Marco Antonio Solis at the Chumash Casino Resort [Large Images Warning]

[DwightMcCann]

I shot Marco Antonio Solis last week at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California. Since we don't seem to have many Mexican or Latin nationals here very few of you will have heard of him, but he is very, very popular with Spanish speakers in the Americas. The entire performance, which was exceptional and long, was in Spanish and I understood approximately three words in about two hours ... but he is such a marvelous singer, showman and entertainer I never noticed that I didn't understand! :oops: And the audience, most of whom were Latin, absolutely adored him and seemed much more cohesive than the usual white audiences ... the men sang along quite as much as the women and while he clearly played to the women (he is one sexy guy!), both men and women packed up to the front of the stage when released near the end. Two women were hoisted to the stage by their friends, got a hug and were whisked away by security. This was the first world class performer in almost a year that I have been shooting at the casino to get two encores.

So, without further ado, here are images starting with the collage:

http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/ChumashCollages/MarcosAntonioSolisCollage-1000.jpg


http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/MarcoAntonioSolis11172005/MAS4057-1000.JPG


http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/MarcoAntonioSolis11172005/MAS4063-1000.JPG


The following was shot with my 300mm f2.8L IS with 1.4 TC handheld from the floor in front of stage left:

http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/MarcoAntonioSolis11172005/MAS4360-1000.JPG


Another of the four dancing girls who came out four times in different costumes:

http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/MarcoAntonioSolis11172005/MAS4307-1000.JPG


And another of the whole stage:

http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/MarcoAntonioSolis11172005/MAS4484-1000.JPG


There are several more on my website at http://www.dwightmccann.com/ChumashCasinoResort/MarcoAntonioSolis11172005.htm for your viewing pleasure.

Oh, there were two video cameramen on the stage the entire time since part of the performance was a large screen (can be seen in the upper left image in the collage) with live video from the two cameras interspersed with prerecorded material. And at one point there was a prerecorded video with perfect sync with the live performance ... thought it might have been him lip sync'ing to the tune but I watched very carefully and looked for a transition and never saw a thing ... absolutely first class!

[skn]

fantastic shots! they're so clear and have wonderful colours. looks like an amazing night :)

[BottomBracket]

Dwight, these are really crisp shots. Are you leaning towards your primes now? I wonder why the lady has horns.

[DwightMcCann]

The lady has horns because she and her three friends are little devils! She also has a tail ... didn't you go to my website to see them all ... tsk, tsk! So, here's the explanatory shot that was there all along! :-)

http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/MarcoAntonioSolis11172005/MAS4392-1000.JPG

Oh, I love my 300mm f2.8 and while I prefer primes and will continue to add to my collection I often find that they aren't flexible enough ... but i have all the zooms I will need for a long time so I'm safe.

[Tlee05]

Shes horny!, :D I really like the 2nd image really sharp saying that they are all sharp keep it up dwight, I love looking at your images but i can't say that much towards them as i have not really done concert photograph yet, Well once but thats it,

[elTwitcho]

Wow Dwight, the shots of Mr Solis are pretty damn good but compared to such interesting subjects as those ladies... well you can figure where my attention went ;)

LOVE the first shot with the devil horns and cleavage, nicely framed and very alluring.

[DwightMcCann]

Hey, Twitchy, watch it or I'll be forced to post these in Glamour! :-) They were thinking of you, too! :-) I meant to post this to you earlier:

http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/MarcoAntonioSolis11172005/MAS4184-1000.JPG

[DwightMcCann]

Heard that Marco Antonio Solis will be coming back to the casino in the Fall! :-)

http://www.dwightmccann.com/Images/MarcoAntonioSolis11172005/MAS4121-1000.JPG

[René Damkot]

Nice collage! Classy.
On the shots of Marco Antonio Solis: The other ones in the collage I like better then the ones you posted large: The BG is *very* distracting, specially on the first (Bass player). Guess that goes with a big number of band members, even on a big stage.
The 'devil' is nice, as well as the total stage shot (the one in the collage, also posted last)
Like the crop of the dancer in the collage: Good you (almost) got rid of the guitarist. Leaves us with the drummer . . .
The 'another of the whole stage': What lens? Quite heavy flare / diaphragm rings..
Enough nitpickin' from my side. I have a few shoots in the pipeline at the moment (in fact, that's why I'm still awake & behind the Mac), to get picked on in turn ;)

[DwightMcCann]

Rene, thanks! Yes, the stage was FULL of people! I liked it. Sometimes it is nice to have "stuff" in the background. As for the flare, I expect that was the 70-200mm f/2.8 but without access to the EXIF here at work I am not sure. It was a fun performance to shoot with limited restrictions. I will watch for your thread.

[mijbril]

I don't speak much Spanish (just 1 silly phrase), but I'd probably go see this guy play merely on the strength of your work Dwight!!!!

[DwightMcCann]

I don't speak much Spanish (just 1 silly phrase), but I'd probably go see this guy play merely on the strength of your work Dwight!!!!

You live in Australia and don't speak Spanish? :( Well, I don't speak it either but their performance was spectacular and I am anxious for him to come back. The casino has come to the realization that the Latin performances sell out immediately and the people tend to spend more money at the tables on those nights, too, so they are dramatically increasing the number of Latin performers. I enjoy it. And I rarely need to put in my earplugs. :-)

[Jcharro]

Kick ass Style, You make people want to go see and hear him just with the imagination of your Pictures. The Top Picture makes an awesome CD cover for his Live CD album or DVD. You got every shot Mr. McCann!

[DwightMcCann]

Kick ass Style,I will just assume that is a compliment! ;)

You make people want to go see and hear him just with the imagination of your Pictures. The Top Picture makes an awesome CD cover for his Live CD album or DVD. You got every shot Mr. McCann!

Thanks, again. A couple of things, in case you are a Latin fan. First, he will be coming back again in the Fall. Second, I recently did a concert of Juanes: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=137139&highlight=Juanes. And I more recently shot Pepe Aguilar whose images are in my workflow pipeline and will show up here on POTN probably this weekend.

Marco was superb! One of the classiest acts we've had. I am insisting my wife attend at his next concert. :-)

[Brad_T]

I really like the definition and colour of the guitar in the second image. I agree with rene about the backgrounds being distracting on the first couple. Do you ever clone things out? (The bit of the bass player in the 2nd would be an easy removal for eg). Wide angle stage shots are something that I am very much still working on and yours always look great! Any suggestions for these? My biggest problem is getting the exposure correct (half the people end up in shadow and half blown out), and if there is not much light 9/10 I am off with the focus point aswell. What lens do you use for yours (not that I am likely to be able to afford it).

[DwightMcCann]

Brad, I do occasionally clone things out, but I avoid more than waterbottles, white towels and blemishes on ladies as these are sometimes used for photojournalistic purposes and the media is quite particular about those kinds of enhancements. If my client or the artist requested something I would gladly do it and keep the images separate.

As for wide/full stage shots, I use either 24-70mm f/2.8 close up in front, rarely 16-35mm f/2.8 from the side, but mostly 70-200mm f/2.8 (usually near 70-100mm) back at the lightboard. My light is generally very good with the headliners evenly lighted even if there are several (didn't happen with UB40 unfortunately). If there is someone "in the dark" I will sometimes do selective levels just on them or just on their face. I also work at a great advantage because I can spot meter on their faces and I am currently shooting five bracketed exposures per image ... ain't 1DMark II's wonderful! :-)

[kmb]

My biggest problem is getting the exposure correct (half the people end up in shadow and half blown out)

If you suspect this will happen, shoot RAW and do two separate conversions, you'll get typically 1 stop more elbowing space at the bright end (that is, it would be clipped in JPG). So you do two raw conversions, one with good overall lighing but some parts blown out and one where the blown out parts are "recovered" (e.g. negative post EC). Then you put them in a single image as two layers, the darker on top of the lighter, put a "hide all" mask to the darker layer and paint the mask where the highlights are blown out in the underlying layer.

[DwightMcCann]

kmb, thanks, grand idea. I do not yet shoot RAW. But there is a constant pressure of suggestion that I should and not being one to believe I am right in the face of overwhelming opinion to the contrary (well, that may not be precisely true!) I am slowly evolving my workflow in that direction, but I am old and slow in changing ... I don't generally get majorly excited and spend night and day getting into something new. Last night I finally downloaded RAW Shooter Premium for which I have owned a key for six months or so. I may finally shoot some RAW images this weekend and just to see how it works. I am in the same boat with Photoshop. I currently do everything in PhotoImpact but really need to convert over (I own Adobe Studio or whatever it is called that included PS CS) so that I can take advantage of all the advice and actions and plugins that are available ... I just have so many irons in the fire all the time that it is hard to make the time.

So, back to your suggestion, it reminds me of the HDR approach but using a single, multiply processed frame. For this particular problem of Brad's I still think it might be more efficient to do feathered selections and apply levels.

[René Damkot]

For this particular problem of Brad's I still think it might be more efficient to do feathered selections and apply levels.

Except that raw offers you more leeway: about 1/2 a stop over to 1 1/2 stops under exposure is correctable quite nicely. In a jpg blown out ereas are gone forever, and anything underexposed severely might as well be gone as well...

This was shot Raw. Then 'developed' twice: Once for the phones screen, once for the rest basically. The guy is pulled up about 1 1/2 stop, the screen is about 0.
http://www.moonglade.net/~rene/060210Anatolie/source/image/rhd20060210anat0169.jpg

With a jpg, I think it wouldn't have been possible to brighten the guy as much without severe lowering the IQ.

[DwightMcCann]

First, my method's goal is not perfection or optimality but time efficiency.

Second, UNCLE! I am moving toward RAW. Don't keep beating me in the head when I am already moving in the desired direction. But if RAW does not solve all the problems in the known universe, given the level of constant harping and nagging I have gotten, I am going to come after all of you individually and collectively! :evil: I will need the vacation to recover ... how's the weather these days in the Netherlands? :lol:

[René Damkot]

No beating in the head / nagging intended. Believe me, you'ld know for sure if it were ;)
Weather's good overhere (at the moment). :lol:

[kmb]

kmb, thanks, grand idea. I do not yet shoot RAW. But there is a constant pressure of suggestion that I should and not being one to believe I am right in the face of overwhelming opinion to the contrary (well, that may not be precisely true!) I am slowly evolving my workflow in that direction, but I am old and slow in changing ... I don't generally get majorly excited and spend night and day getting into something new.

Dwight, I understand what you mean. There are lots of different reasons why one might choose RAW or JPEG, it all depends on one's personal interests and goals, I'd guess. So I guess one might say RAW isn't the inherently better choice.

I shoot RAW because of the following reasons:
- I'm a perfectionist. I enjoy knowing that I work with the highest technical quality data I can (even though I might never see the difference!)
- I don't mind playing around with computer programs
- I have time to waste ;)
- I feel that achieving what I want is quicker with RAW because I'm so used to the adjustments I can do in the conversion stage.
- Sometimes I really do feel that I can achieve things that could not have been achieved with clipped images (that lack the extra stops of dynamic) or 8 bit per channel data and sometimes (after whatever adjustments I might do in PP) one would really see the difference. I have no idea how often this happens (as I don't do comparison with JPEG workflow) and how often correct exposure would've made the end result of JPEG workflow just as good.

Now, what I might suggest for somebody who likes the painlessness of JPEG images but might want to try RAW is this:
1. set up a workflow where you process all the RAW images to JPEG with one push of the button. Drink a cup of coffee while the computer is working.
2. Do whatever you've always done with the JPEG images
3. When/if you encounter an image where you find yourself thinking "this would be a truly excellent photo if only that red channel hadn't been clipped" or "I wish I had more data to work with in the dark end as I'd really like to bring up the performer's face" or something like that, go back to the raw converter and see if you can tweak the exposure compensation or whatever. Of course, you'll still have to learn all that raw-adjustment-stuff, but you at least have the option!

I have no idea whether that makes any sense since I've never tried it (I prefer adjusting images individually because of the reasons mentioned above), so take this suggestion with a grain of salt.

[DwightMcCann]

No beating in the head / nagging intended. Believe me, you'ld know for sure if it were
I am just overly sensitive ... I started a thread on using Custom White Balance and all of the RAW bigots just wouldn't let go. I paid a lot of money to get that DIGIC II processor and if my clients are happy with my result then I don't need RAW.

OTOH, I have HUGE respect for you and rutt and several of the other shooters here who have stated unequivocally that it is superior use of the technology so I am devoting as much personal resource to learning its use as I have to spare. It is ONLY because I value your expertise and experience that I have any interest at all. ;)

[DwightMcCann]

I have no idea whether that makes any sense.

It all makes sense and as I said above I am actually moving in that direction ... I am just so busy all the time! And I have a tendency to bipolar disorder that makes me procrastinate about committing to anything in which there is a high likelihood of frustration so that I don't get trapped in cycle of desperation ... I spent four years on Prozac and would prefer not to go back (only because it takes a lot of the "Zing" out of life!) So, maybe occasionally asking how my RAW conversion is going over in my Q&A thread would be adequate! :(

[Digitalwave]

These are some of my favorites of your photos. I love the combo of the white and red light in the first 3 shots. The montage is one of your better ones as well.

[DwightMcCann]

T.J. Thanks! Lighting Directors make all the difference. I like this collage a lot, too. I try to do something different for each one, but no being a graphics person it is all hit or miss, sigh.

[Brad_T]

If you suspect this will happen, shoot RAW and do two separate conversions, you'll get typically 1 stop more elbowing space at the bright end (that is, it would be clipped in JPG). So you do two raw conversions, one with good overall lighing but some parts blown out and one where the blown out parts are "recovered" (e.g. negative post EC). Then you put them in a single image as two layers, the darker on top of the lighter, put a "hide all" mask to the darker layer and paint the mask where the highlights are blown out in the underlying layer.

Thanks for all the suggestions! Great idea - I do already shoot in raw and I have some shots at home from a couple of weeks ago so I will play around with this.

[Curtis N]

Shot #4 is cropped too tightly at the bottom. ;)

From the images alone, this really looks like a class act. Men in suits, women in different costumes. I often wish the "bar bands" that I occasionally shoot would take themselves seriously enough to dress the part.

Thanks for sharing your usual excellent work!

I look forward to your thoughts after you do your first show in RAW. I'll keep my opinions to myself for now. ;)

[DwightMcCann]

Curtis, yes, cropped too tightly ... I had no idea what was in the show so I was totally unprepared for the girls when they came flouncing out. I think I had my 300mm f/2.8, maybe with 1.4TC, shooting Marco, then suddenly this line of devilettes. I just shot everything I could. :-)

Yes, we'll see about RAW. I may do the Cinco de Mayo performance with one camera RAW or both RAW+L so I have something to get my feet wet.