1100 Springs - I Hate Cowboy Hats!

[taygull]

OK,

I'll add the actual photos later but I wanted some feedback on the collage.

1100 Springs (the name comes from the slogan of a Texas Beer...Pearl Beer, land of 1100 Springs) is, I quote;

They are a little "Buck Ownes + Doug Sahm + Rolling Stones and Willie Nelson.

This group is becoming a top regional act. I shot them at Hanks on Friday night. I would not call this a very "photogenic" band, but I would like to shoot them in a better venue. The lights at Hanks are just horrible, the drummer has the bright blue light, the bass player (my left) has a hot red light, the other side of the stage a green light and the middle has kind of a yellow light. These guys did not move around much so I took about half the pics I would normally take.

OH and by the way...I HATE COWBOY HATS! The hat creates a shadow that is a nightmare to overcome.

I'm not quite done yet as I'm waiting on the logo from Hanks. I'l probably tweek things a little more to get the cut out lead singer/guitar to stand out a little better. We are staying with the Texas Flag Background as the venue likes it because it fits the "theme". I did reduce the opacity to about 60%.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/3797/1100collageweb8uf.jpg

[DwightMcCann]

I think the overall montage is very good ... just the difficult colors causing the problems ... and, if they are going to go with all these funny gels you can't even adjust for it with CWB or anything else. However, I am pleased to see that this collage business is winner.

[taygull]

I think the overall montage is very good ... just the difficult colors causing the problems ... and, if they are going to go with all these funny gels you can't even adjust for it with CWB or anything else. However, I am pleased to see that this collage business is winner.

This would be a good example of why to shoot in RAW. I tried setting my WB to 2800 (that was as low as the camera would go), but I guess I did something wrong because none of them came out that way. I guess I should have paid closer attention to the histogram.

So when I open these in RawShooter Essentials I take the "Color Tempature" from about 5700 all the way down to 1800! If I don't the crazy colors are so bad the shots are terrible!

I almost thought of doing them all in Black & White because they really come out much better.

Thanks Dwight...does the "cut out" do it for you?

[DwightMcCann]

I like the cutout and I like the flag ... I think you do great work! :-)

[taygull]

I like the cutout and I like the flag ... I think you do great work! :-)

Now I just need to get "better clients" so I can upgrade my body. I'd love to see some of the shots using just a bit better gear.

Thanks

[DwightMcCann]

You may be disappointed at how little "better gear" can improve on what you are doing. The kinds of constraints you now have almost lend themselves to the smaller camera body of the 20D and the 1.6 crop factor. The 1DMIIs I have are heavy, but their big benefits, fast frame rate and spot metering, wouldn't help you much. Maybe you should get a Nifty 50 but other than that you need experience and to save your pennies for a few months. Keep chanting: "Faster primes, faster primes, faster primes". :-)

[zacker]

i think it looks really, really good.. if anything, it showes youve got a really great imagination... good job!
-zacker-

[taygull]

i think it looks really, really good.. if anything, it showes youve got a really great imagination... good job!
-zacker-


Thanks....I wish I could buy bread with that "great imagination"!:lol:

[René Damkot]

My only gripe is the 'cutout' and 'stage total' are overexposed. And personally I would add a little vignetting to the lower three and top left smaller images, to make the BG less distracting / guide the eye of the viewer.
I don't know if I'ld put the 'eleven hundred springs' logo in a straight black oval. Maybe cut it out as well, and give it a little drop shadow?
All small things though: Overall it's nice.

[zacker]

Thanks....I wish I could buy bread with that "great imagination"!:lol:

lol tell me... oh well, its the love of the game.. aint it?
good job anyway! hey, I say, once you do get paid, by yourself a Cowboy hat!
That'll show em!
-zacker-

[taygull]

lol tell me... oh well, its the love of the game.. aint it?
good job anyway! hey, I say, once you do get paid, by yourself a Cowboy hat!
That'll show em!
-zacker-

OH I've got one..heck I've got several!

THE CHICKS DIG'EM!

[taygull]

My only gripe is the 'cutout' and 'stage total' are overexposed. And personally I would add a little vignetting to the lower three and top left smaller images, to make the BG less distracting / guide the eye of the viewer.
I don't know if I'ld put the 'eleven hundred springs' logo in a straight black oval. Maybe cut it out as well, and give it a little drop shadow?
All small things though: Overall it's nice.

So you are saying get rid of the square border, feather the edges with an oval of the small pictures? I wondered if anyone would say anything about being overexposed. I thought they were a touch myself. On the cutout I kinda wanted the look of a hot spot light....I need to find a "can" that I could put next to him and add a light effect that looks like a spotlight...that would be cool.

Also the logo is actually a sticker on the drum kit, I'll try and cut it closer to the edges...you may notice there are no clean edges to cut around..making it tough for this rookie PS user.

I was playing with the dodge/burn tool along with the Mask and just could not figure it out. It seemed I would darken the highlights but it would be on the main picture and not on the mask even though I had the mask selected in the layers pallete???? Any idea what I was doing wrong?

Thanks!

[René Damkot]

So you are saying get rid of the square border, feather the edges with an oval of the small pictures?

No, I'm saying get rid of the oval, and cut out the logo. I like the pictures just fine framed like they are.
Using the magic wand should probabely do nicely to select the black (un-check 'contigious', try a setting like '10' for tolerance). Maybe smooth selection, feather a bit, add drop shadow, ready.


Also the logo is actually a sticker on the drum kit, I'll try and cut it closer to the edges...you may notice there are no clean edges to cut around..making it tough for this rookie PS user.

See above. If this doesn't work, you can allways mail it to me, I'll mail it back masked ;)

I was playing with the dodge/burn tool along with the Mask and just could not figure it out. It seemed I would darken the highlights but it would be on the main picture and not on the mask even though I had the mask selected in the layers pallete???? Any idea what I was doing wrong?

Thanks!
No idea, I never use dodge / burn myself. I do use levels on masks, and they do work on the mask, so I'ld suspect dodge/burn would have been the same? Hold on.
Yep tried it, works for me. Are you sure you're not seeing the effects of the mask being dodged/burned instead of the layer? Alt-clicking the mask gives you a b/w view of the mask, ,so it's easier to see what's happening.

[taygull]

Rene' thanks for the input, I'll tinker with some of this stuff tonight.