The new cult of Manson is chanting the icon’s name as the lights go down, and moments later, when the black kabuki curtain bearing the singer’s initials drops, the roar is palpable.
Fresh of his European Tour, Marilyn Manson descended on the Pageant to commune with his faithful fans, 2300-strong, in a sold-out performance.
The Rape of the World Tour also marks the return of Twiggy Ramirez, long-time Manson bassist and collaborator.
Shooting Notes:
Arriving at the venue, I was curious to see what the pit would be like, considering the small catwalk that Manson has employed on this tour. Heading down to the floor, I saw that the normal barricade was pushed out about halfway out into the general admission pit, bowing out at the center to accommodate the one and a half-meter extension.
Talking to security, I was told I would get two songs without any other restrictions. When Manson’s tour manager came out, however, he laid the ground rules of one song limited to shooting from the edge of the barricade and no option to move around.
Overall, this was a very difficult shoot, not only because of the severe restrictions, but because of the lighting and Manson’s singing style. Between the dramatic underlighting and Manson’s tendency to trip the mic with both hands closely to his face, which effectively blocked most light, securing clear shots of the singer was an extreme challenge.
Add to this mix constant motion and this performance was right up there with the challenge of photographing the pounding metalcore of recent weeks. Manson lurched around the stage like a Romero-Zombie, crouching, doubling over, and staggering to upright screams all in the same breath.
For the first song, Manson primarily stayed between midstage and the edge of the catwalk, never really deviating from this track to interact with the other band members.
Lighting:
Lighting for the one and only song started off with a deep blue/purple wash from the back that eventually gave way to bursts of white light from two lights on the right side of the stage.
From there, the lighting scheme turned to a deep wash of green mixed with a little magenta and blue lighting.
On the catwalk, there was a short strip of warm incandescent lights that flared up periodically throughout the set. During the later half of the first song, this small array provided the majority of the light falling on Manson as the atmospherics died off considerably.
Given the limitations and challenging lighting, I photographed Manson exclusively during one alloted song. The rest of the band played primarily in background lit by the various washes and monochromatic accent lighting.
Overall, the quantity of light wasn’t so much the challenge so much as it was the quality. Leaving the pit, I turned around as Manson launched into the second song to see the stage lit up like Christmas.
Lenses and Gear:
I shot with the Nikon D3 and the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, which seemed to provide adequate coverage given the restrictions.
I was tempted to switch to the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 a few times, but ultimately decided to favor the midrange zoom due to Manson’s erratic movements on stage, which easily would have rendered the telephoto lens too tight.
Camera Settings:
I shot most of this set at ISO 2000, going up to ISO 3200 for a few instances. I shot at f/2.8 and f/3.2 with a range of shutter speeds, going as low as 1/160 and peaking at 1/500. Many images were made around 1/250.
Throughout this set I was feverishly twisting dials as the lighting changed, with rare review of the exposure during the hectic pace of the first song. I’d be interested in seeing how using an automatic metering mode with spot metering would have worked for this set, given the dramatic contrast extremes and the fast lighting.
One of the most challenging aspect of this lighting is that Manson’s distance to lighting on the catwalk dramatically affected exposure. Standing at full height in his knee-high platform boots and going to a low crouch, the exposure changed by almost two stops.
After shooting in 12-bit RAW for a few shows, I decided to kick it back into 14-bit mode for this show. The main reason was this pair of articles (1, 2) on the differences between these modes. Given the massive amounts of smoke and gradations I expected with the show, I thought I might as well get as much detail as possible.
End Notes:
While I was really looking forward to this shoot after seeing some of the great shots from Marilyn Manson’s recent European tour, I was disappointed by the quality of lighting and the severe restrictions of the shoot.
With only one song and primarily atmospheric lighting, I’m pleased with the images. Still, I’d like to have seen what would have been possible with the upbeat second song of the set, which featured much more dramatic lighting.
Next time.
Big thanks to Carsten, Riny, Jason, and Rod for their advice on shooting this gig.
28 Comments Add your own
1. Aloysius | February 11th, 2008 at 4:17 am
MM always gives me the creeps and I have friends who simply adore him.
Oh man, why the strict restrictions..don’t you just hate that together with the bad lights. Nonetheless, you still got some good shots there! Good decision on the 24-70, I would have stuck to it too.
2. Todd | February 11th, 2008 at 4:37 am
Hey Aloysius. I’m still kind of split on the 24-70/70-200 decision, but I think it worked out. What would have been idea would have been to have a second body with the 70-200mm on it for tighter shots of Manson and also to pick up the rest of the band.
As far as the restrictions go, it’s annoying, but so it goes. Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it.
3. lucky | February 11th, 2008 at 4:46 am
wow man, these are some KILLER shots.. i love the last one above the shooting notes.
4. Todd | February 11th, 2008 at 5:02 am
Thank you, Lucky. You picked my favorite shot from the set, actually. I’m not 100% satisfied with the shoot, but some of the images worked out.
5. kyza | February 11th, 2008 at 5:37 am
Nice set of shots! I watched from the stands at this gig while my friend shot below, lots of bright light and an amazing amount of smoke.
She managed to capture my favourite photo from his tour
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leni_t/1523177907/
a very lucky bend of the knee produced a wicked shot.
6. Todd | February 11th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Hey Kylie, thank you. Your friend made a beautiful shot, she should be proud of that one. I’ve seen that one before, but thanks for the link.
I was hoping for some of the bright background lighting that I’d seen in some of the shots from the European leg, but the first song here was pretty flat. The white bursts of scattering light that your friend caught were sweet, though — I wouldn’t mind having more of those at gigs!
7. Rod | February 11th, 2008 at 6:38 am
it’s here we can see the powerful of D3, because Manson is simply one of the hardest band to shoot. Yes there is light, but there is a lot of differences of exposition, and D3 is able to capture all details even in shadows.
However, one regret : you have taken only Manson.
8. Todd | February 11th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Rod, now I know. I went into the event expecting a challenge, but the actual shoot was as challenging as anything else I’ve shot in a headliner.
I agree with you: I would have liked to photograph other band members, especially Twiggy now that he’s back. But given the time constraints and the lack of lighting on the support, I made an executive decision and decided to just go after Manson.
The D3 did do its job on this shoot, though
9. Bryan (In the Muck) | February 11th, 2008 at 7:00 am
Nicely done Todd! Given the limitations I think it is amazing that you came away with that many great shots.
10. Todd | February 11th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Hey Bryan, thanks. I was actually surprised and the number of shots that came out, it could have been much worse.
I fired in bursts and came away with about 130 shots, and got a little over 10% that made the final cut, so that percentage is on.
Thanks for the comment, I appreciate it.
11. Chris | February 11th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Wow,
This looks super rough. I think you did REALLY well considering how drastic the lighting changes must have been.
I like 10,11 and 13 a lot.
Quality of light certainly seems like an issue with this shoot.
12. Todd | February 11th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Hey Chris,
Yeah, this was a tough shoot with a lot of challenges. There were a ton of small changes in this one song alone that made for about four or five different lighting schemes all with their own little variations.
#10 was shot just at the end of the first song when I think Manson was saying something to the crowd. I fired off a few frames just as Manson’s head guy in the pit informed me it was time to go by cracking his neck.
At the end of the day, the lighting was just bad for this song. They fired up the spotlight for the second song, during which the lighting was much brighter and more colorful, but that’s the breaks.
Thanks for you picks, bro.
13. Solange Moreira Yeoell | February 11th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Gosh, it is so nice to read all this. I learn a lot. I am not sure I’ll ever be able to apply though. You are a few of the photographers in this field that shares so much information. I am sure you know that you have nothing to worry because your work is brilliant.
Thanks a lot.
xx
14. Todd | February 11th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Hey Solange, glad to hear the shooting notes are useful to you — I’m happy to share what info I can, especially for difficult gigs like Marilyn Manson. If this info can help another photographer, I’ll be pleased.
Thanks for the support, I appreciate it!
15. Rod | February 11th, 2008 at 11:54 am
http://www.flickr.com/photos/le-hiboo/695121753/
is for me my best shot of Manson. I think - and you have captured it perfectly Todd - the best thing to do with Manson is to take his light universe. There is a lot of work about it : Manson is only “a piece” of this own theatre, and every light is worked to have an big importance in his music. However Todd, I don’t understand in this case why you have not taken in 6400 ISO ? Would you want to be sure to have “exploitable” pics for press ??? My Pic Manson in 3200 ISO and with a lot of noise has been taken for several magazines : your shots, even in 6400 ISO, are better.
16. Todd | February 11th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Rod,
That’s a beautiful, epic shot — I think the image speaks for itself so well, noise is of no concern. I love it!
With respect to using ISO 6400, for the most part, I simply didn’t need it. For the light that was used in the exposure for Manson, there was generally enough of it. It was just of very poor quality.
Unfortunately, for this set, there wasn’t very much in the way of atmospheric lighting effects, especially at the end.
So, I could have gone to ISO 6400, but it would have just went toward a higher shutter speed or smaller aperture, I think.
Bad lighting is just bad lighting, sometimes
17. Jason | February 11th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
glad to see you got some awesome shots. definitely not an easy shoot at all! you made the right choice in not bothering with the 70-200. another photographer at the NYC show had it on his extra camera but i didnt see him use it once.
18. Todd | February 11th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Hey Jason,
Thanks for the feedback, and thanks again for the advice you gave from your experience.
I keep going back and forth on whether the tele would have been useful, but I think the 24-70 was the right choice. Manson, as I’m sure he was at your gig, was continually and erratically moving up and down the catwalk, which easily would have rendered the 70-200 useless for a lot of shots.
As Rod suggested, with such poor lighting, trying to capture the bigger picture is probably more worthwhile than trying to wait for the myriad occurrences that have to align to secure a clear shot for a performer like Manson.
19. G | February 13th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
wicked série
20. Todd | February 13th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Thanks, G! Glad you liked this show. Some of the images are growing on me now that the event is a few days behind me.
21. Ours @ the Pageant —&hellip | February 14th, 2008 at 8:51 am
[...] opened for Marilyn Manson in a solid, 45-minute performance that laid down straight ahead rock in contrast to Manson’s [...]
22. jan | February 19th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Hey Todd,
i`d really love the first and the fifth… but in general your work is pretty awesome! I had Manson in UK, guessing two years ago in front of my lens. I really understand the difficulties in making great pictures of his performance. Anyway i am really surprised how great your Nikon works. I am still with my Mark III`s but if Canon didn`t fix soon the issues i still have i might give Nikon a chance.
23. Todd | February 19th, 2008 at 10:00 am
Jan,
Thanks for the feedback on this set. Manson is a tough subject, but given the chance I’d photograph him again. Still, anyone having to photograph him on this tour has my sympathies.
Are you experiencing the AF issues with the Mark III, or is it something else? If you happen to give Nikon a try, I think you’ll like the D3 — it is really quite good for low light work.
24. Doug | February 20th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Is that the best you could do!
Nah you know I’m just messin with ya! As ususal these are the best of the best! 3 and 5 are just insane! Thanks for showing the rest of us snappers how its done!
Cheers!
25. Todd | February 20th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Ha, Doug, I’m trying, I really am. Thanks for your thoughts on this set, and for your picks. I don’t have any big shows lined up this week and I’m feeling anxious to start shooting the spring tours. Luckily next week I should have some interesting gigs, so stay tuned!
26. Doug | February 20th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Wish me luck, I have Van Halen Monday and Panic at the Disco next month, All from the “Shadows of the Fourteenth Row” of course!
27. Todd | February 20th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Nice! I’m trying to get set up for both of those shows next month, too, actually. Panic shouldn’t be too much an issue, but VH will be interesting… Good luck, Doug, I’ll be looking forward to the images.
28. Doug | February 20th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
They’ll be mere snap shots compared to your’s but I’ll let you know if I get anything worth sharing.
Peace
speak up
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