Photoshoot with an incredible musician

[sam_justice]

This is Chris Simmons Chris Simmons on Myspace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads, he's an incredible musician and I really wanted to do a shoot with him. We managed to bag a hotel lobby room for a shoot but due to unforeseen circumstances we couldn't make it there so instead went to the beach at night to take some. The wind was extremely strong so that was out the way as my shoot through was almost mid flight. Instead we found a pretty uninspiring garage door next to a cafe but the colours worked well.
He wanted some contrasty images so I set the flash to quite a low power (although only realised half way through the shoot I hadn't changed my iso and was at 3200 d'oh! Thanks to Lightroom it was recoverable!)

These are the shots so far, there are more coming but I wanted to share the ones so far

If anyone's wondering what the poses are I asked him to do the Zack Arias gospel clap and he did some funky dancing.

 

[Sisco]

Is this with on camera flash only? The shadows are really super pronounced on his face.The crops in 2 and 3 are odd, just me.
They all have that band of light wood going through his head?


If I were Chris, I would really love another try at this one, in the daylight, or with way more fill flash.

 

[sam_justice]

Is this with on camera flash only? The shadows are really super pronounced on his face.The crops in 2 and 3 are odd, just me.
They all have that band of light wood going through his head?


If I were Chris, I would really love another try at this one, in the daylight, or with way more fill flash.

Shoot through to the left, read the first post ^^ but thanks for making me aware of the piece of wood, I hadn't really noticed it myself.

 

[Derrel]

You didn't notice that blonde stripe running across the entire frame, right behind the dude's head level???? When did you not notice that? During the shoot? During the post processing of these shots? Also, check your ISO before any important shoots...then re-check it.

 

[sam_justice]

You didn't notice that blonde stripe running across the entire frame, right behind the dude's head level???? When did you not notice that? During the shoot? During the post processing of these shots? Also, check your ISO before any important shoots...then re-check it.

We only had 40 minutes to shoot so I was in such a rush, such a rookie error though it's very embarassing.

Anyway, got rid of the wooden beam (here's some more)

 

[Derrel]

Well, yeah, it was rookie mistake,and you came right out and said it,in plain English, and owned up to it like a man. That shows a positive, self-confident attitude, and speaks volumes more about your character than today's much more common excuse-making. I commend you for your willingness to reply matter-of-factly, without deflection. Kudos.

Anyway...background control is what this type of session is all about; there are only two elements in these series. 1) the background and 2) the man. You do not even have a single, solitary prop, but merely his gesturing. This is as BARE-bones as it gets,you know?

So, there was one really good,valuable learning lesson in this session. Well, make that two valuable lessons: at the shooting stage check background for background flaws/distractions and check ISO religiously.

Moving on....that single blonde stripe of wood: One possibility would been to have shot this with him 30 feet in front of the wood door, using a 200mm setting, and throwing the entire background out of focus, and using the enlarged blonde stripe running across the background (enlarged, due to the long lens focal length) as a single, solitary "stripe" of color.

Anyway...there's always something to be learned from assignments like this. The failures are as important a teaching tool as the successes--perhaps more so.

 

[sam_justice]

Well, yeah, it was rookie mistake,and you came right out and said it,in plain English, and owned up to it like a man. That shows a positive, self-confident attitude, and speaks volumes more about your character than today's much more common excuse-making. I commend you for your willingness to reply matter-of-factly, without deflection. Kudos.

Anyway...background control is what this type of session is all about; there are only two elements in these series. 1) the background and 2) the man. You do not even have a single, solitary prop, but merely his gesturing. This is as BARE-bones as it gets,you know?

So, there was one really good,valuable learning lesson in this session. Well, make that two valuable lessons: at the shooting stage check background for background flaws/distractions and check ISO religiously.

Moving on....that single blonde stripe of wood: One possibility would been to have shot this with him 30 feet in front of the wood door, using a 200mm setting, and throwing the entire background out of focus, and using the enlarged blonde stripe running across the background (enlarged, due to the long lens focal length) as a single, solitary "stripe" of color.

Anyway...there's always something to be learned from assignments like this. The failures are as important a teaching tool as the successes--perhaps more so.

Thanks Derrel, I completely agree with your statements and I'm not one to make excuses. If I suck at something I come clean! Life is one giant learning curve.

Moving on....that single blonde stripe of wood: One possibility would been to have shot this with him 30 feet in front of the wood door, using a 200mm setting, and throwing the entire background out of focus, and using the enlarged blonde stripe running across the background (enlarged, due to the long lens focal length) as a single, solitary "stripe" of color.

I was thinking of doing this, the only thing that put me off (due to time) was the fact that there was next to no light at all and so the camera would have a hard time focusing in on the subject.

What do you think of this one?

I think it's my favourite personally, it has a lot of attitude to it.

 

[Derrel]

I only wish it had been framed as a vertical...

 

[sam_justice]

I only wish it had been framed as a vertical...

I'll keep that in mind for next time! But aside from that does it get the Derrel seal of approval?

 

[Derrel]

I only wish it had been framed as a vertical...

I'll keep that in mind for next time! But aside from that does it gets the Derrel seal of approval?

Your own seal of approval is more important. How do YOU like the photo? Is it everything you wanted it to be? Are the highlights exactly what you wanted? Are the shadows placed the way you wanted them to be? Is it "mysterious" or "edgy" enough for you? Is the final post-processing 100 percent to your liking? Does your image meet your desires and expectations? Does the image fulfill its intended use? Is this for his promotional use? Does this image of the ertist "match" his kind of music?

Maybe you should look at the entire session in a month, and then again in six months or one year's time. See if it meets your standards then, the way it does now.

I'm just trying to facilitate learning here, for you, since you seem to be very interested in learning how to improve your craft.

 

[Sisco]

Shoot through to the left, read the first post ^^ but thanks for making me aware of the piece of wood, I hadn't really noticed it myself.

You simply stated that you turned the flash to low power I always read the posts through.

I like the head shot of the last post, but agree about the framing.

 

[sam_justice]

I only wish it had been framed as a vertical...

I'll keep that in mind for next time! But aside from that does it gets the Derrel seal of approval?

Your own seal of approval is more important. How do YOU like the photo? Is it everything you wanted it to be? Are the highlights exactly what you wanted? Are the shadows placed the way you wanted them to be? Is it "mysterious" or "edgy" enough for you? Is the final post-processing 100 percent to your liking? Does your image meet your desires and expectations? Does the image fulfill its intended use? Is this for his promotional use? Does this image of the ertist "match" his kind of music?

Maybe you should look at the entire session in a month, and then again in six months or one year's time. See if it meets your standards then, the way it does now.

I'm just trying to facilitate learning here, for you, since you seem to be very interested in learning how to improve your craft.

Lighting wise I like the contrast, I think the lighting is good and I love the subtle catchlight. The post processing I think is well done, not overdone but brings out the pop in the composition. Saying that, I do have some criticisms as well. Personally, the image doesn't match the artists style of music, but the artist specifically asked that we take some shots with some attitude which is exactly what this is.
I'm toying with the fact that the background is in focus, one part of me is saying I'm glad it's there since it shows it's an environmental shot and not a studio shot. The other part is saying it might be a bit distracting, but since the subject has such a strong pose and an interesting light hitting him it takes the attention away from the background.

 

[sam_justice]

Shoot through to the left, read the first post ^^ but thanks for making me aware of the piece of wood, I hadn't really noticed it myself.

You simply stated that you turned the flash to low power I always read the posts through.

I like the head shot of the last post, but agree about the framing.

Sorry I re-read that and it sounded really cold, I didn't mean it to!

 

[Sisco]

Lol.no worries Sam.look forward to more of your sessions.( with Lights!):mrgreen:

 

[sam_justice]

posted a blog post on this, check it out Shoot with Chris Simmons