The Dropkick Murphys are in town, and it’s St. Patrick’s Day come early as the Pageant overflows with Guinness, Jameson, and big guys in kilts.
Fronted by Al Barr, the Boston-bred group stormed the stage complete with their piper in tow and had a sea of fists in the air from the opening beats.
Mixing punk, hardcore, Irish folk, and working-class aesthetics, the Murphys have carved out a rabidly strong following through their constant touring and explosive live shows. The band is currently touring in support of their 2007 major-label release, The Meanest of Times.
Photographer’s Notes:Oi! The Murphys go on stage a few ticks after 10:00 PM; three songs, 89 frames, and seven minutes later, the fourth song is starting and I’m exiting the pit.
Lighting:
For the first three songs, weak blue backlighting set the mood, contrasting high white light from high in the rafters that lit Al Barr and his crew at the front of the stage.
In addition to the blue wash from the back, there were accents of green and orange that came into play briefly.
Lense & Gear:
I stuck with the Nikon D3 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 for this set. This range was generally fine for this set, though I would have liked to see how the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 would have done for long shots of frontman Barr given the high contrast lighting on his face.
The toughest aspect for this shoot was the fact that there was no fill for the first three songs, so lighting was reduced to a very contasty treatment on stage.
Range aside, there wasn’t a whole lot of time to change lenses, but the midrange did do a fine job.
Exposure & Metering:
By quantity, there was plenty of light for this set, though the intensity did vary enough to bounce between ISO 2500 and ISO 6400 between the front and back of the stage, respectively.
I shot wide open at f/2.8 and a range of shutter speeds between 1/200 and 1/320. I could have kept the ISO even lower, but I wanted to keep shutter high enough to stop the constant motion on stage.
End Notes:
Between the high, thin lighting and punk rock action on stage, this was a rough shoot, and I couldn’t help but think of how this show would have played at a venue half or even a quarter of the size.
7 Comments Add your own
1. Samuel Barr | March 16th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Hi Todd,
Quick question for you - how would have approached shooting this show using your DX2? Thanks for sharing your wonderful work with us and I look forward to hearing from you. Be blessed!
2. Todd | March 16th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Hey Samuel,
Ha, that’s a good question, granted that I very, very rarely went above IOS 1600 with the D2x.
On the exposure side, I would have been at HI-1 on the D2x with a shutter speed between 1/60 and 1/160 (instead of 1/160 and 1/320) using the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8.
I might have gone to the Sigma 30mm f/1.4, but the light for this gig was generally bright enough — it was more an issue of quality — for f/2.8 glass.
The big reason I kept up my shutter speeds was the constant motion on stage, particularly by the frontman. With the D2x, I might have shot more as a means of increasing the hit rate.
Other than these tech detail, the overall approach for shooting, tracking, and working subjects would have been identical with the older camera.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
3. Chris | March 17th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Wow, this looks super rough. Despite the overall clean look of the images, the lighting ratios are seriously harsh. It’s #1 and #3 for me this time based on expression.
4. Todd | March 17th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Yeah, pretty nasty, right? The light was actually much better for the first of the two openers, Everybody Out. Thanks for the picks.
5. Andi | March 17th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Mh, tricky lighting this time. It’s #11 and especially #13 for me, because here the light really gives Barr a three dimensional look and the expression is well caught.
Maybe I’ll visit them too, should be in my range in one or two weeks, think I got it written down somewhere.
6. Todd | March 17th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Hey Andi, thanks for your picks, I think you chose two of my favorite shots. The lighting was pretty nasty while we were shooting. Maybe I’ve got to buy the lighting tech at this venue a few rounds next time
The band is definitely worth checking out, I think they’re heading over for a European tour soon. Hope you have better lighting than me!
7. Rancid @ Pop’s R&hellip | June 29th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
[…] go by in a flash, though I think it stretched out a little more than the seven-minute run that the Dropkick Murphys delivered for their first three […]
speak up
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