First Gig Shots - St.Bride's Church, Liverpool, 3/11/07

[painter24]

My first real outing with the 40D(got it last Thursday), and my first gig shoot......scary:p. The gig was organised by my old friend and music colaborator here in Liverpool, and took place in an old church. My friend Joe, has been organising gigs of this type for years here in Liverpool, catering for acoustic singer/songwriters from all kinds of genres,......folk, bluegrass etc, which is how i met him, i used to get roped in to do the sound engineering.

The only lighting on stage came from 2 nasty halogen bulbs, mounted high up on the wall to my right, and a couple of smaller halogens behind the bands, which didn't give a very nice effect. What i've try to do in these pics is to add warmth via RAW processing in DPP, to maybe create the illusion of some red/orangey stagelights. Due to the lack of good light, these shots were shot at ISO 1000-1600, with the ESs 17-55 f2.8, so at times i really struggled to freeze motion, and/or get good exposure(i really didn't want to use flash. I felt, and so did Joe that it would inappropriate). Nevertheless, I think i gained valuable experience, and did thouroughly enjoy it:D. Anyway, here's a couple of shots.

1. Lee Brodderick
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/2761/dpp10011filteredzd5.jpg

2. Kathy Halton and Joe Keelan from "The Random Family"
http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/8738/dpp10020filteredls1.jpg

3. Rachael Wright
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/2489/dpp10006filteredvi4.jpg

4. Lee Brodderick (again)
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/5971/dpp10013filteredly0.jpg

Ofc, all c&c is most welcome, i'm eagre to learn.

Thanks for looking:)

[René Damkot]

Not bad considering what you had to work with...
Next time you might try to move to the other side of the stage, so the light is working as a backlight. Might look better...

Too much NR on the last I think.

[painter24]

Not bad considering what you had to work with...
Next time you might try to move to the other side of the stage, so the light is working as a backlight. Might look better...

Too much NR on the last I think.

Hi Rene, thanks for the feedback. I did try shooting from the other side, this is an example. I haven't got my hood for the 17-55 yet, do you think it would have made any difference here?

http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/4586/img0927ed2.jpg

And yep, you're probably right regarding the NR, i've only just starting with Noise Ninja, so i'm climbing that learning curve too:)
Thanka again Rene

[René Damkot]

Impressive flare ;)
Hood won't help if the light source is in the frame...
That being said: Using a hood is allways a good idea, if only for mechanical protection...

[painter24]

Impressive flare ;)
Hood won't help if the light source is in the frame...
That being said: Using a hood is allways a good idea, if only for mechanical protection...

Hehe, thanks Rene. With hindsight, i guess i could have framed the shot without the lights being actually in the frame.............doh!:oops:. We live and learn hey!, and yep, the hood's on the way:)

[muzzlightbeer]

Painter, those last shots - Rachel and Lee - what aperture were you using? I would've thought that at f2.8, the background would have been more blurred.

If you are already at f2.8, try getting in closer and use a shorter focal length. (That would have eliminated the mike stands in the Lee shot foreground too.)

Much better than my initial shots though, I must add. (Knowing the basics well, and applying them to this new technology is proving to be harder than I was expecting!)

[painter24]

Painter, those last shots - Rachel and Lee - what aperture were you using? I would've thought that at f2.8, the background would have been more blurred.

If you are already at f2.8, try getting in closer and use a shallower depth of field and shorter focal length. (That would have eliminated the mike stands in the Lee shot foreground too.)

Much better than my initial shots though, I must add. (Knowing the basics well, and applying them to this new technology is proving to be harder than I was expecting!)

Hi again Muzz, the one of Lee is f2.8, the one of Rachael is f4 (don't remember stopping down to f4, but that would explain the DOF. On Lee's pic though, the DOF is quite large considering it was f2.8. As for getting in closer, i wish i could have, but the whole stage area was surrounded by ornamental wood surround, so i would have actually had to have got on the stage with the guys to get in nearer:D.

But i know what you mean, the mic stands etc are an annoyance. The second shot of Lee is from the very side of the stage, and to my left there is a large pulpit, and right is where the wall started, so I had about a 2.5 foot gap to shoot from:D and again the surround, so finding ideal shooting spots was tricky. Next time i do this gig again in December, i'll see if i can use the pulpit to shoot from and hopefully will have a new lens to go beyond the current reach of the EFs17-55.

Thanks for your comments Muzz:)

[muzzlightbeer]

... i would have actually had to have got on the stage with the guys to get in nearer:D.
A guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.

A shorter focal length will give you a shorter depth of field. Think of it as a percentage thing. Get up close and personal. Musicians like getting their photos taken, but check it's OK first. (Allow them to choose some photos, their ego won't allow them to say no! :D ) Let them know that you're NOT using a flash.

And getting closer to Rachael or Kathy wouldn't be a bad thing, either. http://web.aanet.com.au/muzza/ofcstuff/wink2.gif

[painter24]

A guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do.

A shorter focal length will give you a shorter depth of field. Think of it as a percentage thing. Get up close and personal. Musicians like getting their photos taken, but check it's OK first. (Allow them to choose some photos, their ego won't allow them to say no! :D ) Let them know that you're NOT using a flash.

And getting closer to Rachael or Kathy wouldn't be a bad thing, either. http://web.aanet.com.au/muzza/ofcstuff/wink2.gif

:D thanks Buzz, yep, i'll trying getting in closer, and be a tad more cheeky, should be ok, i've known some of these guys for years now............ And getting closer to Rachael or Kathy wouldn't be a bad thing, either. http://web.aanet.com.au/muzza/ofcstuff/wink2.gif...................tell me about it, Kathy is an angel both voice-wise and as a person;)

[muzzlightbeer]

Buzz??

...'nuther suggestion - the shot of Kathy, try cropping it to landscape to just her and the guitarist. Gotta get closer to those eyes. Stunning girl.


(Listen to me, eh? Full of advice for others, but no decent shots to post myself. What's the saying? "those who can't do, teach!")

[painter24]

Buzz??

Lol, sorry Muzz, i've seen the film too many times with my son, and seeing Buzz's face next to your post doesn't help :D