Alannah Myles live

polymoog · May 25, 2009

To be honest, I'd never heard of her before Saturday, even though she has been around for a while (she's from Canada, and her biggest hit is Black Velvet) ... but she is a great singer and was the headline act at our yearly "Culture Night" in Umeå, where companies get together and sponsor bands so people can listen to great music for free.

I don't often take music pics so any advice or comments more than welcome, esp regarding colours and composition ...

Don't forget to click on the yellow bar to see them in full size, they don't look good resized

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3. It's hard work playing a double bass ...

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7. I was in the 2nd row of the audience and thus able to observe all the press photographers jostling for space ;-)

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LaFoto · May 25, 2009

Well, to be honest, I cannot find any fault in these! Sharpness. Good light. Atmosphere. All given.
But then I'm no expert in the field and can only say what I see here. And I LIKE what I see, and would be proud and happy if my photos turned out like that!

polymoog · May 25, 2009

Thanks

Ockie · May 25, 2009

show them to the people that organized the event, you should be shooting from the press line next time!

Antarctican · May 25, 2009

Really well done! A series of which to be proud.

polymoog · May 26, 2009

Thanks Ockie & Anty

onesix · May 28, 2009

Great pics... What were your settings?

I have 3rd row tickets to Keith Urban in July in Denver and want to take some great pics. Please help. These are the best concert pics I have seen. Great job!

polymoog · May 28, 2009

Thanks, I was using a borrowed D80 and Tamron 28-200, settings varied slightly but for one shot I had for example ISO 800, shutter speed 1/200, F 5.6, focal length 200mm.

A lot depends on the stage lighting, be prepared for it to change during the performance, and even during songs. High ISO = high noise, I had to seriously de-noise all these pictures. But better high ISO and good exposure to start with, because if you take a dark image with a reasonably high ISO it will be unusable : as soon as you lighten the image, a whole lot more noise will show up. And getting rid of it will destroy detail and colour and make the image look soft and painted.

Also, try to get a seat or position slightly off centre, more chance of getting the whole of the persons face so it doesn't look like they are eating an ice cream, when they sing into the mic ;-)

onesix · May 29, 2009

I will start there. Thanks!

johngpt · Jun 6, 2009

Great stuff polymoog. Outstanding series. Your exposures and composition are superb.

My only question is, when did she get so old?

Wait, when did I get so old? :lol:

Graham18ce · Jun 8, 2009

Age has been rough on her! She played in a club i worked at about 13 years ago and was much younger than. She was young enough to climb on the speaker stack and get her foot stuff in a ceiling vent durning the song. LOL ;P

polymoog · Jun 8, 2009

I think all the accidents she has had are a contributing factor as well, apparently she has had both car and horse riding accidents, plus a dodgy physiotherapist ...