Guitar Man

[TechZsue]

Musicians are the hardest to shoot. Impossible to get photo pass, crappy lighting, moving objects and time pressure, just to name a few. I'm going to have to do a little reading about my camera too i fear.


Frank Hannon from Tesla:
http://home.attbi.com/~miscpics/frankhannon.jpg

Steve Werner - Freight Train Riders of America:
http://home.attbi.com/~miscpics/trainriders.jpg

Dustin Miller (i think) - Honeyspot:
http://home.attbi.com/~miscpics/honeyspot.jpg

[Edited on 17-5-2003 by TechZsue]

[Rainer]

:) I think those shots are just amazing. moving parts can be real cool. I love the first pic especially:)

[Cappy]

Looks like Zsue is havin fun with the camera. Good to see. Like the bottom shot and like the insignia on the t-shirt. You stopped action well, lighting must have been tricky and you did well there also. I like the action on the top especially the movement on his middle finger off of the fret board. They seem cropped too tight or is that out of the camera?
One nice feature of the SLR's, typically they [auto or manual] focus and adjust quickly. I did not know this. My 5700 is slow to focus and manual focus is out of the question. Had I known that or been more famaliar I would have jumped up and spent the xtra grand since I have missed a lot of shots because of the lack of speed.
Keep up the great work Zsue.

[TechZsue]

I cropped extra tight in a hurry just to get rid of surrounding junk. these are about 1/2 - 2/3 of the actual shot so lots of room to play.

I used the various auto settings from portrait with flash, normal with flash and no flash setting. I need to figure out how to set things manually so I don't get blur.

It's very difficult and I'm too nervous to mess around. Was lucky to have the opportunity to even be allowed to shoot. This promo event had no photographer show up the first night and when they saw my camera, they assumed i knew what i was doing and said i could hang out anywhere and take pics.

I'm going back later today and tomorrow (Joe Satriani is doing meet and greet so I hope I can get some decent shots).

I want to try to shoot some local bands to get better at it. Anyone out there with digital experience and some quick guidance on manual settings for lights? All commments welcome.

[kiwicolin]

You are going to meet Satch? Now I am jealous

[fotodog]

I think you've done a nice job. I personally like the motion blur, I get the sense that I'm actually watching this.

Rule of thumb for no blur is shoot at the highest shutter/ap combo you can, especially with the flash.

1/125 at f/11, or
1/250 at f/8 whatever your camera allows. Some of the new high end digis go as high as 1/500 sec.

The higher the aperature the darker the background is to get rid of distracting details.

Bands can be fun and frustrating at the same time. Have fun with Joe!

[Cappy]

Sue's camera has a shutter speed that goes to 1/4000 of a sec., unrealistic unless outside in bright sunlight pointing at fast action, but a very nice ability to have.
"It is better to have and not need than to
need and not have".

When your just shooting around get in your "fine mode" .jpeg, 1.3 mg...suitable for the web and photos around 3.5 by 5" When your serious..........I would have a CF card that is at least 512 mg, plus a spare and shoot in RAW until you get very famaliar with how your camera reacts to its programable settings like white balance, saturation, contrast, etc.. You want to have the best opportunity to use your photos in the widest range of publicity options. Large Format posters for POP (Point of Purchase) displays, promotionals like offset printed brochures, magazines etc. You would shoot yourself (No pun intended) if you had the shot of a lifetime but shot it in a low res .jpeg format with only enough information to look good on a computer screen or the web. As for lighting you have a CMOS censor which records the light that falls on it, I guess it would be the film of the conventional camera. Here is a link that explains it
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/Glossary/Camera_System/Sensor_01.htm
This should help you in understanding how you may want to set yourself up for lighting when shooting in a variety of situations.
You have a ton of built in shooting modes that are really kewl. The ones that I like that are close to mine are the aperture priority and the shutter priority. This allows you to have everything set but one feature and you have total control of that. I like using the shutter priority with everything but the shutter speed set at auto. That way you can change your shutter speed on the fly in between shots giving you the option of a blurred motion (slow shutter speed / 1/60th) and then stopping the action(adjusting for faster shutter speed 1/500th) in the next shot as quick as you can pull the trigger. Everything else adjusts according to your command on the shutter.
As to the speedlight it can assist in getting a good shot but it is limited. Like fotodog said your best bet for lighting is the best shutterspeed to aperture combination. The speedlight is awesome for creating "light flash" effects when shooting the horn section, guitar bodies, fret boards, heads, floor toms, car fenders and shiny surfaces that you can throw or bounce the light off.
Ok, sorry for the long winded message but I hope I helped. There is a huge learning curve with digital photography and things are changing everyday. Ya gotta just do it. And don't forget. Sue, with your knowledge of Photoshop post-processing can turn an average shot into a great shot.
Happy days, Cappy:)

[Edited on 0 by Cappy]

[Edited on 0 by Cappy]

[TechZsue]

I'm totally overwhelmed but appreciate the advice. Definitely plan to do some reading once I've experimented a bit and can relate better to all the technical stuff.
Thanks so much.

[Cappy]

I didn't mean to overwhelm you, the big thing is to have fun. I have just followed this stuff for awhile and, like I am with printing, I just get carried away when I start writing about it.

[TechZsue]

You're the MASTA:notworthy