Revival.

It's time to get this blog up and running regularly again. 

I haven't really done much photography-wise lately. I bought a little point-and-shoot in February in the hopes of getting back into the swing of things, but that only held my interest for a little while. I did get some decent shots at Soundwave Festival with it. 

Now that I am able to drive on my own, my hopes are to get a car and then start going to shows again. Hopefully shooting more of them. Getting back into that, because it was something I was getting good at! With a car, I also hoped to start shooting some nice landscapes, but we'll see how that goes. 

Today I pulled out one of my old mag-books: The Essential Guide to Portraits. Looking through it made me want to start shooting portraits again, so. Now my head is all over the place. All I know is I want to get my camera out and shoot, shoot, shoot. 

But whether or not this feeling lasts is another thing altogether.

PORTFOLIO: Final Shots.

I took a step back from the rest of the world this evening and simply went through my live music shots, looking for those final ten that could make up my portfolio. 

It was a difficult process, because I'm so picky about my own work and there are very few shots that I truly consider great. I decided to make it simple on myself and pick out a few that I personally liked for one reason or another. I didn't consider orientation; I didn't consider quality. Because when it comes to live music, sometimes quality isn't key - it's all about getting the shot. 

Originally I wanted my portfolio to consist of five live shots and five musician's portraits, but I cut the portrait section of it because I didn't have enough that I was happy with. So I was just looking at live shots tonight. 

I tried to keep the black and white vs. colour battle even. In the end, I ended up with twelve shots that I'm considering - six colour, six black and white. 

The Final Countdown

I like this shot for a number of reasons. Firstly, because I think the rim-light is beautiful. Second, because I love that green light. Third, I love the girl's expression. You can tell that she is completely into the music and her playing. 

On the flip side, I don't know if this shot would be appropriate - taken out of context, it's not all that easy to see that she is a musician. 

I prefer this shot in 2:3, but I decided my portfolio was going to be 8x10, so I needed to crop it. Much like with the first shot, I love this because of the colours and the pose of the musician - he is completely focused on his music. 

I do not like the microphone stand in the left of the frame, but removing it isn't exactly easy - and in some ways, it feels wrong. 

Honestly, there's not much that I don't like about this shot - and I've shown it to the class before and they all seemed to love it, too. It is fairly timeless. You can't tell what genre the drummer is playing (seriously, I dare you to try!) and I will never get over the ghosting of the stick. It is something that I always aim to achieve in drummer shots. 

I am concerned with the way that this will print at the moment, but this shot is in for sure. 

This was probably the worst show I ever photographed, and it was hard for me at the time to find shots that I liked. But looking back, here is one I am semi-happy with. I like the simple pose of the singer and the fact that the microphone isn't covering up his face. 

I do not like the low quality feel of the shot. It is very noisy. 

Originally I had this one in colour, but I felt like the colour wasn't really adding anything. It looked better, more appealing, in black and white. This is a shot that I have always been happy with. It doesn't matter that it doesn't have the greatest composition and it's not entirely sharp - what matters is that I timed it perfectly, and got a shot that no other photographer at this show managed to get. 

I am fairly certain that I want to use this shot. 

I like the posing in this shot. To me, it is a classic guitarist shot - foot up on the amp, looking out at the crowd, playing something magical. When I showed this one to the class, I got some positive feedback. But mostly they just wanted to know what the tattoo on his neck was. (It's an owl, by the way.) 

I'm concerned that this shot might come out a little dark, and that it's very soft. 

I like this shot because it is simple but expressive. For people who don't know the band, it's just a rock musician doing what rock musicians do - giving the middle finger to the world. For people who are fans of the band, this photo can relate to a song whose lyrical chant declares, "Middle fingers up if you don't give a fuck." 

I am concerned this shot might not be appropriate? (Why do I feel like I'm still in high school? If we can handle artistic nudes, surely we can handle such "vile" hand gestures.) 

I like this shot because of the stick ghosting. That's basically it. I don't like the low quality feel of the shot and the fact that it's so noisy. 

I will most likely cut this shot. 

This was a good show for me. It was my first time shooting a venue with fantastic lighting and therefore the first time that I got live shots that were actually sharp! And that is why I'm so thrilled with this image. That, and the fact that the singer is so obviously into the song. 

I don't like that the microphone is covering half of his face. 

This guy is in the same band as the guy in the previous shot, so - same show, same great lighting, same awesome results. I like this shot because it's simple and expressive. I also really love it in colour, even with the tiny flare in the corner, because everything is warm and complimentary. 

I am fairly certain I will be using this shot. 

Same show as the last two, different band. I love the expression on this guy's face and the lighting in the background is gorgeous. My only complaint is that it's maybe a little busy. 

I am trying to decide between this shot and the next one. 

I like this shot because of the lighting, because it's sharp, and because the colour somehow works. I don't really like the fact that there's a microphone and a harmonica covering his face, but I do like that it shows how multi-skilled he is. 

And there we have it. The shots that I am considering. I'm thinking I might do some small prints of each in the next few days and see how they look in paper and ink.

Self-Publishing: Slideshows and Multimedia.

For the next three weeks, we will be looking at self-publishing in the photography industry. Today, we took a look at slideshows and multimedia. 

Slideshows and Multimedia

Slideshows are used as a sales technique, especially by wedding photographers. The aim is to have our potential clients see the slideshows and like them enough that they want one of their own, so they will therefore hire you. They are often coupled with suitable music, to make the experience greater. 

Some things to take into account when looking at creating a slideshow are the formatting and sizes, and publishing platforms. 

An early type of image projector was the Magic Lantern, developed in the late 17th century and used to project images from small, rectangular sheets of glass that contained the painted photographic image to be projected. These devices were not replaced until the 1860's. After that came slide projectors, such as the Kodak Carousel. 

Slideshows allowed stories to be told, ideas to be expressed. They are used for a range of reasons, including but not limited to entertainment, advertising, promotion, art and education. They can be seen in homes, galleries, online publications, events, and promotions in shops. 

Types of Slideshow

There are many types of slideshows. They can include: 

• static images, displayed in a sequential order; 
• images with transitions, eg. a dissolving effect; 
• multimedia slideshows - these can include images, video, sound/music, text, etc. 

Things to Consider

Some things to consider when creating your slideshow are: 

• Audience: who are you making the slideshow for? What is suitable content for this audience? 
• Format and Ratio: what format do you plan on projecting? What is the appropriate ratio? 
• Resolution: are your images capable of being projected at such a size? 
• Platform: what platform do you intend on using? 

It is worth mentioning that projecting panoramas require a different technology to your ordinary projection equipment. 

Platforms

There are many platforms you can use to display your slideshow. These include but are not limited to: 

• traditional platforms - transparency film onto a light coloured background; 
• computer/web slideshows; 
• TV/DVD displayed; 
• technological platforms - slideshowpro.net, Adobe Lightroom, Apple Aperture, etc. 

Tools for Multimedia Slideshows

Tools used for multimedia slideshows may include: 

• DSLRs capable of recording images, sound and video - as sound and video might also be a part of your slideshow; 
• dedicated sound recorders, for adding authentic sound as a backdrop to your images. 

My Attempt

 

For the purpose of a website, I personally prefer to have a slideshow without music - unless the sound actually adds something to the images. Other than that, I find it highly distracting.  

I also found this article rather interesting. 

The Drummer Girl.

Over the weekend my best friend and I got together to conduct a photo shoot. This was where I was going to attempt to shoot her playing the drums, in the style of Arin in the "Hail To The King" video. But things didn't go according to plan, firstly because I changed my mind. 

We started out just with a few of her drums, and I found that no matter what I did, I just couldn't get a decent photo with them in shot. All the photos I ended up liking were only her holding her drumsticks, but I still felt like it fit my own brief - for my portfolio, I'm shooting music. Drumsticks show she's a musician, and that is the main thing. 

Here are the three shots that I ended up liking the most. 

The first I love because it shows her crazy personality. Nothing she did that day was staged - I just let her be herself, and this was one of the things that happened. I love her for it, and it got me a shot that I love.

The second I didn't look at much at first, but I came to love it after a second look. Overall, I think it's just a decent portrait. 

The third is the one that I am leaning towards including in my portfolio. I can't really pin-point why - I just really like it. I think it just works.

MUSIC VIDEO: "Hail To The King" by Avenged Sevenfold.

It is first important to know that Avenged Sevenfold are my favourite band in all the world, so I often find inspiration in them, their artistic endeavors, and their lyrics. They dropped their latest music video for "Hail To The King" a few days ago, and I was less than impressed. I love music videos that have a story to them, or a clear concept that I can follow. This didn't seem to be much at all. All in all, I found it rather boring. 

But I am putting it here, because I loved the lighting that I was seeing. It was harsh; there were strong shadows. There was a shot of Arin (drummer) where (my memory is a little foggy here) either he was in silhouette and the drums were well lit, or vice versa, and I really loved it. As I've been considering basing my end-of-year portfolio on music, I thought that could make for a really amazing shot. 

EXPERIMENT: Concert Photography.

Last time I wrote about concert photography, I set out two things that I wanted to try the next time that I shot a show: faster shutter speeds and smaller apertures.

Last night I shot another show. Dutch band DeWolff played at the Oxford Art Factory with Group and Lines, and The 59th Sound sent me along again to capture the show. 

The first thing I did when I found out I would be shooting this show was ask a friend of mine what the venue would be like. He told me there would be no barrier, that the venue was tiny, and that the lighting was generally shocking. Despite this, I held my hopes high. Because in my opinion, it would take a lot to have lighting worse than the Hi-Fi. 

And I was pleasantly surprised! The lighting, in my opinion, was wonderful - where the Hi-Fi tends to overuse their reds, the Oxford Art Factory stuck mostly to shades of blue, purple and yellow, which made for much more flattering lighting. 

My ISO ranged from anywhere between 2500 and 5000, though since this was my first time shooting on full frame, I've found that this doesn't bother me. Compared to the shots my 7D gets at the same ISO settings, the noise here is almost unnoticeable. 

My shutter speed varied a lot more than it usually would have - I went anywhere from 1/80th of a second up to 1/250th of a second, depending on the lighting and the action. This is a huge change from the way my shutter speed usually doesn't vary much from 1/125th. 

And my aperture, which usually stays at f/2.8 and doesn't change, moved up to f/3.5. I think it made quite a bit of difference. 

As I've already told Gwen today, last night I feel like I achieved a lot. It was the first time that I woke up in the morning feeling like maybe, just maybe, I had taken some shots that I could really be proud of. After editing, I don't feel like I got any stunners - but I do feel like I've grown as a concert photographer, that I've learned some important lessons, and that things can only keep going up from here.

View the entire gallery here. 

EXPERIMENT: White Balance In Concert Photography.

For the longest while, I have refused to change my white balance settings for concert photos in Lightroom, believing that it would mess with my entire shot and make it look way off from what the scene was actually like. But after speaking with Gwen, and asking how she and others always managed to get such fantastic skin tones in their shots, she told me that sometimes white balance can be your best friend. So I gave it a shot, and now I can't help but agree. 

Bring Me The Horizon, Pierce The Veil and The Chariot.

Given my last experience at Sydney's Hi-Fi, I can't deny that I was a little worried about how last night would go. The last time I shot a band there, the lighting was terrible at best and I ended up cranking my ISO all the way to 4000. Having been there on Monday night to see a shot and taken to watching the lights for half the time instead, I had my fingers crossed for something good. And for the most part, I got it.

Obviously there is always potential for stage lighting to be better, but I think I got the best that the venue had to offer, and that's okay with me.

I still have a long way to go when it comes to getting great shots, though. I can never get them quite as sharp as I would like, and next time I shoot a rock band I instead to see if I can get away with some faster shutter speeds. 1/125 only works well when your subject isn't head-banging. I might also try for a smaller aperture, which might help a little with my focusing problem. This might end up meaning my ISO is up in the 2500+ section, but it shouldn't matter as long as I get the exposure spot on, right?

The full gallery can be viewed on The 59th Sound.

MUSIC VIDEO: "Break" by Three Days Grace.

I find this video visually appealing. From the very first time we watched it, my friend and I had dreams of throwing around coloured paints in a plain white room, but that's not something easy to come by. We never did try it out. Maybe this year is the time to do that.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Gwendolyn Lee.

Gwen is probably one off my biggest inspirations when it comes to music photography. I remember stumbling across her on DeviantART, back when she was just using a simple point-and-shoot, and discovering that we had both been to several of the same concerts and both enjoyed trying to get great shots out of them. Seeing her now, shooting the likes of Bon Jovi, David Hasselhoff and all the latest and greatest, is absolutely amazing.

She always has such great compositions, sharp photos and uses lighting fantasticly.

It's also thanks to her that I was even able to shoot my first in-front-of-the-barrier gig. She helped me find sites to get started, and I am forever grateful to her for that. 

My next gig is next Tuesday. My first time shooting bands that I have actually heard of, and one of them I actually enjoy. So it will be a test to see if I can stay in a professional state of mind, and a great opportunity to better myself. Fingers crossed that I get some great shots. 

You can find Gwen on Facebook.