Musicians, the hardest job...

[judah]

Here's a couple guys I've been recording lately. Come and C&C'em.

http://judah.smugmug.com/photos/127704462-L.jpg

http://judah.smugmug.com/photos/127706443-L.jpg

http://judah.smugmug.com/photos/127705590-L.jpg

[rundadar]

Out of the three, #2 is the better one. #1 & #3 lack a clear 'focal point'. Still, the focal point for #2 appears to be the ear/facial hair - not sure it's the most interesting angle

[SloYerRoll]

I think you did a great job using the light! :thumb
Did you use a setup besides ambient?

Looks like a slight sepia effect in there. I think pure b&w would look just as good if not better.
Also guy w/ headphones: His cheek is a bit too blown out. But you can still salvage that in raw ppe.

[ccpickre]

Here's a couple guys I've been recording lately. Come and C&C'em.



I happen to like all three. But I am a fan of serendipitous photos. I like when things go wrong (slight overexposure, offcentering, etc).

As for musicians being the hardest to photograph, I have to disagree. My best photos have come from the musicaly inclined :D Like OAR, and some local college bands.

[judah]

I think you did a great job using the light! :thumb
Did you use a setup besides ambient?

Looks like a slight sepia effect in there. I think pure b&w would look just as good if not better.
Also guy w/ headphones: His cheek is a bit too blown out. But you can still salvage that in raw ppe.

Hi SloYerRoll, no setup, just natural light. I was just sneaking my lens in the tracking room during a pause. I'm usally locked behind the mixer and don't have much time for shooting so there's absolutely no time to setup any additional light. Thanks for your suggestions.

J.

[judah]

I happen to like all three. But I am a fan of serendipitous photos. I like when things go wrong (slight overexposure, offcentering, etc).

As for musicians being the hardest to photograph, I have to disagree. My best photos have come from the musicaly inclined :D Like OAR, and some local college bands.

Hi ccpickre, I was not saying musicians are the hardest subject. Just playin' with words.

J.

[judah]

Out of the three, #2 is the better one. #1 & #3 lack a clear 'focal point'. Still, the focal point for #2 appears to be the ear/facial hair - not sure it's the most interesting angle

Hi rundadar, thanks for your suggestions. In fact focal point on #2 is the facial hair. Couldn't have my camera to lock on the right eye. I noticed is very demanding for my camera (Nikon D50) to use lateral focus point in low light. These were shot at 1600ISO inside a recording studio (a very dim light location) and I always have to use the main focus point (central). Thanks again for your time.

J.

[rundadar]

Couldn't have my camera to lock on the right eye. I noticed is very demanding for my camera (Nikon D50) to use lateral focus point in low light. These were shot at 1600ISO inside a recording studio (a very dim light location) and I always have to use the main focus point (central). Thanks again for your time.

J.

Why not just focus manually? I know D50's vf is not great for that, but you'd have gotter better results anyways. It also speeds up composing the shot a lot (don't have to worry where your focus points fall)

Unless, of course, you wnated the facial hair to be the focal point (which IS a valid option if going for a 'mad' angle)

[judah]

Why not just focus manually? I know D50's vf is not great for that, but you'd have gotter better results anyways. It also speeds up composing the shot a lot (don't have to worry where your focus points fall)

Unless, of course, you wnated the facial hair to be the focal point (which IS a valid option if going for a 'mad' angle)

You're just right on the spot Rundadar. I should have focused manually. The problem is that as you said the viewfinder is quite small and I don't trust my eyes that much. I can manually focus with no problem on my Olympus OM2n but with the D50 is really a hard job for me. Especially on dim light situation t would be amajor plus to focus manually. I'll surely give it a try. Regarding the facial hair, I sort of liked the results, even if the focus point was not a common one. :D

J.

[flyingdutchie]

I like #3 best.

I like it because of its composition. But the face is not in focus. Try to have at least the eyes in focus. Or increase the DOF somewhat to have more in focus. But since you were shooting in low light (ISO1600), you probably needed a wide open aperture...