Lieksa Brass Week 2008 photos

[Pekka]

I shot Lieksa Brass Week for the 6th time, and selected photo gallery is online at
http://www.lieksabrass.com/gallery/list.php?exhibition=61

With my "fixed" Mark III the shootings were a joy, results were sharp and low-noise, AF worked, no problems with gear at all.

Other issue altogether was fighting to get good photos in environment that does not look good. One stage was totally black with harsh colored lights, most of others were strongly backlit with dark room (big subject overexposure needed resulting to white BG), classrooms were full of abandoned furniture and junk, gym halls backlit, most indoor rooms with fluorescent lights which messed up WB.

I used Lightroom 1.4 for conversions. I like it a lot, but I still think Capture One does better conversions in terms of highlight color gradients and detail. Lightroom makes detail look "harsh" and "digital", same problem was apparent in RSE where LR algorithms have been originated from. Noise reduction (usually color NR at level 0-10) works nicely, in couple of photos I did NR with Neat Image Pro. Capture One has much better overall WB tool (the wheel), but IMO dark color control in LR is better.

Comments are most welcome.

PS. Lieksabrass.com server is sometimes quite slow - I'm moving it soon to another one.


Some shots I like:

1.
http://www.lieksabrass.com/gallery/photos_2008/small/LIEKSA_BRASS_WEEK_2008_PSS2834.jpg

2.
http://www.lieksabrass.com/gallery/photos_2008/small/LIEKSA_BRASS_WEEK_2008_PSS2149.jpg

3.
http://www.lieksabrass.com/gallery/photos_2008/small/LIEKSA_BRASS_WEEK_2008_PSS2298.jpg

4.
http://www.lieksabrass.com/gallery/photos_2008/small/LIEKSA_BRASS_WEEK_2008_PSS1891.jpg

5.
http://www.lieksabrass.com/gallery/photos_2008/small/LIEKSA_BRASS_WEEK_2008_PSS1290.jpg

6.
http://www.lieksabrass.com/gallery/photos_2008/small/LIEKSA_BRASS_WEEK_2008_PSS1142.jpg

7.
http://www.lieksabrass.com/gallery/photos_2008/small/LIEKSA_BRASS_WEEK_2008_PSS9859.jpg

8.
http://www.lieksabrass.com/gallery/photos_2008/small/LIEKSA_BRASS_WEEK_2008_PSS9220_2.jpg

[René Damkot]

#4 is very nice.
Crop in #7 is a bit odd.

I used Lightroom 1.4 for conversions. I like it a lot, but I still think Capture One does better conversions in terms of highlight color gradients and detail. Lightroom makes detail look "harsh" and "digital", same problem was apparent in RSE where LR algorithms have been originated from. Noise reduction (usually color NR at level 0-10) works nicely, in couple of photos I did NR with Neat Image Pro. Capture One has much better overall WB tool (the wheel), but IMO dark color control in LR is better.

Just in case you missed it; LR 2 is out, and colors have improved a lot...

Sharpening at high ISO still is pretty sucky however ;)

[Pekka]

None of the photos are cropped.... that's the way I like them :)

I knew about LR2 and thought it was still beta. Darn those upgrades are expensive :(

[DwightMcCann]

I think the first would be better slightly rotated clockwise. I find the blue colors very nice and the whole perspective thing excellent. I, too, love faces. Is the guy with short hair, glasses on the bass a friend? You got him twice. The whole set is such a relief from the usual rockers on here ... delicate, warm, friendly. I expect the concert was uplifting.