Q & A: Dwight McCann (Event Photography)

Yeah!

And to our big guy...

Aam, well, that's a fair question! Yes, I regularly try to shoot a few frames with a bit of a different look to them, although I can't do the panning-with-flash thing since I can't use flash at the casino. I'm attaching a two second exposure of Clay Walker (country singer/songwrite) who is the guy at the middle microphone. It was between numbers and you can see him turning around to speak into a microphone that only his sidemen can hear to coordinate with them. I have a few other things, but I don't generally find the usual soft, blur, pan in low light sort of thing technically challenging or sophisticated which is what I enjoy. And, of course, I think my collage works are a bit different ... I'm still waiting to see some of you other guys assemble some band images into a collage ... Ben, are you here yet? Ben has some awesome work in that area! Some of Ben's very impressive stuff is at https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=83828

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Just got directed to this thread by dwight, he posted on my thread of a couple of recent gigs i photographed https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=83821
Just to give my two cents,
I use a fujifilm finepix s7000,
The first, third and last shots were all taken using the inbuilt flash and a fairly quick shutter speed, i don't know what the exact settings were or what arpiture i used (i believe it was around f5.6-f8) as i kind of trial and error my shots as i go.
the others were taken without the flash and with a slow shutter speed so i could capture the natural lighting, which on the drummer one imho was amazing and i was very lucky to get that shot.

anyway, thoughts are appreciated and i'm keen on reading all of your views on getting decent live shots

Ben, you are too modest! BTW, where do you live? Where do you shoot? Your signature doesn't have much information yet. Oh, and Welcome to POTN!

Here's another one that isn't my usual style, Deana Carter's shoes! Just 'cause I'm old doesn't mean I'm not flexible.:p

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Dwight, I really hope you don't hate me for asking this. But I have to ask.

Your photos are first class, no denying that. But they appear "documentary" if you ask me. You record that event faithfully, that's for sure. But is that enough. Is that what you want. If the answer is "yes" then you have succeeded marvelously.

Aam, yes, for these events "documentary" is what I am after to a large extent. It would seem rather strange to me for me to try lay my "artistry" on top of all the effort the entertainers go to in order to convey their "artistry". It makes very little sense to me to have photographs with blurs and other "effects" on top of their lighting and fog machines that are producing what they wish to present, at least as my main product.

Also, if I can't "record that event faithfully" can I succeed anyway by blurring it up purposely? In some sense it goes back to my statement about softness being a technical failing. So, yes, I can produce razor sharp images ... but that doesn't mean that now I should blur it up, eh? And again, I don't think the collages are quite so documentary in nature although they are not so artistic as Ben's work. Also, I am now experiementing with DVD slideshows, although I will be using crisp clear images.

OTOH, I think your observation does explain why I am never happy with my nudes ... they are too documentary and not artistic ... so I don't do them. Same with glamour ... I'm not clever enough.

So, if your observation is a "criticism", can you show me some examples of what you consider effective alternatives? I am certainly open to most anything other than "I can't do it right so I'll pretend that doing it poorly is better art." I'd love to add more "style" or styles to my bag of tricks. Anybody got suggestions or criticism ... my images are as good as they are because I listen intently to constructive criticism.

BTW, my 70-200mm f2.8 L IS USM just arrived at my office, repaired under warranty. I am stoked.

Thanks dwight, much appreciated. I live in Nottingham and thats where I do most of my shooting although i may be lucky enough to go on a european tour photographing a couple of bands i work with. i also have a studio setup in my house, i've just done a shoot there tonight actually, i'll post a couple of pics from that soon as there are a couple of stunners. I got her in front of marshall stack an it was amazing. anyway, thanks again

I think we have quite a large contingent from Nottingham! Some famous enough to have been interviewed by BBC radio! Again, welcome.

I can only hope to be famous enough to be interviewed by the bbc some day.

I know these aren't from an event but I've posted some of the pics from last night as well if you're interested

https://photography-on-the.net …d.php?p=643937#​post643937

I am envious, Benny ... glamour is an area where I have no talent. I always feel like I am fumbling. I shot some glamour of my niece that you can see here but they didn't have much punch. Maybe we should start a new Q&A: Glamour Photography for Documentary Types.

What kind of lighting are you using? I'd also suggest trying to get a bit more creative with the poses, look through magazines if you feel to be lacking in inspiration. I'd also try solid colour backdrops.
The q&a sounds like a good idea, we could all no doubt learn alot.
I'm intregreud as to how you got the last shot, looks like it could have ended painfully

O yea, I've also just noticed your comments on my band images, thanks alot, I really appreciate the praise you've given me

Yes, "lacking in inspiration" is a central problem. I'll work on the magazine reviews! Right now is very bad as I am incredibly busy with day job, side job and my wife is selling our house and moving us to a bigger (and nightmarishly expensive) house [please note that I am allowed to participate in all decisions but she is the brains of the outfit] ... we will probably be in escrow on our house Monday and will make an offer on a target house immediately thereafter. This is major trauma for a 60 year old ... ME!

Yes, the picture of Taylor "leaping" was an interesting surprise. My Bowens QUADX flash are really fast ... that image was only lighted for about 1/5500 sec. All she did was jump up, move into that position and then immediately back down ... she did NOT fly through the air and was only a few inches above the floor. It looks much more dramatic than it actually was ... I liked it and so did she. We shots hundreds and hundreds of frames that day and the ones on my website were the ones she chose for her "book". The little girl with her is my 3-1/2 year old daughter who is a really super model.

The idea of a Q&A: Glamour Photography sounds good. Want to start one Dwight.

Edit: Forget the above idea, since you will be busy with the new house.