Available light band photograph
Shooting a band is challenging. Band members are in motion, at this venue the band was lit with colored stage lights. The light is bright enough for human eyes, but not much for a camera. With film, very fast film would have to be used, and this would often be black and white so that it could be pushed even more, used in light even lower than the film was made for.
My Nikon D100 with a 50 mm F1.8 lens can take some amazing pictures at 1600 ISO. The noise of this high gain setting is still far less IMHO than the grain of 1600 (even 800 ISO) film. The advantages of shooting with available light rather than flash are many.
In the picture below, both Kat and Dan (at the time in the great band Orchid Pool) are correctly exposed. The further a flash travels, the less light hits the subject. So near subjects will be brighter than far objects.
Also, available light provides a more natural top lit effect. This results in a more three dimensional feel to the photo.
And for live performance, it is far less disruptive to take several photos without a flash. Taking many photos is what allowed me to capture this moment.
