Corey from Gaylord - May 13, 2006

Have we seen this guy before? His hairdo tickles my memory somehow. JF, could you start numbering your images ... I was asked to do this and can see that it helps. That first one is one of the best "flash" concert images I've seen ... if you'd only dragged the shutter ... no, no, just kidding about the SD!

There's only four images buddy! I suppose in your advanced state of maturity that may be a problem. Seriously, I do have some shutter drag shots, but they didn't make the cut. The first is one of three that came out really well. I use the flash to gain data in the midtones, specifically for black and white conversion. They look terrible in color, but in monochrome - that's another story. The flash setting was 1/64 output in M mode. I can't remember the camera exposure settings, but it was something like 1/100 @ f/8 ISO 200.

Well, it is a damn good technique! BTW, what is the black "ball" in the second and last images blocking part of the guitar and his hand ... looks like a stylized mannequin or wooden dummy head! Isn't he strange looking enough on his own?

It's Corey's girlfriend. Just kidding - it's a mannequinn. I don't know why it was on stage with them. I wish it wasn't there, but oh well.

jfrancho, I like your angles very much - very creative and unusual compositions. Also great B&W conversions.

Thanks Oleg! I like to get low and close. Since the musician is usually looking down at their instrument, the "up the nose" syndrome isn't a big problem. When I'm in close, I just try to frame their face, hands and the instrument and ignore the angle. If you fill the frame with those three elements, the shot will usually turn out good. For the mono conversions, I use TLR's B&W "all combinations" action, and see which version comes the closest to what I'd like. Then I tweak the channel mixer adjustment from there. After local contrast with USM, I may need a little burn and dodge to finish it up. I think the key to a good mono image is a great exposure. Once you have that, it's easy.

Interesting shots....

These are great shots John

Dan

Thanks Becky and Dan!