comment band photos

john818 said:
r they good enough to get paid for.lol
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Try to sell them and find out for yourself, but if you are trying to build a portfolio, build a portfolio of more than just 4 images.
 
Yeah, nothing really special about the photos. Not really sure how you'd improve on them. Maybe learn more about framing and try out some more artistic shots. Unless of course you're taking photographs for the band (especially if being paid for it) then i guess just keep doing what you're doing.

But it's never bout the money, it's about the art. ;)

But keep working at it! :)
 
I think you might need faster glass. The lead singer looks good, but at larger size I see that he's got motion blur, because the mic is fairly sharp. The bottom left guitar player is okay... but again, not sharp... the drummer shot isn't bad either.

If you want my honest opinion, they aren't what I'd call pro yet. There's certain things that I look for... and one of the most basic is an awareness of the subject and background... like with the keyboard player for instance... had you taken a step or two to the right then the other band members would be sharing headspace with him. He would have been in the black BG and your eye could follow in to the boards.

The drummer's head looks like it's resting on the front drum edge (almost)... a step left and you could have seem him more clearly "cut" off the drum kit.

If you're shooting with a DSLR and you can get ANY kind of a really fast glass... like a 1.8 or better... you could also help your shots a lot by giving the most important part of the image more attention.

My .02

I've got a friend in a band that's playing tonight... all I have in a 1.8 glass is a fixed 50mm... but I'll see if I can take some shots and post tomorrow.
 
Okay dude... I appologize for my criticism above... that is really hard to do. The non-stop colored and totally random lighting makes that challenging. For the record I used my D70s and a 50mm 1.8 glass with auto focus assist OFF so that there wouldn't be a beam of light shooting the band in the eyes... and obviously no flash either.

This is the best I could do last night:

Jenni5small.jpg


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Jeni1small.jpg
 
Live shows are no easy task.
I'd say you did pretty good, both John818 and MattinSTL.
Having a fast prime lens is practically a requirement, but I've found that a 2.8 zoom with a low power flash can do pretty good too.

With all of the challenges a photographer may face during a live show, the most difficult challenge for me is being at a show where I really just want to drop the camera, sit back and enjoy the concert like everybody else.

A couple months back I saw Grizzly Bear in Austin, TX. I drove from Houston to catch the sold out show at a venue I'd never been to, and brought my camera along just for fun.
As difficult as it was for me to do, I had to use my flash for their set because they preferred to play in almost total darkness. Either that, or they deliberately wanted to make it challenging on all of the photographers:grin:

Anyways, I have 8 of my photographs from the show posted on Grizzly Bear's flickr page, they all have the description: 'Photos From Texas'.
When it was all said and done, I actually got a chance to talk with the band after the show and I also got a copy of their album signed by all of them. :)
Here's one of the photos....
 
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Dude that shot rocks... I had an sb-800 with me... I just never considered turning it way down and closing in... there was a mosh of people.

Looking at your pic there makes me wish I'd have really gone for it. I emailed Jeni the pics I took and I'm sure that she'll say to "go for it" next time and do whatever I want with my flash. With the sb-800 I could have done what you have there... it's got a function for that.

That is a very cool shot... I'm diggin' it big time. You should do the next photo contest.
 
Thanks, I appreciate that.
Yeah, the SB800 should be able to handle it with ease. Maybe even try experimenting with remote flash.
I've thought about entering the contest on a couple of occassions but just hand't followed up on it.
Maybe this summer when the weather stabilizes a bit I'll be able to work some mojo. We'll see...
Thanks again for the compliments.
 
You're welcome... I gotta' say about the sb-800... that's the ONLY reason I got a d70s instead of a d50 at the time... remote flash.

There's no other way to use it... in my opinion.

If I shoot another show for her then I think I'll have a friend go up dancing next to her (from off stage and out of my frame)... and then set the flash for really low power... and pop it remotely as you suggest. The friend can dance around with her arms straight up and the flash head tilted down.

I'm laughing my ass off picturing it... but I'm dead serious... if I use it w/o the dome diffusor, but with the wide diffusor... then it can illuminate for 14mm wide, but it will still have a hard light quality... replicating the look of a spot. I should have considered that last night.
 
Digigenic said:
Here's one of the photos....
Click to expand...

Sweet.

How do you get a picture looking like that?
2 things in particular stand out. 1 is the high, ultra-sharp contrasty look, which I only seem to manage to get sometimes by fiddling with an image after I've taken it, using contrast/curve controls in Gimp. Is this an in-camera effect, or filters, or 'cheating' the same way I do?
The second thing is the two more blurry images of the singer either side of the pin-sharp one. Is this a composite of 3 separate pics, and if not, how is it done?

Thanks!
 
wilx said:
Sweet.

How do you get a picture looking like that?
2 things in particular stand out. 1 is the high, ultra-sharp contrasty look, which I only seem to manage to get sometimes by fiddling with an image after I've taken it, using contrast/curve controls in Gimp. Is this an in-camera effect, or filters, or 'cheating' the same way I do?
The second thing is the two more blurry images of the singer either side of the pin-sharp one. Is this a composite of 3 separate pics, and if not, how is it done?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Thankyou for the compliments, Wilx.

There is a significant amount of post processing done to achieve that look, as there were in all of the other shots I took of the band.
That particular one of Chris Taylor consists of three seperate photos meticulously layered over one another to get a triple exposure look.
It required more than just puting one layer on top of the other and adjusting the opacity. Had I simply layered and tweaked the opacity, the center figure wouldn't pop out as much; it would just look garbled together with no definitive point of focus to draw the viewer's eye to.
As far as achieving that 'ultra-sharp contrasty look', you really need to make sure you capture at the highest possible quality to maximize your control over the image in post.
I always suggest making sure you shoot RAW and processing in 16 bit and outputing to PSD for finishing [assuming you work in Photoshop].
If you don't work in PS, then just be sure to keep your working files in an ucompressed format until you output for print and/or the web.
It makes your files huge and kind of cumbersome, but it's very much worth it in the end.
 
Okay dude... I appologize for my criticism above... that is really hard to do. The non-stop colored and totally random lighting makes that challenging. For the record I used my D70s and a 50mm 1.8 glass with auto focus assist OFF so that there wouldn't be a beam of light shooting the band in the eyes... and obviously no flash either.


its cool man,you did a good job also.
 
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