Band At A Bar

Here's a few photos that POTN user "picturepages" suggested that I post. I like them. The light was low and not a lot of stage lighting so I fired up the 20D with a 24-70 L lens and a 580EX II Speed lite. I bounced the flash off of a 14 foot ceiling and some walls behind me to get these shots. Except for one where I just used the available light. The power and quality of the 580EX II continues the amaze me. A little cropping... a bit of exposure compensation in Lightroom and B&W conversion was all I did.

Just curious to hear your comments.

yep...

All of your shots have some interesting qualities. I think your monochrome, #3, has a lot of possibilities.

With the exception of #4, all of your color work has questionable color balance. It can become the most tedious and troublesome aspect of a shooting session mixing flash and other lighting to get what you want. I would suggest using an appropriate shutter speed (1/200") and making sure that your flash so completely dominates the lighting that you can use the flash color balance setting and also shoot RAW to give yourself the best chance of correcting the color balance at time of RAW processing.

You may be interested in these references to Gray Card and White Balance.

*************Gray Card***************
Tutorial on Use of the Gray Card for Exposure and White Balance:
http://www.zaffora.com​/W9DMK/GrayCardTutoria​l.htm
or the downloadable PDF version:
http://www.zaffora.com​/W9DMK/GrayCardTutoria​l.pdf

Most of the images would have been more compelling if the backgrounds were darker. Rather than at a bar many of them appear to be shot in a well lit studio.

The shot with the drummer's hair flying is excellent.

Thanks for your replies Robert and Clixpix...

I agree with both of you. As far as the types of lighting I was dealing with.. fluorescent..incandesc​ent (par cans with colored gel sheets)..neon and my single flash unit... it sure was a hodgepodge there. I did underexpose quite a bit to get the flash to dominate and find a balance with the ambient light without anything getting too blown out. I could've dialed the white balance in with a reflector that I have but I thought I'd just wing it. I did run the photos through Lightroom and fiddled with the color temperature a bit..just by looking at skin tones. I could have dialed it in a bit more. But..what the heck. There's tons of things that we can spot in photographs..but if the subject matter is fine..that's good with me. You have to think that I'm dodging people walking by..holding the camera above my head to shoot on a few of these and the odd slam dancer that came barreling by .heck..the light was so poor there I didn't have a lot options and had mobility issues. . heh. It was fun.

As for the the backgrounds..I agree that to bring the forefront subject out better the back ground light needed to subdued..I did add some vignetting to a few of them to try to isolate the subject some and it worked out ok. Adding vignetting is ok sometimes when it's done in a matter without appearing as an effect..

Terrible ambient lighting and one big brute of a flash unit..heck..it could have been worse.

And looking like a well lit studio..heh..I'll take that as a compliment for my prowess at aiming a swivel head flash in the right places..just kidding..heh.

Thanks again for your interest and comments.

yep...

I like the 2nd from the last (red rim light playing guitar). The others leave me wanting something else.

I like shot 4 -- being a drummer myself, this appeals to me. Great in action shot.

Robert_Lay wrote in post #7284444
All of your shots have some interesting qualities. I think your monochrome, #3, has a lot of possibilities.

With the exception of #4, all of your color work has questionable color balance. It can become the most tedious and troublesome aspect of a shooting session mixing flash and other lighting to get what you want. I would suggest using an appropriate shutter speed (1/200") and making sure that your flash so completely dominates the lighting that you can use the flash color balance setting and also shoot RAW to give yourself the best chance of correcting the color balance at time of RAW processing.

You may be interested in these references to Gray Card and White Balance.

*************Gray Card***************
Tutorial on Use of the Gray Card for Exposure and White Balance:
http://www.zaffora.com​/W9DMK/GrayCardTutoria​l.htm
or the downloadable PDF version:
http://www.zaffora.com​/W9DMK/GrayCardTutoria​l.pdf

Robert, with all due respect, this is not how most people would approach performing arts shots. Flash is generally a last resort, and when flash is used, most people try to preserve as much ambient light and color as possible. The best way to go is to balance the flash with ambient light by using a gel on the flash (if possible).
I think the flash/ambient ratio in these shots is actually pretty decent.

bacchanal wrote in post #7303314
Robert, with all due respect, this is not how most people would approach performing arts shots. Flash is generally a last resort, and when flash is used, most people try to preserve as much ambient light and color as possible. The best way to go is to balance the flash with ambient light by using a gel on the flash (if possible).
I think the flash/ambient ratio in these shots is actually pretty decent.

Thank you for a more learned approach. My approach used to work well with Belly Dancers, but that was because they weren't bathed in light -

I was going to comment in regards to Robert's post and baccanel beat me to it. Baccanel hit the nail on the head there...typically you want the ambiance of the stage lighting to show thru, particularly with "band" shots. Flooding the shot with flash just does not look "natural" for these types of shots at all and with all due respect to Robert and his expertise (which normally I'm more than happy to defer to), that was poor advice.

Not that I've shot a lot of these types of situations, but whenever I do, I try to avoid using flash. In my mind, the key to getting good stage shots like this is simply a fast lens and a camera that does reasonably well at higher ISO's so that you can keep the shutter speeds up a bit. In that regard, -if- a flash has to be used, I think the OP did the right thing by bouncing it. If anything I thing I would have dialed back the power a bit.

In regards to the shots themselves, I do agree with Robert in regards to the third shot there of the two chicks dancing...that is simply splendid and certainly the best of the lot. I'm not normally a fan of desaturations/b&w but I think it works very well for this shot. I also think that the last shot is really good there too. I'm not too crazy about the two shots where the performer's heads are down...in my mind getting good band shots requires some facial emotion as the shots otherwise tend to be rather static and when you can't see the faces...you get my point. Which leads me to the second shot there....

Ok...I will admit that I am all for "grimacing musically", but that is simply NOT a flattering expression on the guitar players face there (the guy playing the Schector)! I think the OP nailed the focus and otherwise I think it's a good shot, but looking at it I really feel like I should be giving that poor guy a bottle of Malox or something! As a musician I know that rock & roll ain't supposed to be "pretty" but I really think I would have gotten a different shot of the guy to post. This is most certainly just my opinion and should only be taken as such but...yikes, I say! LOL!

The one other thing I would add is that I think the OP should have maybe used even more "low angles". From the looks of things here, it doesn't appear that there was much of a stage at all there (as a musician, this is something I've ran into with bar gigs myself). The first and second shots look as though they were taken while the OP was standing on a chair or something. The reason I mention this is that in my opinion at least, shots of musicians (even local unknown talent) typically works better when the photographer can create a "larger than life" feel with the shot. Going back to the last shot for example, here it was shot from a low angle and creates something of the "guitar god" illusion....very preferable to the angle the first shot was taken at.

Over-all I think the op did a pretty good job here and is certainly on the right track. Performing shots can sometimes be hit or miss to begin with so all things considered, there were a couple of really good shots here.

Alrighty, just my $.02 worth,
Jim