Kill me now..........

[RockstarPhotography]

So i'm hired to shoot another band, no big deal, just another band right? WORST possible night of my life. Shooting live, absolutely, NO light I can use at all. can't get s&*% shooting at 1.4. ok great, I brought stands and sh*&, (I f"ed up my main flash during a "mod" so I cant shoot on camera"}...NO place to put them, tables all the way up to 5' in front of band. uuuuuugggghhhhhhhhh..................i hate my life.

oh, and did i mention they where 5 feet from a wall in a sports bar, so I had a bit©h of a time trying to find a place where they didn't have a tv growing out of their head?

 

[camz]

I used to shoot bands a while back. When don't have room for light stands I just tie-wrap or bungie my flashes on poles, band speakers, trusts or what have you on stage and have these flashes face the band. That way you can shoot OCF all night long and get consistency. It's too tough to shoot bands with on camera flash unless there's daylight. Hope that helps for next time.

 

[eVilcreations]

Man that sounds like a tricky situation.... did you end up with the shots anyway? or was it a total loss?

 

[fokker]

It's too tough to shoot bands with on camera flash unless there's daylight.

I have to disagree with you there, I've only ever used on-camera flash shooting bands and always had pretty good results. If there is any kind of lighting setup at the show then you should have no reason to need to bother moving the flash(es) off camera.

 

[camz]

It's too tough to shoot bands with on camera flash unless there's daylight.

I have to disagree with you there, I've only ever used on-camera flash shooting bands and always had pretty good results. If there is any kind of lighting setup at the show then you should have no reason to need to bother moving the flash(es) off camera.

There's no doubt in my mind that you can pull of getting shots with the flash on camera. I just don't see how one flash on camera would be sufficient enough to cover a whole band on stage. For example how you cover and correctly expose the drummer(usually in the back) and lead singer(upfront) with a single flash on camera? To me, once you have the right mixture on off camera flash setup , you can pretty much work and move anywhere to get the different angles and shoot as your light source does not move with you. It's also sometimes necessary to have more then 2 light sources as these stages could be big. I think it makes life a lot easier.

Edit: fokker - When I get the chance I'll go back into my records and show you some the band pictures I took years back =)

 

[KmH]

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Well its all depends where you are really. If you have to shoot telephoto then..... It sounded like OP's gig doesnt sound too hard.

It's too tough to shoot bands with on camera flash unless there's daylight.

I have to disagree with you there, I've only ever used on-camera flash shooting bands and always had pretty good results. If there is any kind of lighting setup at the show then you should have no reason to need to bother moving the flash(es) off camera.

 

[RockstarPhotography]

yea, I don't think I did a very good job of explaining it last night. there was no actual stage, the band was on the ground and they had tables all the way up to the band, if you were sitting in the front you could pretty much just stand up and shake hands with the band members. There was no drummer, just guitar players lined up in a row right next to a wall with tv's going the whole time right next to their heads. The ceiling of the place was black and I couldn't bounce light off that at all, the ONLY place close to the band to put any type of light would have been on their side. I did manage to clamp a light on to a table for a few shots but it was so close that it really only lit 1 person and then cast their exact shadow on the wall behind them. The ONLY available light was a single lightbulb hanging directly over the singers head.

 

[e.rose]

Ouch. Sounds like a tough night. :meh: Were you able to get *anything* useful? If not do they have another gig coming up in a better lit venue where you can try again?

 

[RockstarPhotography]

Ouch. Sounds like a tough night. :meh: Were you able to get *anything* useful? If not do they have another gig coming up in a better lit venue where you can try again?

I haven't don't much editing to them yet so I'm not sure what turned out. I know one guitar player has a tv growing out of his head in every shot because there was no place to shoot from where it wouldn't be there. Luckily there not too worried about the live pictures, they mostly hired me to take band photos for their cd cover. I just went down to shoot them so I could get an idea of their band and what they wanted to do for the photos next weekend.

 

[TheGreatGonzo]

Kill me now..........

Oh wait! Was that just a figure of speech?!? Errrrr...whatever you do, wait just a little while before you start your car. I need to take care of something...
Gonzo

 

[gsgary]

yea, I don't think I did a very good job of explaining it last night. there was no actual stage, the band was on the ground and they had tables all the way up to the band, if you were sitting in the front you could pretty much just stand up and shake hands with the band members. There was no drummer, just guitar players lined up in a row right next to a wall with tv's going the whole time right next to their heads. The ceiling of the place was black and I couldn't bounce light off that at all, the ONLY place close to the band to put any type of light would have been on their side. I did manage to clamp a light on to a table for a few shots but it was so close that it really only lit 1 person and then cast their exact shadow on the wall behind them. The ONLY available light was a single lightbulb hanging directly over the singers head.

In that case walk away, if i go to shoot a band and there is no light i don't bother flash spoils band shots

 

[bruce282]

It could be worse. You could have been shooting the Lady GAGA concert in DC.

Check out the photo release.

http://images.tbd.com/entertainment/gaga-release.pdf

Bruce

 

[Davor]

Sounds almost like a nightmare, i hate going to shoots and not having things work out. Well next time its best to check out the place before hand to see if it would work out for you.

 

[e.rose]

It could be worse. You could have been shooting the Lady GAGA concert in DC.

Check out the photo release.

http://images.tbd.com/entertainment/gaga-release.pdf

Bruce

Ha, that's *awful*. What the hell would be the point of shooting?