Rating the Lighting at Music Venues: Rough Trade NYC
In the first installment of an ongoing series, I will complain or rave about the lighting conditions that I come across on my concert-going adventures. Rough Trade NYC is a pretty cool new space. Not only is it a record store, but it's also a small-sized music venue that can hold roughly 250 people. It's feels like mini Music Hall of WIlliamsburg. However, like way too many music venues in the city, the stage lighting has much to be desired. Take this photo of Jessica Weiss from the Brighton shoegaze band Fear of Men taken at Rough Trade NYC in Brooklyn.
From a photographers perspective, the red looks like crap. Yeah, yeah. I know "Don't you have Photoshop© Mr. Photographer?" Why yes, I do. And, I know how to use it. Sure, I can tone down the red (using the red saturation slider and adjusting the white balance) and make it look a bit more natural, like so:
Or, if I'm really lazy, I can just make it black & white:
Yes, I can adjust it (to a degree) but that's not the point. I want to shoot a show and not have to adjust the color thanks for poor color choices by a venue. No photographer wants to color correct all of his/her photos after a show. And no audience member wants see a band draped in red for a 40 minute set. I will never understand why so many concert venues in the New York City area insist on red fill lighting. In fact, I'm not sure why it's used at all. How does anyone think that this looks good? Now, some of you might think that maybe the band requested these colors? Nope. Indie bands at smaller venues are more concerned with sounding good than how the lighting looks. But I can assure you, unless your Devin from Diiv, no one in an indie band wants to look satanic. If they knew how it made them look, they might ask for some options.
What should the front lighting be you ask? A good rule of thumb is that any front lighting should be neutral or flesh colored. If you're setting a mood, a blue, purple can look nice. But, again, not one color for an entire set.
You'll notice the white backdrop in these photos. Not the prettiest thing, ever, but what's nice about it is that it can be lit to change color. Sadly, I have seen other images of the venue and it looks like the backdrop isn't a regular part of the stage. Not that you need a backdrop if you are a bigger venue like this. All you need is a haze machine and some bright lamps to make some nice beams of light. Again, it can set a mood rather nicely. But more times than not, you aren't going to have beams of light and you're going to see the performers in red set against the black wall from the back of the stage.
Now, to be fair, it wasn't all bad. While red was the primary color, at least it was bright (unlike a certain concert venue a few blocks away). Brighter lights definitely help with a camera's auto-focus.
And, not only was it bright but, occasionally, the front lighting was a different color other than red. Sometimes it was purple or even neutral (which was perfect). Now, there's nothing wrong with draping a band in one color for part or all of a song, but for the majority of a set, it's laaaaazy.
Verdict: While the red didn't help with making the band look good visually, the overall brightness of the lighting made it slightly easier to photograph the band. Bright red lighting (as long as it's not too bright) is better than dim red lighting anyway. But it still looks like crap. Score: 5.5/10
Next: Baby's All Right in Brooklyn