A Gig Photo Gig

Bassist for Red Rockin' Wolf
Ed Caramanico.

I get the chance every so often to photograph bands during their gigs. I prefer to be able to get audience participation with the band but sometimes it just really doesn't happen or when there are circumstances that prevent it from being photographed. Such was the case at this gig. For this gig I was set out to capture a bit of action and emotion. If the members aren't jumping in the air or doing something extreme that can show movement then the task becomes harder and I have to find a way to fulfill my task. Here, in the photo above, the bassist clearly has his fingers on the frets and has the bass propped away from his body. This shows that there is some type of action going on. Of course the bass is normally against the body so one would figure there is movement and in their head and conjure up the thought that he is shaking the instrument for effect.

Normally I do not use flash But have come to the conclusion that during these gigs that are on the ground floor (no stage) it is safe for me to break out the flash. I would not want a musician to fall off the stage because of a blinding flash I popped off. So I decided that if I have to use flash I am going to use gels. First reason being the lights on these performers are gelled lights being around 200-300 watts each. Plus there are strobes as well. Pretty blinding to begin with, right? So in order to keep with the colors I used 2 flash units. The background flash has a CTB (blue) gel on it and the main flash had a CTO (orange) gel. And I set my camera's white balance to tungsten which makes the light from the orange color corrected to white and the blue bluer. I made it a point to keep the flash at a low output so my ISO is still high enough at 400 but not so high that noise becomes an issue (Where's that D3 I want, will beg, work for, for my birthday). However this is enough to get some very good photos and I don't blind the performers.














Drummer
For RRW
Gil Walters


Normally I will setup the blue to light up the background. and take the CTO with me on either a small tripod or just lay it on the floor if nobody is going to crush it that is or I'll have an assistant. I try to keep the main flash between 45 and 60 degrees off my center with the subject.

With the above photo I was looking to get the sticks up but found it difficult to capture even though I am an experienced musician myself. It was quite amusing to me that this just didn't happen and so I started to laugh out loud. Good thing I caught myself doing that people were starting to wonder. So I looked for some emotion in his face. Here he has his eyes closed and a slight smile along with his hand positions denoting a sweet spot in the rhythm just before the hit. And that shows he has a bit of groove going on.

I hope y'all enjoyed this post. Please tell me what you think by posting your comments below. And I will get back with you next week.
Peace,
B

Smoke Anyone?

Smoke. Smoke is as seductive as the fire that comes behind it. But smoke is something else. It has a dance like fire, but it goes farther than fire. It warns you that fire is right on it's tail. So its dance is different.

I've taken the pleasure of photographing smoke lately and seem to have gotten the knack for it. The photographs shown and all that have and will be taken of smoke are not about the smoke itself. That is too boring really. It is the image of what it creates that captures the imagination is what I'm after. Take a look the first image. It almost looks plain but if you think of the complex shapes that are involved you'll start to see a different kind of shape, almost a ghostly shape at that. To me it looks like the bottom of the torso of a young woman in her ghostly form rising from someplace unknown to us. You can't see her face, bust, or shoulders, but her arm is defined and even the whisp of smoke at the central region seems to define where the hip might be. Her arm is slightly bent up as it seems she is starting to reach up. The brains power of imagination is great, isn't it?
Capturing the smoke can be a daunting task. For one a room with still air is hard to come by even with vents closed any movement from you even the heat of a flash set close has an impact on the smoke. If the room is too hot the smoke will have a short straight line up before it bunches into a cloud. Even your breath has an impact. Keep in mind that too much smoke will not look good at all. It will begin to look just like smoke. yuck! Focusing is a tad tricky but having measured the distance as close to center of the column and setting a small aperture will yielded great results. Having a black background helped as well. I had set the flash close enough to the incense but not so that the remnants would fall onto it.

The photo above is very interesting because the smoke went from a single round column into a flat one and then all the sudden it wafted, I saw the dip in the smoke and hit the shutter button. The flat column suddenly just curled itself under as the shutter opened.

I got myself a seat and diligently watched the smoke dance around. There were certain tiny eddy's in the air that would make it jump, twist, bow, and reveal other weird shapes that made the smoke column look like something else. If the air is still enough you can also manipulate these eddy's by putting something beside the column and the taking it away in such a manner that not much air is moving. So a light touch was essential when performing this trick.
In the photo above the smoke was dead straight up when I felt a hair move on my neck. Just as it did the column kind of wavered, straightened up and then poof like a mini tornado, click went the shutter and viola! I was happy when I saw that on the back of the viewfinder.
These photos and a few others in the series are on my main website just go to the people, places, and things then look at the bottom for the link. Ethereal Vapor is what I have called the series (thanks to a few friends for the ideas).

Please feel free to comment, yell, scream, complain, its all good....just leave a comment....below...Click on the word "comments" below....
Thanks and peace,
Brian

Concrete, at Night

This is the Lehigh Portland Cement Company in Union Bridge, Maryland.
I have been, for some time now, eager to photograph industrial factories and such at night but never found the time or the right conditions whenever I went. In Baltimore there a quite a few places but I never found somewhere where I could actually do it without a police escort or it was raining, too foggy or whatnot. Yeah, yeah I know excuse,s excuses.. I just so happened that I was cruising through Carrol County to the west of Westminster and Tanytown that I saw a large tower. So off I go to investigate and to my surprise I see the factory. So immediately I hit the gps to get my fix on the place.
I had thought to photograph the place during daylight hours but the dust and setting sun were against me. Even with a UV, haze, or even a Polarizing filter the results were not very good. So I set my sights on coming back at night like I really wanted to do.

5 days later I return but the weather wasn't exactly cooperating (my luck). However it was clear enough to get a decent photo of the place. In the first photo above I used my 85mm 1.8 at f9 for 4 seconds at 100 ISO. although very hard to see here, the photo shows several layers of black from the hills and trees. When this is printed it is more prominent. And for some odd reason I see lines cutting across my photo...Ughh! But you get the idea.
The next photo I took from near one of the entrances. I decided to go B&W with it. Seeing as in the were only a few red lights showing in the wrong places. And everything here is gray anyhow.
even though there was sort of a humidity issue it wasn't that bad and I believe it makes a nice impact on the photo helping to spread the light to the structure.


Here is a closer view of the photo. The detail is so much better when viewed at the proper size. The lens is the 18-70mm 3.5-4.5 Nikkor at 30mm 5.6 for .6 seconds, 100 ISO. A very nice lens a little soft on the edges but still nice. In this I like the truck on the right bottom. It has a rim light made up from all the other lights marking its silhouette in the frame. Above all, the detail is so in your face you can't stop your eye from moving for very long.

As of yesterday Aug. 13th the plant was in the local news over a mercury issue. Or more to the point about how much is actually coming out of the plants smokestacks. And what they're going to do about it. Unfortunately mercury is in the limestone rock naturally and is released as the temperature of the limestone reaches from 200°C and 700°C. Gotta have concrete, going to have to filter the mercury out somehow. Now to just zap it out of existence.

As usual please leave a comment for me. Tell me how I'm doing. Give suggestions, or criticism. Everybody has different tastes and I would love to hear about them. It also helps me to become a better photographer.
Thanks again and CYA next week!
Peace!

A Past Event

I’m Back!

Hello again my avid readers (all 3 of you). This time I actually have a few event photos with me to share. These are from a Microbrewery festival. Hmm…Beer. Awesome!

These were taken at the Union Mills Homestead in Carroll County, MD. Of course it was held well after the beautiful sunrise and ended well before the beautiful sunset so no golden hour to have to help with the photos. Okay so anyhow I needed 6 photos for the spread. I know it’s a lot but that what they wanted and so that’s what they get. Here I am only going to post 3.

I figure that I would need to show people coming into the cordoned off area and I really didn’t feel like showing all the pretty yellow tape with bold black letter stating “DO NOT CROSS” upside down as well. My first thought is to have the people face me as they come in through the gate but then the yellow tape just really ruined it for me. So I go over to the gate and looked around for a good shot to no avail until I turned around. I saw a road leading away from me….at an angle…and people are walking this road to get to the business end of the festival. Even though you can’t tell here that this is a beer drinkers festival but with 5 other photos to take they will fortify that yes they are going to taste beer! So I compose, meter and click. Nice shot, not to busy with people up front and your eye is lead to all the tents and hustle and bustle of people in the background.

This was a bonus I never thought that a cigar maker would actually be at a beer fest. Let alone one that is actually rolling a cigar from scratch. Nice, very nice. Nothing like sitting around chewing the fat and smoking a good cigar with friendswhile tasting some of the best beer in town. As tempting as it was I held off my urges to taste, taste, taste, until I was done I don’t believe using the power of the press to gain access for my personal pleasure. Makes a bad image for the rest of the real press out there and me of course. So I held off.

Sometimes you can manage to meet some interesting characters out there. This was one of them. Interesting colorful tattoos, interesting persona, and a love for a good beer and laugh. Other photos that were taken were of a large still type setup under a tent with lots of people hanging around to get tips on how to make your own brew from these guys, people getting their beers, and the people pouring them.

I am sure by now your asking "where are the photos of the brewing setups, or the beer trucks?" Well that would be too obvious. Of course I took those photos but to be more specific you have to look at everything. For my assignment I have a 6 photo spread to shoot for so I can't have all beer trucks and brewery's in it. I also have to concentrate on people. That is they want for the spread the people of the county that most likely read the publication. There are other things to focus on during these events other than the main reason and people. This helps tell a bigger story. Thankfully I have a 6 spread shoot to shoot for. Otherwise this guy above would have been in a shot with a brewery and all it signage with one of the pretty little (not really little) bartenders pouring the beer skillfully into his plastic mug while a dozen others wait patiently in the sun.

Again as usual please feel free to comment. I mean it, really I can take it.

Peace,