Clutter or Personality

FuryofNature

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I've been trying to improve my grasp of compsition and the like. A lot of may photos have a fairly solid background, walls, or blackness...etc.

This one has a lot going on in the background. It was taken in a rehearsal studio, and the decorations are the way the band keeps the room.

Does the blackground detract from the photo by making it too busy, or is it ok because it is part of the band/band members style/personality?

rehearstu17th.jpg


Thanks for Looking.
_KA
 
Hmmm I'm in two minds.

I hang around with bands a lot, so I know that this is exactly what a band's rehersal room would look like. Just piles of stuff everywhere. So to that extent you've done an excellent job of showing the clutter and gear that they use.

But the other part of my brain is saying that it's too cluttered. My eyes see the guys head and upper body fine, but then my eyes dart all over the place trying to find the rest of his body. The guy in the background steals a fair bit of my attentions too.

So I'm not sure... I think it works as a band photo. But... ohhh I don't know. Maybe if the singer was turned a bit more around towards the camera, that would help distinguish him from the background more, while not loosing the interesting background.
 
about the first picture, i'd say it's a normal harmless clutter with the exception of that curtain with circles on it which kinda engulfs the other singer. but all in all it's ok. part of the problem is that you have two singers in different planes and the eye hunts between them.

the other two aren't really that cluttered and it's because you mainly have the texture of the floor/walls which is repetitive but very nice. :D the last two look just fine for an album back or something but now it depends as what kind of photo you made it. as a reportage photo, a portrait or a candid...?
 
eydryan said:
part of the problem is that you have two singers in different planes and the eye hunts between them.
what kind of photo you made it. as a reportage photo, a portrait or a candid...?

Wouldn't the eye going between them be kind of interesting in the sense that when you listen to the music, your ear goes bewteen them?
Also the the singer in the back is a background singer kinda of makes his position in the photo appropriate?

I took it as part of a series documenting the bands efforts in the rehearsal and recording studios. Had a great time doing it.

_KA
 
hehe it's a nice synestesy but you see we don't hear any music any we have no idea who the background siger is or what he does. but he is very small, and near that curtain he looks invisible. is he that unimportant? :D and also he looks tormented, poor little guy, i dunno it's just too much contrast between them (different planes, way diffeerent sizes, different positions,etc) and when there are two focal points which are competing there is confusion. don't take this the wrong way, the photo is good, we are only discussing details here, disecting the photo :D

if it's for documenting then they are all good and i can imagine you had a blast doing it :D it's cool to get behind-the-scenes access especially when you can also bring your camera :D
 
I think we need to look at two totally different things here...

As a photograph, artistically, the first one is too cluttered - just the way everyone here says it is. BUT as a series of pictures of the band, for fans of the band, they are brilliant because they show all the things you yourself explain.

Things like composition and background are hard to change, unless you can pick the location and pose your subjects. You can't, because you are shooting in their natural environment. To remove the clutter you could try shooting in very low light, with a flash when your subject is well away from the walls and the background will vanish into the darkeness, or shoot up instead of down - I imagine the ceiling is resonably plain...
 
ok, i admit, they listen to the music,but they don't necessarily asociate it with the pictures. look at that guy from incubus, i've been listening to incubus for a long time now and i saw no connection between him and his music. not even after you told me...

but i'm just splitting hairs here :D
 
I think when the pictures are on the album cover they are closely associated with the music. Almost a supplement to the music rather than an actual photograph in it's own right...

Now if the photos were in a magazine they would need to be different again!

(I enjoy splitting hairs :))
 
I agree with what Alexecho said. As arty farty photos - i think they're lacking something. But as documentary style photos, I think they're perfect.

Infact you've given me some ideas of photos to shoot for a band's website I'm doing.

I love the 2nd two you've put up.
 
I like it. I think it shows personality. I like the rock posters in the background, and the string of light adds interest in your conversion. If you are trying to tell a "backstory" along with this photo, I think you have done an excellent job.
Well done.
 

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