Robert Pollard @ the Paradise 21APR06

[narlus]

i'm a bit new to the (D)SLR game, having gotten my 350D for xmas last year, but i've always been a big music fan (both recorded and live), and i've carted my camera to a few shows now...here's the latest. sorry for the rather large image size. i'm very new to the RAW/pp world too, and have just really started some rudimentary things. anyway, here are some of the better ones; any comments are appreciated!

btw, i used my 50mm f/1.8 for all these (mostly wide open), ISO1600

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7776/RDavies1.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2766/RDavies2.jpg
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2066/RdaviesGTR.jpg
onto the main event...reverend bob, addressing his flock:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8928/BPhand.jpg
instantly identifiable Bob face:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8172/BPface.jpg
there was beer served (none of the cig or tequila shots came out well):
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/120/bpbeer.jpg
taking a short break:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/4488/TKsitting.jpg
the man behind the kit (was tough to get a good shot of him from my vantage...his cymbal was in the way a lot of the time):
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2525/jw.jpg
my attempt at an arty shot, somewhat sabotaged by that mic stand:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/639/gtrhead.jpg
arty shot, pt2...TK stretches out:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7342/TKbw.jpg
the man w/ the SG:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/2846/TK.jpg
disco ball in the house:
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5270/bobhand.jpg

[DwightMcCann]

Welcome to POTN. These are pretty nice for the amount of light. I would expect that you could get a bit more out of the images with the right PP, but the captures are really good. I'm sure one of the RAW fanatics will be along to give you some guidance or you can go to the post processing forum and do some searches ... the amount of help available here at POTN is virtually unlimited!

[subtle_spectre]

Welcome to POTN. I'm sure one of the RAW fanatics will be along to give you some guidance ... the amount of help available here at POTN is virtually unlimited!

Well...this may be an understatement! Welcome...nice pix!

[narlus]

thanks for the kind words! this is my 4th attempt at music club shots, and i was rather chuffed by how a few came out. maybe i'll toss a few of my other shots up later (re-sized to a more reasonable image size, sorry about breaking the 800 pixel rule...like an idiot i read the FAQ after posting. doh!)

[DwightMcCann]

Aha, too many kind words! Hmmmm, well, how about, "Use a tripod" ... nobody likes to hear that but I shoot with my 300mm f/2.8 on carbon fiber legs with Wimberley head when I have the time and it makes for amazing Live Performance shots. Also looks like some of your focus may be a touch off. OK, that's all I can find in "less than kind words" department. :-) Just keep coming back ... love all the shots even if they are terrible ... there is so much world out there and we have so little time to attend in person. :-)

[narlus]

a tripod's never gonna be an option for me...i'm jammed shoulder to shoulder w/ beer swilling punters, just no room for that sort of thing imo.

yeah, i hear you about the focus...i took a LOT of shots and a fair percentage were too soft if not outright throwaways...not sure what if anything i can reasonably do about this...the lens (50mm) certainly doesn't have the nice USM focusing ability of my 70-200, and w/ the predominantly dark subject and backgrounds, maybe it's hunting around. the view through the viewfinder's a bit dark as well, so manual focusing is probably not all that much better an option. would be interested to hear people's opinions.

[DwightMcCann]

beer swilling punters

ROFLMAO! I understand ... I have a similar but less impactful problem at my "saloon" venue. But the last concert they had moved the Bull (you know, one of those mechanical beasts that throw you on the floor) and there was a little space left over so I mounted up the 300mm (and added on a 2.0TC later) on the Wimberley and had a ball ... lots of motion blur and waiting for the exact right nanosecond when Rockie Lynne (country singer/songwrite) was still, but everything else was tack sharp.