'The Bon Jovi Experience' 29/4/6

[RichardtheSane]

OK, Ths is my first post in this forum, and the first gig I have photographed in nearly two years - so go easy :)

The band are a tribute to Bon Jovi and they call themselves 'he Bon Jovi Experience' - made up of 4 members from a sucessful tribute called 'By Jovi' they have a lot of experience in what they do. They put on an amazing set and truly sounded great.

My show? Well the venue was small but nicely lit - no harsh backlighting going on which pleased me greatly. I did find that using the 50mm F1.4 I was still struggling for space because the stage was that close.

And I got hit by the Lexar 80x curse :( I have not used the card for ages but picked it up by mistake today, so I have a total of 8 shots from the gig out of about 60. Ar*se.

Here are a few
#1
http://www.lindleypetphotography.co.uk/galleries/bonjoviexperience/060429_IMG_24401.jpg

#2
http://www.lindleypetphotography.co.uk/galleries/bonjoviexperience/060429_IMG_24411.jpg

#3
http://www.lindleypetphotography.co.uk/galleries/bonjoviexperience/060429_IMG_24491.jpg

#4
http://www.lindleypetphotography.co.uk/galleries/bonjoviexperience/060429_IMG_24371.jpg

#5
http://www.lindleypetphotography.co.uk/galleries/bonjoviexperience/060429_IMG_24531.jpg

I used the 20D @ISO1600 and the 50mm F1.4. No flash.
Next time I think I'll pop my 10-22 in my pocket so I can get a wider view for a couple of shots

C&C welcome - I've got a few more gigs coming up in the summer!

[kmb]

Hello, and welcome to the performing arts -section :)

Nice pictures, I like #1 and #3 the best.

in #2 the singer has a bit silly expression, which is not uncommon when shooting singers in the middle of singing :).

In post processing, I'd darken the background in #1 and #2, as it is a bit distracting for me personally. It does not jump at you, but I like to simplify my concert pictures by gently guiding the attention to the performer(s). In practice I use Photoshop's Curves adjustment layer to darken the background (hide all -mask, then paint the mask over the performer, perhaps heavyish gausian blur afterwards).

in #3, I'd use curves to remove the blue cast - that would make the blacks black so to speak and add punch to the picture.

In #4, there is a nasty shadow from the microphone, one of the many things one has to learn to avoid when shooting concerts. I'm still learning myself, and I'm happy to have noticed that as some of the things that I need to take into account become more and more automatic, I have more free brain capacity to take into account more of the aspects that would distract in the picture I'm about to take.

in #5, I'd try a "digital n-grad filter" - that is, I'd try to lighten the performer's head a bit.

Why not take the 85/1.8 as well with you next time?

Anyways, thanks for sharing, please post more :)

[DwightMcCann]

They look a little dark to me but in such a venue lighting is never optimal. I also shoot in a venue with very bright and distracting background (as well as a perfectly lighted venue) ... I try to shoot wide open to blur it as much as possible. Concert photography is tough.

[narlus]

Why not take the 85/1.8 as well with you next time?


i was toying w/ the idea of getting that lens to augment concert shots, if i'm not as close as i'd like (the 1.6 crop of my rebXT helps in that regard and the 50mm 1.8 has been fine so far).

i like #4 the best, despite the mic shadow.