Live music

Whenever people ask me what I think makes a great live music shot it's always capturing the moment. It doesn't matter if it's slightly blurry or not framed as well as you'd hoped. As long as you've got the ability to capture moments time and time again then you'll go far.

For me, this photograph does exactly that. The blur on the photograph adds to the whole experience. You can feel the energy in the room and it will bring people right back to that moment. Big thumbs up!

Colour is something that is out of our hands most of the time, especially in live music where our hands are tied by the lighting designers. You have to adapt to whatever is thrown in front of you at live shows.

This is a fantastic photograph with all of the wonderful colours. I didn't even notice the snakes on the first couple of looks at the shot. I was just looking at the beautiful blues, greens and reds throughout the image.

The composition is great too. I love the fact that every time I come back to look at it again I find something new – whether it's the woman shading her face from the sun, the boys up top or the two snakes at the bottom of the image.

I'm not usually a fan of tight crops in live music but this photograph is different. Everything is there – the movement, the energy, the light and the expression.

It looks like a perfectly crafted studio photograph or at least a still from a music video. It's great to see something so different to the other entries in the competition. That's the exact reason is why I chose this photo to be in my top three.

Being different is usually a good thing!

I grew up being inspired by Martin Parr's work. His knack to find the hilariousness in the norm is what I loved. The kind of things that you'd notice, maybe giggle at but never think to lift your camera to take a photo of.

As soon as I saw this photograph it made me laugh. The rusty deckchair, slightly flabby belly, take out coffee and messy wires brought this photograph to my attention and tells a tale of the weird and wonderful British summertime.

I personally haven't photographed outside in the rain/hail that much over the years but it has been a blessing in disguise the few times I have.

You've done a great job capturing the atmosphere of the moment. It looks like the artist's arms are outstretched and is embracing the rain but you haven't been too obvious with it by shooting really wide. The detail in the shot is great and you've shot it just at the right speed to capture the movement of the falling rain/hail.

I really dig this shot. Nice one!

Never underestimate ambient light. It can create a brilliant mood for the scene that you're shooting. The photographer here has done a great job in doing just that.

You've captured, what looks like quite an intimate moment between a musician and his instrument or even a low-key show. It's very difficult to capture a moment like this when you're blasting flash all over the place so nice work on harnessing the environment.

Carry on doing what you're doing and creating more imagery like this!

It's easy to forget the crowd behind you when you're photographing a show. None of what we love photographing would be doable if there were no fans to support the bands at their shows.

Everybody has a different experience at shows and lyrics mean different things to some people than they do to others. The smiles are generally wide here and I love the moment that you've captured. She's completely unaware of you and completely transfixed by what's in front of her. That's what it's all about! Stay hidden and capture in the most natural way you can.

This image is completely different to the other two that I chose in my top three.

I love photographs that tell a story without having to dig too deep. You don't have to be shooting in the biggest stadiums in the world to capture great live music.

This photo is fantastic. Everybody is in their own little world. The violin player looks stoked that you're taking a photograph of him! This could be anything – a protest march, a traditional music get together for the town or simply a man and a few friends.

Great art makes you think and this certainly does...

The energy in this picture is brilliant. It can be hard sometimes to show the transition of energy between the band and the audience but this definitely captures it.

There are a couple of things I, personally, think would improve this image though.

A quicker shutter speed in this instance would allow you to freeze the moment in front of you. At the moment nothing is pin sharp and there's movement blur on most of the people's hands. I try to not shoot below 1/100 at any given point at a show to counter the blur problem.

The other is the sepia colour edit. I only stick to your standard colour or black and white photographs. Attitudes may change in years to come but for a long time now sepia hasn't been a standard professional go-to. I feel like a really strong black and white edit on this photograph would give a much punchier finish to it.

Your foundation is there though. Keep up the good work!

You can't beat a subject full of character. Sometimes everything is put on a plate for you and you just have to have the ability to capture what's in front of you. That's not an ability to be underestimated.

This is a really strong image – the subject, framing, the edit and overall feel to the image.

Was it shot on film? This is one of the only entries that evidently looks like it has been shot on film. Documentary work like this, I feel, is better on film. It definitely makes me shoot better because the concentration levels are so much higher.

Capturing audience reactions are probably one of my favourite things to do as a live music photographer. The craziness you see in some of the people's eyes is hilarious. It's great!

This photo is almost there. There's just too much going on around the fan for you to be fully focused on her. Before I've even seen her I'm reading the camera guy's t-shirt and being distracted by the colourful garments on stage.

All I'd say is try and isolate your subject a little more and you'll be well away!

I like the idea of this photograph. They're very interesting characters! Sometimes subjects just present themselves to you and all you have to do is click the shutter. Here's a couple of things that I would've done to improve the image:

Get a little closer. You've probably noticed from the other reviews that I always say this but it rings true 99% of the time. Get closer to your subject. Interact with them. Ask to take their photograph. Most people love it!

You could incorporate the red flowers at the front to tie in with the red through the image. If you bent down to get the flowers in the foreground but kept the focus on one of the musicians it could've made for a very interesting and colourful image.

Make the most of what you've got and try to think outside of the box. You've got an eye for the great subjects which is half of the battle!

I like the idea of this image. There's an interesting subject and environment. I feel that you could turn this photograph from a good photo into a really brilliant one if you got a little closer to your subject. That's always my rule! If it's not working then just get closer. That way you could've blocked out the cars in the background with your subject and you could maybe see the concentration on the musician's face a little more to give more character. Also, I would ease up on the clarity – when you give an image too much clarity it can look very... plastic? I don't know if that's the right word but yes, the real world is a beautiful one – don't try and edit it too much!