There was a big tango event in our town last February with dancing classes and a saturday night ball with a live band. I took my fuji x-t1 along with the 50-140 f/2.8 to try and capture the musicians.

The settings were easy to find. Auto ISO up to ISO 6400 and the lens wide open. The minimum shutter speed was set at 1/125s and focusing on single spot. No focus tracking needed, the musicians were pretty stable.

The focusing on the x-t1 is plenty fast enough for these low light conditions and very accurate too. In this kind of environment, it is important however to keep an eye on the exposure and the lighting can change very fast. This is where the exposure compensation dial gets a good deal of use!

Post-processing is done in lightroom with minimal noise reduction. Colours are enhanced with color efex pro 4, passing through photoshop for some additional dodging and burning.

I found the camera set-up reliable so I tried to concentrate on capturing the expressions of the musicians. Obviously, there is a difficulty in photographing musicians with a silent medium so it is imporant to try to convey the different characters of the musicians using the available light and by being patient.

Luckily I could get as close as I liked to the stage. The guitarist was quite a way back, very still and impassive but the bandoneon player is a real showman! There was also a pianist but the only angle I had was side-on.

I only wish I had brought a wide-angle lens with me! Getting close and shooting upwards can give new perspectives and compositions. I did have the 35mm f/1.4 in the bottom of my bag though. I should have brought my x100t too!