Posts Tagged ‘music’
Chad Rocks Buffalo
This is Chad Edwards – an awesome country singer that happens to be a good friend of mine. He’s the real deal – the chaps he’s wearing on his CD cover actually got used to break horses in northern California. Okay, northern California isn’t the most country place on the planet – but Chad spent a pretty good chunk of his 20’s in Nashville living his dream. Chad is focusing on playing in public more frequently – and we were able to catch him in Buffalo last weekend. Be sure to check him out if he’s in your area!
Shooting live music boils down to two simple rules:
- No flash. Ever.
- Catch a moment.
The no flash rule can be a real challenge since clubs tend to be very dark. Fast lenses and high ISO is the only way to fly. For these shots, I used my 135mm f/2L and my 50mm f/1.4 cranked wide open. I had my 5D Mark II set at 3200 and 6400 ISO in order to get a high enough shutter speed to (sort of) freeze action.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 135mm f/2L ISO 6400, f/2.0, 1/250 sec.
Do Not Feed The Bass Player
I love a captured moment like this – Donavan was in the middle of some wild headbanging during a recent Smokescreen show. I was on the side of the stage trying to get a perfectly focused capture of the headbang – which is difficult since i’m using a long lens, a long exposure, and a big aperture. That all sums up to “blurry”. The trick is to catch it at one of the ’stopping points’ between bangs. In one of those moments, he noticed me focused on him and he shot me the perfect metal glare. Bang! Got the image.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 135mm f/2L + Canon 1.4x Extender ISO 6400, f/2, 1/200 sec.
The Devil Went Down To Lakeville
This is a photo of Dwight, the lead singer of Smokescreen. I took this shot at Babe’s in Lakeville as they played a rockin’ gig for a full house. It is so much fun shooting this stuff.. they are great to shoot and the 5D Mark II is a total rockstar in low-light club conditions. I could crank the ISO to the moon – and it still delivered the goods.
Vital Stats: Canon 5D Mark II w/Canon 135 f/2L