On the day before Photoshop World officially kicks off, there are some extra classes offered. These are usually limited to 40 or so attendees and are an extra cost. The cool thing about these Pre Con classes is that they can offer something that is not available anywhere else.

And that is defiantly the case when it comes to the Concert Photography Pre Con. In this class, not only do we go over the ins and outs of concert photography, we also supply top-of-the-line lenses and camera bodies from Nikon and we get to shoot a live concert under pretty difficult lighting.

There is no other place where this is offered. Anywhere.

Scott Diussa, from Nikon Professional Services (NPS), and I had taught this class on four previous occasions and it felt really good to be back in front of a room full of eager would-be concert photographers. We cover everything from getting a photo pass, to the camera settings used and what to look for during a performance when it comes to composition.

Then we go off to the expo floor and the band performs on the keynote stage. Three songs, then some discussion and composition help, then three more songs, then a bonus song with Scott Diussa on guitar and Scott Kelby on drums.

Then it is back to the class room for discussions on the shoot, post production workflow and wrap up. But the class doesn’t end there. We have added a contest for the attendees and one of them will walk away with a Nikon D7000 and lens. All they have to do is send us the their best shot before 10:30 pm that night and Scott and I pick the top three and let the full conference vote on the best during the keynote. To be fair here, Scott and I have never agreed on the top three, we can usually pick the top two but always have a hard time with the third. This year, we had Cliff Mautner  help out with the selections.

One of the really great parts of teaching this pre con is the feedback that Scott and I get for the rest of the week. We heard from numerous folk that the concert pre con surpassed their expectations and was one of the more enjoyable classes that they have ever taken.

Here are some reviews from around the Internet.

Glyn Dewis : The Photoshop World Experience Part 1

Dawn Camp wrote about it HERE and HERE

Check out what Jacob Lucas had to say HERE

and if you are curious as to how the Pre Con stacks up looking back a year later, check out THIS post from Michelle

This was also the first time that I got to shoot my new Nikon D4 and while the camera performed flawlessly, I, on the other hand, didn’t. I missed shots that I would have nailed with my D700 and spent way too much time trying to figure out the best settings. But that is what these type of events are for. In the end, I did capture some images that I really liked and I was really impressed with the new XQD cards and the seemingly endless number of frames I could capture before the buffer filled.