It took a while, but I finally attended Taylor Swift’s The Eras tour last week. In the days following the show, the photos I posted were, to my great pleasure, liked and shared tens of thousands of times on Instagram, X and TikTok, including by fan accounts dedicated. But what really struck me was the reaction to the photograph itself. As one fan noted: “The quality is better than my eyesight.”
I’m not going to lie: I was proud of the photos I took during Swift’s first UK tour this summer. I am by no means a professional photographer. I just had a little help from technology I’d never used before, but quickly became a must-have concert accessory.
With nearly a year to prepare before Swift took the stage in my hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland, my preparations for the show were thorough and highly tactical. Since I had standing tickets for the first night, I knew that once I found a good spot near the barricade, I wouldn’t leave.
In my bag I packed energy gels, painkillers, and electrolyte tablets to keep me going. I also had two phones with me: the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra. The first was my regular daily phone, while the second I borrowed solely for its camera.
The majority of Swift’s Edinburgh shows were performed in daylight.
Most of the best photos and videos I saw from The Eras Tour before attending my show were taken on the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Some participants even said they were swayed to switch to the phone specifically because its camera was so good, especially the zoom.
I asked CNET phone expert Andrew Lanxon if it would be worth trying to get myself an iPhone 15 before my shows — or if I should consider a compact camera instead. (Interchangeable lens cameras are not allowed at shows.) He had a better idea and showed me an article he had just written, calling the Xiaomi 14 Ultra “the best camera phone that I’ve never used it.” He even still had the magazine box to lend me.
And so, the morning of my show, I left at 7:30 a.m. to spend the entire day in the VIP queue, so I could get a prime spot on the barricade. When I pulled the Xiaomi 14 Ultra – complete with camera grip – out of my bag during Paramore’s opening set, people around me were curious if the phone was actually a compact camera. Then, as soon as I started taking photos, people behind me who could see the photos started “ooohing” and “ahhing” about the quality.
How to capture the best photos from “The Eras Tour”
She can do it with a broken heart.
Being very close to the stage was one of the main factors that helped me take my best photos, but the 14 Ultra did the heavy lifting.
The phone has two optical zoom lenses, both with 50-megapixel sensors. For my best photos, I zoomed in as far as I could, even when Taylor was only a few feet away. I made sure to use the camera in pro mode for both photos and videos, so I could capture each photo in raw format, as well as JPEG format.
My only criticism is that there was occasional shutter lag, which made it slightly less responsive than I would have liked. Despite this, I managed to catch some exciting moments in the show – particularly the Tortured Poets Department era, with its high-contrast black and white costumes and intense lighting. This resulted in some very dramatic shots.
The entire tortured poets department is designed for spectacular photos.
My photos from earlier in the series were much softer, thanks to the abundance of daylight we receive during Scottish summer evenings. Depending on latitude, weather, and whether your stadium has a roof, you may experience different conditions. However, the 14 Ultra didn’t struggle when it got darker. In fact, it adapted perfectly to the changing light, without me having to change the settings.
Even on the small concert screen, I could already tell that the depth of detail captured by the 14 Ultra was far better than any photo taken with my iPhone. After the show, I gave my favorite images to Andrew, who is also a photographer, and he helped me tweak them to look their best.
The shots I captured in broad daylight were much softer.
All the photos I took were not preserved in any way, largely because I was dancing while the photo was taken. I randomly took my photo while trying to do heart hands during Fearless and raise my iPhone flashlight during Marjorie. The Xiaomi 14 Ultra proved extremely forgiving, with the optical image stabilization compensating for my movements. I wondered if I could have taken even more spectacular photos if I had focused, but I have no regrets.
This brings me to perhaps my most important tip for capturing great photos of The Eras Tour – or any other event – which may not be what you think. It’s all about making sure you like the show.
Make sure you don’t watch the entire show through your phone screen.
The person standing right next to me at the barricade filmed the whole show on his phone, singing along, but never really looking at what was happening. This type of event coverage isn’t really necessary. The Eras Tour film already exists, so you don’t need to use your own concert experience to remake it. Capturing moments here and there for social media and your own memories is one thing, but not at the expense of soaking it all in.
I say this not to shame the person doing this, but I felt like they missed the best part of being right in front of the barricade. I can’t count the number of times Taylor looked at me during the show, and there were several moments where I made prolonged eye contact with the other performers on stage as well. It was as if we were dancing together and in those moments, in the midst of the melee, I was having a very personal one-on-one experience.
This confetti photo is one of my favorites.
If I had watched them on my phone screen, I would have missed this and the feeling that came with it. This is why most of the clear photos I’ve managed to take of Taylor are taken from the side rather than the front. At those moments in the series where she was facing me, I prioritized being in the moment rather than immortalizing them.
When I’m back in the front pit at Taylor’s show in London on August 17, I plan to use the Xiaomi 14 Ultra again with a little more focus and effort. If I’m lucky, she’ll stick her tongue out at me or shoulder-butt me, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to capture it for posterity.