It’s been a long time coming, but I finally got to attend Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour last week. In the days after the show, the photos I posted online were – much to my delight – liked and shared tens of thousands of times on Instagram, X and TikTok, including by dedicated fan accounts. But what really stood out for me was the reaction to the photography 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 on Swift’s first UK tour this summer. I am by no means a professional photographer. I just got a little help from a piece of technology I’ve never used before, but it’s quickly become a must-have gig accessory.
With nearly a year to prepare before Swift took the stage in my hometown of Edinburgh, Scotland, my preparation for the show was extensive and highly tactical. Since I had standing room early entry tickets for the first night, I knew that once I secured a good spot near the barricade, I wouldn’t be leaving again.
I packed energy gels, pain relievers and electrolyte tablets in my bag to keep me going. I also had two phones with me – iPhone 12 Pro Max and Xiaomi 14 Ultra. The former was my regular everyday phone, while the latter I borrowed just for its camera.
The majority of Swift’s Edinburgh shows are played in daylight.
Many of the best photos and videos I had seen from The Eras Tour before attending my show were taken with the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Some attendees even said they were swayed to upgrade to the phone specifically because its camera is so good — especially the zoom.
I asked CNET’s phone expert Andrew Lankson if it’s worth trying to get my hands on an iPhone 15 before my shows — or if I should consider a compact camera instead. (Interchangeable-lens cameras are not allowed at the shows.) He had a better idea, and directed me to an article he had just written calling the Xiaomi 14 Ultra “the best camera phone I’ve ever used.” He even still had the review unit to lend me.
So, the morning of my show, I left at 7:30am to spend the entire day in the front VIP line so I could get a prime barricade spot. When I pulled the Xiaomi 14 Ultra – along with the camera – out of my bag during the Paramore opening, people around me were curious if the phone was actually a compact camera. Then, as soon as I started shooting, the people behind me who could see the photos started oohing and aahing over 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 scene was one of the main factors that helped me capture my best photos, but the 14 Ultra did a lot of the heavy lifting.
The phone has two optical zoom lenses, both with 50-megapixel sensors. For my best shots, I was zoomed to the max, 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 as well as JPEG.
My only criticism is that there was a shutter lag at times which made it a little less responsive than I would have liked. Still, I was able to capture some exciting moments from the show — especially during the Tormented Poets Ward era, with its high-contrast black-and-white costumes and bright lighting. This made for some very dramatic photos.
The Tortured Poets Ward set was created for dramatic photos.
My shots from earlier in the show were much softer thanks to the abundance of daylight we get during the Scottish summer evenings. Depending on latitude, weather and whether your stadium has a roof, you may encounter different conditions. However, the 14 Ultra didn’t struggle when it got darker. In fact, it adapts cleverly to changing light without me having to fiddle with any of the settings.
Even on the small screen at the concert, I could already tell that the depth of detail captured by the 14 Ultra was far superior to any photo from my iPhone. After the show, I gave my favorite photos to Andrew, who is also a photographer, and he helped me polish them up so they looked their best.
The shots I shot in full daylight were much softer.
Not every photo I took was saved in any way, largely because I was dancing while I was shooting. I broke off very accidentally while trying to do heart hands during Fearless and held up the iPhone flashlight during Marjorie. The Xiaomi 14 Ultra proved extremely forgiving, with optical image stabilization compensating for my movement. It really made me wonder if I would have taken even more spectacular photos if I had concentrated, but I have no regrets.
This brings me to perhaps my most important tip for capturing amazing photos at The Eras Tour — or any event — which might not be what you think. First of all, you need to make sure that you will like the show.
Don’t watch the whole show through your phone screen.
The guy standing right next to me on the barricade filmed the whole show on his phone, singing along but never looking up from what was going on. Such coverage of the event is not really necessary. The Eras Tour movie 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 absorbing it all.
I say this not to shame the person who did it, but I felt like they missed the best part of being right on the barricade. I can’t count the number of times Taylor looked right at me during the show, and there were several moments where I made sustained eye contact with the other performers on stage. It felt like we were dancing together and in those moments, amidst the melee, I was getting a really personal one-on-one experience.
This confetti photo is one of my favorites.
If I had watched them through my phone screen, I would have missed that and the feeling that comes with it. That’s why most of the focus shots I’ve been able to get of Taylor are from the side, not the front. In those moments of the show when she was facing me, I prioritized being in the moment over capturing them.
When I return to the front pit of Taylor’s show in London on August 17th, I plan to use the Xiaomi 14 Ultra again with a little more concentration and effort. If I’m lucky, she’ll stick her tongue out at me or bump me with her shoulders, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll be able to capture it for posterity.
