How to take good concert photos on iPhone

Concert photos fail because the camera exposes for the dark crowd and blows out the bright stage. Fix it by tapping on the performer and dragging the exposure slider down until the stage lights have colour again. Then use the zoom lens only as far as its optical limit, hold the phone steady against your chest, and shoot during bright moments in the light show.

Settings

1. Flash off. It only lights the back of the head in front of you.
2. Tap the performer to focus, then drag exposure down.
3. Lock it. Press and hold on the stage until AE/AF Lock appears.
4. Optical zoom only. Use 2x, 3x or your longest lens; avoid pinching beyond it.
5. Shoot during bright moments: spotlight hits, white light flashes and confetti.
6. Burst for movement. Swipe the shutter button left and hold.

Shots to get

1. The performer in a spotlight, at full optical zoom.

2. The whole stage from the crowd, with heads and hands in the foreground for scale.

3. Silhouettes of hands against stage light.

4. The confetti or pyro moment.

5. Your friends singing along, lit by the stage.

6. The crowd from behind, a sea of phones and lights.

7. The venue before it fills up.

8. Your ticket and wristband, for the memory.

Framing

• Use the crowd as a foreground. A silhouetted crowd at the bottom of the frame makes the stage feel big. The One-Third guide puts the crowd in the lower third.
• Put the performer off-centre, with stage lights filling the rest.
• Shoot vertical for stories, horizontal for the stage.

Etiquette

• Shoot a few, then put the phone down. You came to see the show.
• Keep the phone at chest height, not above your head blocking others.
• Screen brightness down.
• Check the venue's rules on photography.

Frame the stage

slay overlays composition guides on your live iPhone camera, so the stage and the crowd land in the right place.

Get slay on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6807513456?utm_source=slaycamera&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=concert-photos-iphone