Summit Ave at Bunkers (Minneapolis, MN)

[Mendal]

My friends band was playing thier final show on Sat. at Bunkers in Minneapolis. They played for 3hours and brought up several guests. Light was poor to say the least, but I think I was able to pull out a few decent shots.

Please C&C as I have not done much concert/nightclub shooting and would like to know where I can improve.

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/lj6vBt-g1oqWCl3gH8bqdQ?feat=directlinkhttp://lh6.ggpht.com/_LHShLGf8OyM/Sm2V6JZQAII/AAAAAAAADec/y6_-oXheJQk/s800/IMG_7288-edit01.JPG

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/8HwNJKawES7YUAYw0uce5g?feat=directlinkhttp://lh3.ggpht.com/_LHShLGf8OyM/Sm2V4JGFQCI/AAAAAAAADeU/WkWNhzc9-j8/s800/IMG_7191-edit01.JPG

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_LHShLGf8OyM/Sm2V-L-weJI/AAAAAAAADes/LS6eL3hNHak/s800/IMG_7389-edit01.JPG

Thanks

PS all shot with a Canon XSi and a Canon 24-70 2.8L

[Mendal]

No feed back at all? Bummer.

[René Damkot]

The PA forum seems a bit slow lately ;)

First is okay. Bit dark maybe, but I like the position of the guitar. Maybe crop a bit off top and right.

Second: Face & body are way underexposed. More then a stop.
Third: Cropped off the finger, and a lot of microphones in the way. Also, too much space at the top.

[Mendal]

First Thank you for the feed back!

I'm not really sure what more I could do to get better exposure, I would have to check the data to be sure, but I think I was shooting about 1/80th shutter at f2.8 and iso 800. I was shooting with my 24-70 and maybe that's not the best lens. What do people typically use for shooting in a bar?

I know the camera was barking (not literally) at me letting me know it was not setup right. I felt if I let the shutter get any slow then all I was getting was motion blur.

The mics were a problem for me for half the show they were down, but the band had some guest horns that the mics went up for and never got put back down. The Third photo was a guest rapping that I was waiting for but just in the totally wrong position.

Thanks for the tips

[René Damkot]

f/2.8 is right on the edge: Might be usable if you have enough light.
ISO 800: Same. Might be usable if you have enough light. In a low lit environment (bar) I'd rather use ISO 1600 or 3200.

I rather have noise then motion blur ;)

You can (partially) fix underexposure in the Raw converter (if you shoot Raw) or in other editing software (if you shoot jpg)

[Mendal]

Always shoot raw. Memory cards are so cheap, I would rather carry a pocket full and shoot raw then lose the flexibility with jpeg only.

So are you saying a prime with a f 2 or 1.4 would be better? or even the Nifty Fifty (f1.8)?

I thought at ISO 1600 or 3200 the noise would be almost unbearable. I guess I should have tried. What do people use to fix noise? I tried in DPP but it seemed like all it did was blur the photo...

[René Damkot]

What do people use to fix noise? I tried in DPP but it seemed like all it did was blur the photo...

I mostly do nothing. Sometimes I use Croma NR in LR (or DPP if I use that). Luminance NR tends to make a blurry mess out of things. So use it with caution.
(Not to say that the Croma NR in LR doesn't do the same sometimes :p)

Mostly, noise is *not* an issue unless you pixel-peep. Simple solution: Don't pixel Peep ;)

Here's some shots off an 1D2, ISO 1600 and 3200 underexposed by a stop and 3200 exposed right.

ISO1600 - 1EV (http://www.moonglade.net/rene/POTN/ISO1600_0EV.jpg)
ISO3200 0EV (http://www.moonglade.net/rene/POTN/ISO3200_0EV.jpg)
ISO 3200 -1EV (http://www.moonglade.net/rene/POTN/ISO3200-1EV.jpg)

All of these print out fine IMO without additional NR. Maybe the third needs a bit, but that depends on how "allergic" you are to noise: I've shot Tmax 3200 regularly, so I can stand a bit of noise ;)

With my 1D3, noise is not an issue at ISO 3200. I recently shot some shots at a Solomon Burke concert at ISO 6400. They turned out okay IMO. Thread here (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=728989), blogpost about previewing LR noise reduction here (http://www.getcolormanaged.com/general/lightroomforweb/).

On the lenses: Yeah, f/2 or f/1.4 is one ore two stops faster, so that helps obviously.

The Canon 50/1.4 (at least mine) is not very sharp wide open, and DoF is *very* thin. So it takes a bit of time to get to know the lens.

The 50/1.8 can be problematic focus wise: The focus sucked on my 10D. I later used the POTN Nifty and that was "so-so" on my 1D2.

[Mendal]

Mostly, noise is *not* an issue unless you pixel-peep. Simple solution: Don't pixel Peep ;)

Here's some shots off an 1D2, ISO 1600 and 3200 underexposed by a stop and 3200 exposed right.

ISO1600 - 1EV (http://www.moonglade.net/rene/POTN/ISO1600_0EV.jpg)
ISO3200 0EV (http://www.moonglade.net/rene/POTN/ISO3200_0EV.jpg)
ISO 3200 -1EV (http://www.moonglade.net/rene/POTN/ISO3200-1EV.jpg)



Dang Pixels! This is very helpful to see the images! Thank you for all your great input.




On the lenses: Yeah, f/2 or f/1.4 is one ore two stops faster, so that helps obviously.

The Canon 50/1.4 (at least mine) is not very sharp wide open, and DoF is *very* thin. So it takes a bit of time to get to know the lens.

The 50/1.8 can be problematic focus wise: The focus sucked on my 10D. I later used the POTN Nifty and that was "so-so" on my 1D2.

POTN nifty?

sorry don't know that one.

Again Thank you for all your help.

[René Damkot]

POTN nifty?

sorry don't know that one.

Meet Nifty (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=167850)

Now you do :mrgreen:

[guitarman2977]

I shoot bands in Minneapolis too and Bunkers has better lights than a lot of places do. As mentioned, the autofocus on the 50 1.8 is not that great, but when it hits it can produce some nice images. I shoot almost exclusively at ISO1600 in bars. You can see some samples from around town if you click the "my photos" link in my signature.

Cheers,

Jake