Lens with a few shots using a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM Lens, leveraging the Canon Control Ring Mount Adapter EF-EOS R which I set to change the ISO. Sometimes I leaned on a wall to stabilize myself as I was shooting at extremely slow shutter speeds for handheld photography. I tend to shoot cameras like snipers shoot rifles – slowly exhale as you click and keep your heart rate and movement down to a minimum.
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