@davidbergman

Sometimes it pays to shoot with a lens other than the one you’re supposed to.

I usually want the longest lens possible so I can get closer to the action. For example, last weekend in Indianapolis I used a Nikon 600mm to make this photo of New York Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks trying to avoid two New England Patriots defenders at the Super Bowl.

(Nikon D3, 600mm lens, ISO 2500, 1/800, f/4)

I used the same lens to photograph Madonna at halftime with Cirque du Soleil dancers.

(Nikon D3, 600mm lens, ISO 4000, 1/250, f/4)

But it’s important to use wide-angle lenses to show the pomp and circumstance surrounding the biggest game of the year. Here’s Patriots QB Tom Brady leading his teammates onto the field before the game.

(Nikon D3, 24-70 lens at 24mm, ISO 2500, 1/640, f/4)

Immediately after Brady’s last-chance hail-mary pass fell to the ground (a “fail mary?”), I shot wider-than-normal to show the New York Giants players rushing on to the field in celebration. The image ran across two pages to open SI’s Super Bowl coverage.

(Nikon D3, 70-200 lens at 200mm, ISO 2500, 1/1000, f/4)

If I had shot any tighter, you wouldn’t have been able to see Brady dejectedly walking off the field (far left) as Giants QB Eli Manning (red hat) runs right behind him.

Here’s an iPhone picture I took of my gear before the game. The short lenses in front are (l-r) 14-24, 70-200, and 24-70 (all f/2.8). In the back row, I have two 200-400 f/4 lenses (one was for my GigaPan) and a 600mm f/4.

Don’t lock yourself into only using the lens that you’re “supposed” to use. Try something different and you never know what might happen.

An email from the Kerrang Magazine editor came in on a Wednesday morning asking if I could do a cover shoot with pop-punk rockers All Time Low. In addition to the cover photo, they would need extra images for the story inside and a potential poster.

The band’s manager added, “We would really like to get this done in Baltimore tomorrow if possible.”

Baltimore is 200 miles away from my home in New York City. With less than 24 hours of prep time for a major shoot out of town, I went into logistics-mode overdrive.

My favorite way to travel in the Northeast is on Amtrak’s Acela business class train. It’s comfortable, there are power outlets at every seat, and there’s free wi-fi. You can also arrive at the station five minutes before your train and don’t have to deal with airport TSA agents.

But what about my gear? I needed to bring big lights for this job.

The answer is simple. Rent.

I called my pal, Baltimore resident David Hobby (yes, the Strobist himself!) and made a deal to rent some of his lighting equipment for the day.

The rest was easy. I hired Baltimore assistant Dave Buchanan, had him pick up the gear from David, and meet me at the train station.

I’ve photographed All Time Low before and the guys are always easy to work with. Here’s guitarist Jack Barakat getting some air. I shot the frame wide to show the lights.

(Nikon D3, 24-70 at 52mm, ISO 200, 1/250, f/16)

For my main light on the right, I used a Profoto Acute2 2400 pack in a 64” silver Paul Buff PLM and a white diffuser. I filled in on the left with a Profoto Acute2 1200 pack in a 60” Photek Softlighter II, also with a diffuser.

I used the same setup for this group shot.

(Nikon D3, 24-70 at 24mm, ISO 200, 1/125, f/14)

Since the guys were about to embark on a tour of the UK, the magazine wanted a “hitting the road” image. I imagine it’s been a while since they loaded their own gear, but it was fun to put them in this situation.

(Nikon D3, 24-70 at 48mm, ISO 500, 1/250, f/6.3)

I put a bare flash on the 1200 pack at far right up high with a warming gel to simulate the late afternoon setting sun. The 2400 pack with the 64” PLM was behind me to fill in the shadows.

I also stuck a bare bulb strobe with a blue gel inside of the van, which you can see in this image from another angle.

(Nikon D3, 24-70 at 42mm, ISO 500, 1/250, f/9)

The magazine came out recently with my cover shot of the four guys and five more photos inside. Everyone was happy.

I’m a big fan of renting expensive equipment when possible. Whether it’s for convenience, or to try new gear that you normally wouldn’t be able to afford, it’s the most cost-effective way to have access to every piece of photo gear in existence.

I was honored this week to be the guest on TWIT Photo, hosted by famous tech geek Leo Laporte and photographer Catherine Hall.

(If you subscribe to my blog via email or RSS feed and can’t see the video, click on the title above to view on my web site.)

Rockstars. Presidents. NFL. BIG event photographer David Bergman

The question on everyone’s mind must be: what hasn’t David Bergman done? With 11 covers for Sports Illustrated, including the coveted 2010 Super Bowl, and his distinction as official tour photographer for Bon Jovi, David gets a lot of game. He joins us live in the TWiT studio to discuss his now-famous GigaPan shot of Obama’s inauguration and shows viewers how he processes 600 frames of a GigaPan shot in a live software demo. Also, the music geek shares inside secrets on being a successful music tour photographer, and you won’t want to miss the moment he shocks Leo and Catherine with his gigantic, $10G+ bazooka 600mm F4 Nikon lens.

Don’t miss a chance to watch or listen to your favorite photographers – download and subscribe to TWiT Photo podcast on iTunes for free.

If you haven’t followed Bon Jovi in a long time, you might be surprised to know that they were the #1 grossing tour in 2008 and 2010. They continue to put out new music, tour constantly, and sell out shows—including 80,000 seat stadiums in the US and overseas.

When I started working with the band in early 2010, they booked me to do Gigapans at a few of their concerts. I would fly into a city, do my thing, and get out. I was still working for other clients like Sports Illustrated and was on the road all summer as the official tour photographer for Sarah McLachlan Lilith Fair. But somehow I was able to make the timing work.

While the Gigapans were successful, Jon Bon Jovi really liked the traditional still photography I was doing. So the band put me on a tour bus and I shot many of their concerts and appearances through the end of the year.

I covered so many events because we were offering prints and custom photo books for sale from each show through my company, TourPhotographer.com. I created it six years ago so that fans could get high-end photos of their favorite artists without having to worry about taking bad photos with their cell phones.

My goal is to bring the artistry back to tour photography by making photos that fans want to frame and hang on their walls. It also allows me to do the kind of work I love, and the artists make money too.

Since I was doing a lot of backstage photography, Jon asked me to travel with the band, instead of their crew, in 2011. That meant I would spend the rest of the tour flying on the private jet and staying at fancy hotels all around the world.

No complaints from me.

The European summer tour leg was an amazing experience. It started in Croatia and ended 17 countries and 8 weeks later in Portugal. By this point, I went everywhere with Jon. I photographed him on stage, backstage, at dinner, and in his hotel room.

Some of the more personal photos may not be published for a while. For example, during this rainy show in Helsinki, Jon tore the meniscus in his left knee.

He somehow performed for another two hours and finished the show. Afterwards, he was in obvious pain as his knee was examined. This photo has not been shown until now.

In the car back to the hotel, we didn’t know how serious the injury was, or how it might affect the remaining shows on the tour.

Amazingly, Jon didn’t cancel any shows. He wore a brace on his knee so he didn’t damage it any further, and even showed off his temporary cane at a concert in Denmark. The crew made it for him with a shaker on the end.

A few weeks later, he had surgery in Ireland to remove the torn meniscus. I was in the operating room with him as he was put under for the procedure. I’m holding on to those images for now.

Here are a few more photographic highlights.

I went up in the rafters at the Air Canada Center in Toronto to get a different perspective.

Jon and Richie Sambora shared a moment outside our hotel before dinner in Istanbul.

I had a unique view of the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest. The building was designed by the Ceausescu regime, but he was overthrown and executed before he could move in.

In Oslo, there was still some light in the sky just before midnight as the show came to an end.

At the end of tour in Lisbon, I asked Jon to turn everyone around so I could document the occasion.

Since the tour ended, I’ve photographed some personal events for Jon. For example, he visited the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor with his family.

Jon Bon Jovi is one of the subjects that photographers dream about. He appreciates the value of documenting this crazy life that he and the band get to experience.

I’m so happy to be along for the ride.

To properly cover a sporting event, you need to do more than just point-and-click. The key is to anticipate what’s going to happen so you can put yourself in a position to make the photo.

I covered the New England Patriots playoff games this month on assignment for Sports Illustrated magazine.

Coming into the game two weeks ago, Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow was the big story. But the New England Patriots were up 35-7 at halftime, essentially ending Tebow’s miracle season.

I decided to spend some time shooting behind the line of scrimmage when the Broncos had the ball. It was a risk, because if Tebow threw a bomb down the field for a touchdown, I would have been out of luck.

But since the Patriots defense was all over him, I took my chances and came up with a nice sack photo.

(Nikon D3, 200-400 at 280mm, ISO 4000, 1/800, f/4)

The next week, I covered the Patriots in Foxboro again. This time it was the AFC Championship game against the Baltimore Ravens.

It was still a close game in the fourth quarter when the Patriots brought the ball to the Ravens one-yard-line.

Quarterback Tom Brady tried a QB sneak, but he was ruled down before the ball crossed the goal line. I thought he might try to score it himself again on fourth down, so I focused on him and zoomed in pretty tight.

He jumped over the top of the defense and reached out just enough to get the ball across the goal line and score the game winning touchdown.

(Nikon D3, 200-400 at 400mm, ISO 4000, 1/800, f/4)

You never know what’s going to happen when covering sports, but with preparation and the right opportunity, you can create some of your own luck.