Ensiferum & Exsecratus @ Lutakko, Jyväskylä, Finland

[kmb]

Some heavy metal from Finland, again.

The supporting act, Exsecratus:

#1
http://kuvat.huumakuva.net/albums/userpics/10002/_MG_3792.jpg

#2
http://kuvat.huumakuva.net/albums/userpics/10002/_MG_3668.jpg

#3
http://kuvat.huumakuva.net/albums/userpics/10002/_MG_3689.jpg

#4
http://kuvat.huumakuva.net/albums/userpics/10002/_MG_3751.jpg

The main act, Ensiferum:

#5
http://kuvat.huumakuva.net/albums/userpics/10002/_MG_3978.jpg

#6
http://kuvat.huumakuva.net/albums/userpics/10002/_MG_3937.jpg

#7
http://kuvat.huumakuva.net/albums/userpics/10002/_MG_4028.jpg

[Eyelikedurt]

Great images. sharp. Bright (where they should be).

Ask me if im jealous.


:(

[livewire-photography.com]

Cant really pick a fav theyre all so darn good.
such good quality, Colors are superb.
Nicely done.

[livewire-photography.com]

was this on your 5D? and also the lights look like they are perfect.

[kmb]

was this on your 5D? and also the lights look like they are perfect.

Yup, 5D. Lights were good (as usual, the bands had their own lighting engineer there, and there are some new LED-based lights at the venue). Although sometimes it felt like the lights were sort of too good, meaning that the softness almost took the edge off of the images. You don't want to have a fluffy feeling when viewing pictures of heavy metal. But softness does compliment the young woman singer of the opening act.

I do quite a bit work at post processing stage to get the colors I want, so just upgrading to 5D doesn't yield these colors.

[bmoguy]

Great set. I love those WA shots, makes them larger than life. #1 is cool too.

[livewire-photography.com]

Cheers Kalle, you are a fab photographer for sure. just wish we had clubs like that over here :-( lol.

[johnstoy]

OK, I had a second opportunity to check these out and, I'm sorry, but the half naked dudes just don't do it for me...The Girl in # 1 is beautiful, and pics # 4, 6 and 7 are best of the set...but the naked chests are just not hitting a home run for me...

[Metalphotographer]

Great shots. I'd love to see Ensiferium live. Perhaps they'll come to the states some time...

[NeverFollow]

Very Very sharp! Nice shots

[livewire-photography.com]

What Lense was used?

[kmb]

What Lense was used?

#1-#3, #5: Canon EF 35/1.4 L
#4, #6, #7: Canon 15/2.8 Fish Eye

[René Damkot]

I think you did a better job on the opening act then on the main. I like #5, pity about the guitar neck. #6 and 7, while technically good, I don't find all that exciting.
Best to me are #1, 3 and 4.
Some nitpickin':
On #1 I'd like to see a 2:3 ratio, but that's just me.
On #3 a bit more face and a quieter BG might have been nice, and on #4 it's a pity one musician is walking away.
Definately good images though.

[kmb]

I like #5, pity about the guitar neck.

I have the neck in my archives :). I sacrificed it for the sake of solid composition (althugh the choices was limited since there is no space above their heads in the original composition). I did not consider guitar neck in any way an important aspect in that image - the visual weight is in my opinion clearly elsewhere - much more so than in many other guitarist shots.

#6 and 7, while technically good, I don't find all that exciting.

I didn't find the show performance-wise all that exciting in it self, but that's not a very good excuse, there always is some angle, some composition, some way to create interesting images, I just fail to notice it. I am concentrated on capturing "moments", so when there are not all that many interesting moments on stage, I'm a bit lost.

Thanks for the analytical feedback :)

[livewire-photography.com]

KMB, it always helps if the subject is interesting, and not just stand there, im still amazed so to speak over the Color, its just so vibrant and well... Good really. lol

[Nick_b]

Ya, the colours are amazing! To be honest if there were one concert photographer I would like to copy it would be you! Luckily I get to try and copy all of you!

So... how did you learn to edit your photos? any books or tutorials that got you started?

[croslide]

I'm wondering. These clear images and color lighting. My favourite is all.....bat #3 is the best for me.

[DwightMcCann]

If there's one concert photographer I'd like to copy there are two and thank goodness they are foreign (or I am foreign ... whatever!) I agree the opening band is much more visually appealing and the images are significantly more interesting ... but you knew I'd feel that way. I agree with John that the main actors simply don't have the bodies to be shirtless and they are lucky I am not the talent buyer at Lutakko! So, was there a wind machine or was all the action just head waving?

[kmb]

Thanks for all the kind words :)

So... how did you learn to edit your photos? any books or tutorials that got you started?

Maybe I did exaggerate a bit before when I said I do "quite a bit" work - what I meant that just spending thousands of dollars to get a 5D might not be the answer. I typically spend around 15 min - 20 min per image adjusting them.

Here are some pointers and thoughts:
- I shoot RAW. This works for me because I can adjust WB, brightness, saturation and so on and see how those interact, rather easily. I do not know how to do this with JPG files, so I just shoot RAW (somebody who knows better will probably get equivalent results with JPGs - I have tried and I'm utterly helpless with JPGs, while I have seen wonderful results from people who know what they're doing when shooting JPG). Anyway, WB adjustment is not to be ignored.
- Be sure there is no channel clipping in the important parts of the image.
- Curves. And if adding contrast, compensate by lessening saturation (just adjusting curves might look terrible, but after saturation compensation it might look really cool.
- Selective saturation control. Select a color range and adjust saturation. This works well if the colored lights look nice (for instance, when they illuminate the smoke) but the performer's skin is too red. Be careful not to overdo this so that it does not look artificial.
- Local contrast enhancement: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/contrast-enhancement.shtml
- Diffuse glow: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/glow.shtml (this was used in the first pic of this thread)

I guess the most important thing is to learn how things interact. If you add heavy contrast (with curves, for instance), the colors will look really bad (way over-saturated), but when you lessen the saturation, the end result might look rather nice. Using adjustment layers in PS helps a great deal since you can experiment on the interaction of the adjustments.

[Eyelikedurt]

Cheers Kalle, you are a fab photographer for sure. just wish we had clubs like that over here :-( lol.


Heard of Rock City in Nottingham and The Corporation in Sheffield? They get some great gigs