Album/promo shoot

[pxl8]

Hi folks,

Yesterday I went along to shoot an album cover for the band I worked with back in December. We'd met up previously and discussed ideas, etc. and apart from being freezing cold things went smoothly. I actually ended up shooting mostly with my Sigma 150mm wide open but stuck the 50mm 1.4 on for a few shots.

Here's a few proofs...

http://www.shootingpixels.net/tbbproofs/images/img_6051.jpg
#1 Probably the cover shot

http://www.shootingpixels.net/tbbproofs/images/img_6218.jpg
#2 Promo stuff, did a shot of each of them up front.

http://www.shootingpixels.net/tbbproofs/images/img_6209.jpg
#3
http://www.shootingpixels.net/tbbproofs/images/img_5907.jpg
#4 Couple more promo shots

http://www.shootingpixels.net/tbbproofs/images/img_6277.jpg
#5 Jules, bass

http://www.shootingpixels.net/tbbproofs/images/img_6280.jpg
#6 Nick, guitar

http://www.shootingpixels.net/tbbproofs/images/img_6310.jpg
#7 Brian, banjo

http://www.shootingpixels.net/tbbproofs/images/img_6328.jpg
#8 Martin, dobro

[macobee]

i love em!
only no.2 doesnt do it for me as the others are toooo much out of focus, a bit less would be better i think.

very nice , i hope with lotsa learning that one day i can do this :)

[René Damkot]

#1 and 6 are very nice.
If #1 is the cover shot, I think I would remove the round sign behind the right guy. Also, if you happen to have an image where all are facing the camera, that might be better...

Not too happy with the cropping on #2: Too much of the subject cropped off IMO.
#5 needs a bit tighter crop, and straightening.

Overall #6 is best. Nothing to complain about in that one...


Well. maybe a bit of straightening as well ;)

[pxl8]

I forgot to mention, these are just proofs batch processed from the raw files after applying a basic appearance setting in RSP to all of them. I'll go back and process/tidy them up properly once the band have picked which ones they want out of the 450+ proofs.

There are variations on the cover shot, including shots where they all look to camera but the band felt they were too posed so we shot some of them walking towards camera chatting away.

#2 is a bit cropped - I was probably worrying too much about leaving space up top for text, etc. that needs inserting. Fortunately shots where they were all standing worked a bit better.

http://www.shootingpixels.net/tbbproofs/images/img_6222.jpg

[René Damkot]

On a side note: Why did you use the 150 over the 70-200? I'd think the bokeh on the zoom would have been nicer... Most noticable in the last shot, IMO the bokeh is a bit 'raw'.

[thelightofsound]

looks like some interesting pickers.

i like number 4 as a cover shot, only because i think the train tacks get a bit over done. the only issue there is that you can not see all of their faces. #6 is the best. it puts the originality back into the train tracks (and is sharp). #7 would be almost as good if he wasn't cleaning his banjo. i also like the dobro shot, but the focus seems to be on his shoes.

[pxl8]

On a side note: Why did you use the 150 over the 70-200? I'd think the bokeh on the zoom would have been nicer... Most noticable in the last shot, IMO the bokeh is a bit 'raw'.

Two reasons, poor light and I also found the 70-200 didn't give quite enough separation at 200 f4. By the end of the day I was shooting f2.8, 1/125s, ISO 1000 so it would have been a real struggle with the 70-200. I agree tho that the bokeh would have been better. It's not actually so bad on the original the jpeg compression on the web version is killing it :(

[René Damkot]

High iso is your friend ;)

[DwightMcCann]

I like 'em ... I'll probably copy a couple to my Ideas folder ... I am not very imaginative so these will help talking to my band about their Promo shots.

[kmb]

High iso is your friend ;)

Real Men do not use tripods? :D

[René Damkot]

Tripod, or at least monopod, would be obligatory, but would not stop subject motion ;)

[kmb]

Tripod, or at least monopod, would be obligatory, but would not stop subject motion ;)

You can typically stop subject's motion with a monopod or tripod, but you'll probably get sued by the subject, and have to pay at least the hospital bill.

:p

Edit: please excuse my sense of humor, I'm Finnish.

[pxl8]

Note, my previous post had a typo which I've now corrected - I was shooting at ISO 1000 and not 100 as it originally said.

I did have a tripod with me but I dislike using it as I am constantly moving about checking and trying different angles. I know I should use it more and I guess I should force myself to use it for an entire shoot sometime in order to learn a little respect for what it can do for me.

Dwight, happy to hear my shots made it to your ideas folder :)

The shots seem to have what, in the UK, we call the Marmite effect - you either love it or hate it but there's no middle ground. The band did have a very strong idea of what they wanted both for composition and look/feel. My job was to make that happen - to that end the client is very happy with the results so a job well done in my book.

[René Damkot]

I'm Finnish.
We won't hold it against you :lol:

[Ballen Photo]

These look very good, and I like # 4 where they're on the train.
I see you're in The UK, so I'm not sure if this thought is right over there, but in The US these image's would imply "Blue Grass" music. You folks might have another name for it over there. ;)
-Bruce

[pxl8]

Bruce,

it's bluegrass over here too, in fact the band's name is the Thunderbridge Bluegrass Boys ;)

[Ballen Photo]

Bruce,

it's bluegrass over here too, in fact the band's name is the Thunderbridge Bluegrass Boys ;)Then the image's work real well. :cool:
-Bruce

[MagicallyDelicious]

Nice. I like em.

Love the location!

[gcobb]

The individuals are better than the groups I think. In #1 I'd have had the guy on the right a little closer to the other two. The sign behind his head is distracting. In #4 I think I'd have kept the same setting but caught them looking at least in the direction of the camera. Yeah, the singles look really good after looking again!

[Shutter22]

I really love these shots. They all scream bluegrass. #4 is my favorite group shot. I don't like how the others have them in the background. Maybe if we could make out a little detail, but it's not working for me.

My favorite overall is #5. It's really beautiful. I'd actually love to make it my background. I'm a string player as well and it's probably one of my all time favorites. Don't crop it. It's perfect.