Band Photogs - Would love your comments...

[manaheim]

(well and anyone else who is interested, of course)

How is this for a "band shot"?

 

[MLeeK]

I know nothing about band photography, but I really like the shot!

 

[invisible]

I've seen much worse, including mine.

 

[manaheim]

Haha... Thanks guys!!

 

[manaheim]

I've seen much worse, including mine.

You know, I don't think I've ever seen a band shot from you.....

 

[fjrabon]

what was the shot 'for'? ie, what was your goal with this shot? Are you trying to build a music portfolio? Was the shot 'commissioned' for a specific purpose?

 

[invisible]

I've seen much worse, including mine.

You know, I don't think I've ever seen a band shot from you.....

I've shot just one band, a year ago. I wasn't too happy about the photos back then, and my thread here got a grand total of zero comments, but looking back I didn't do that bad: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...rand-splendid-live-divan-orange-montreal.html

 

[Ballistics]

I really like this shot but I am curious if it would be better with a tighter crop. As it is now works well though. This is a great image.

 

[ginoo]

Cool shot, love the emotion. What I don't like is how blown out the other guitarists guitar is... Pops out way too much for me... Maybe try making it more subtle?

Also, why did you decide to make it black and white?

Cheers,

 

[fjrabon]

Cool shot, love the emotion. What I don't like is how blown out the other guitarists guitar is... Pops out way too much for me... Maybe try making it more subtle?

Also, why did you decide to make it black and white?

Cheers,

Look how dark the bassist is. If you had held the highlights on the guitarist's guitar, the subject (female bassist) would be completely pitch black. The only solution would be to shoot from another angle where the other guitarist isn't in the frame at all. I don't know how you'd 'make it more subtle?'

 

[Ballistics]

Cool shot, love the emotion. What I don't like is how blown out the other guitarists guitar is... Pops out way too much for me... Maybe try making it more subtle?

Also, why did you decide to make it black and white?

Cheers,

Doesn't take away from the image at all in my opinion.

 

[manaheim]

Thank you EVERYONE for your comments. Much appreciated!

what was the shot 'for'? ie, what was your goal with this shot? Are you trying to build a music portfolio? Was the shot 'commissioned' for a specific purpose?

Nope, no specific purpose. This was me, at a wedding, shooting artistically. I thought it was a great moment for the band... good emotion, good action, great feeling. Not the best venue, but I've done my best in the shot and in a bit of the post processnig (without cloning things out) to minimize that.

That said, I've shot one other band before and certainly seen many folks do it and have been interested in it, so it was great to have an opportunity to shoot such an interesting group. I'd certainly like to do it more, and a shot or two that works well (which I *think* this is one) certainly won't hurt to show other potential bands.

I've seen much worse, including mine.

You know, I don't think I've ever seen a band shot from you.....

I've shot just one band, a year ago. I wasn't too happy about the photos back then, and my thread here got a grand total of zero comments, but looking back I didn't do that bad: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...rand-splendid-live-divan-orange-montreal.html

Oh cool. Totally missed those. Too much traffic on this site. From what little I know, the first one felt a little ... stiff? ... to me. The second one seemed pretty cool. But again, what do I know?

I really like this shot but I am curious if it would be better with a tighter crop. As it is now works well though. This is a great image.

Thanks! I didn't want to cut off any more of her guitar than I did, and I wanted to the focus to be her face and her facial expression. Honestly, I wish I had been able to get her face as I had while moving my feet a little to the left on an arc to minimize some of the space to her right, but the key was her face... I had to have her face... so thus the crop as it is. (not arguing with you- just explaining my reasoning in case it lends any light into why I did what I did)

Cool shot, love the emotion. What I don't like is how blown out the other guitarists guitar is... Pops out way too much for me... Maybe try making it more subtle?

Also, why did you decide to make it black and white?

Cheers,

Cool shot, love the emotion. What I don't like is how blown out the other guitarists guitar is... Pops out way too much for me... Maybe try making it more subtle?

Also, why did you decide to make it black and white?

Cheers,

Look how dark the bassist is. If you had held the highlights on the guitarist's guitar, the subject (female bassist) would be completely pitch black. The only solution would be to shoot from another angle where the other guitarist isn't in the frame at all. I don't know how you'd 'make it more subtle?'

Yes, right... and another angle definitely wasn't what I wanted.

There is a bit of a misconception on overexposure on TPF (and probably in the world of photography in general). Folks think "blown out=bad. period."

That's absolutely not the case. Sometimes blow-out is bad... and usually that is when it is unintended and on a key part of the image. However, sometimes blow-out has no effect... for example in the case where the blow-out happens somewhere in the frame we don't care about as much and the main subject is properly lit. One could argue that is the case with this image, but I think otherwise.

The final case is where it LENDS to the image, as I believe is the case with this image. I won't ruin it by saying "I'm trying to show you [xxx]", because I always feel like an image explained is an image ruined, but in this case the lighting is doing EXACTLY what I want it to do.



Of course... all that said... from a purely technical perspective... as fjrabon said... it's unavoidable. The camera cannot do what our eyes and brain can do, so if her face is exposed properly, then the dude in the background is gonna be blown out.

 

[Ballistics]

Yeah, the first thing my eye went to was her face. Regardless of it not being the brightest thing in the photo.

 

[fjrabon]

yeah, the blown out guitar ends up serving as a leading line which suggests her face. SO while our eyes are generally drawn to the bringthest part of the image, compositionally the brightest part of the image draws attention to her face.

Here's what I Thought in post:

 

[manaheim]

yeah, the blown out guitar ends up serving as a leading line which suggests her face. SO while our eyes are generally drawn to the bringthest part of the image, compositionally the brightest part of the image draws attention to her face.

Here's what I Thought in post:

View attachment 16188

Oh hey wow, that really adds just a bit more pop to it. If I am seeing it right you brightened just her, and I think you also sharpened it a little? Am I seeing that right?

EDIT: Actually I just looked again... did you just pump the contrast up a bit?

Thanks for taking the time to do that!