June 11, 2008 – Bathed in an epic amount of lush fog and deep color washes, UK’s Switches laid down a set of buzzy, danceable jams on the 2008 Nylon Tour, including singles “Lay Down The Law” and “Drama Queen.”
The English 4-piece performed in support of tourmates Be Your Own Pet and She Wants Revenge.
Photographer’s Notes:
This show was dark. How dark? About ISO 12800 dark. Or, dark enough that I actually brought out the primes for a portion of this set, which I very rarely have to do anymore with the Nikon D3.
I shot this performance with the Nikon D3 and started off with the Nikon 50mm f/1.4, later switching to the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 for wider perspectives and more shooting flexibility. With the zoom, I decided to shoot wide open and compromise on shutter speed. I shot at the sensitivity of ISO 6400, later pushing in post +1ev to an effective ISO 12800. One thing I appreciate about the D3 is that the files the camera renders hold up very, very well to EV compensation in post; even at high ISO, pushing one or two stops renders wonderful results in most cases.
Overall, the lighting wasn’t as dim as it was for Explosions In The Sky, but it was close. The heavy use of fog was quite similar between the two sets – all of the Nylon Tour acts had the water hazers pumping on overtime, actually.
This entry was posted on Sunday, January 25th, 2009 at 10:13 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with 2008, band, british, indie, live, Music Photography, nylon, pop, rock, switches, tour, uk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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My name is Todd, and I love the rock show. My work has appeared in publications such as Rolling Stone, SPIN, the New York Times, Alternative Press, Metal Hammer, Entertainment Weekly, and Billboard Magazine. I'm available for worldwide travel for editorial and commercial assignments.
I love shots that are colorful like this. Good job
Hey Ashley, thanks for the comment. I love the end result for lighting like the Switches had, though it’s very often such a challenge to work with. The thick haze and low light really gave the 50mm f/1.4 a hard time with AF.
Despite the darkness, your photos came very well. I’m suprised that even if at ISO 12800 the noise doesn’t look that bad. Looks like I’ll try it with the D700 next time I have difficulties with low light.
Overall, the colours, the contrasts and the action make your photographs really nice Mr. Owyoung. As Ashley said, “Good job”!
Hey FG, thanks for the comment. I wouldn’t hesitate to pump up the ISO when you need it. The viability of ISO 12800 has a lot to do with the light sources and how they are interacting with the subject. Some images don’t look too much worse than IOS 6400, while others can kick up more “grit.”
Glad the color and contrast of these shots looks good to you! It’s certainly a bit of a change from slick arena lighting, and reminds me that I should give my 50/1.4 a shot more when the lights are this low.
Really cool shots – as usual. I am really looking forward in trying out the D3 in low-light situation at a event soon. BTW, great site!
Hi Michael, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment. The D3 really excels for available light work like this, I think you’ll be very pleased with the results.
My first thought was how much closer the color rendition of this set was to your old D2x. My second thought was “whoa, it must have been D A R K.”
I love that you included the “purple haze” image.
If anything, I think the color rendition looking similar to the D2x has two reasons.
1) I shot a ton at the Pageant under these same lights with the D2x, and the color and contrast of the house lights definitely gives these shots a certain look.
2) The D3’s files start to lose a bit of saturation at ISO 12800 and above, just like the D2x’s files did above ISO 800, and especially at HI-1 (ISO 1600, where I so often shot).
Thanks for the comment. It really was pretty dark, especially for f/2.8 glass.
The D3’s files start to lose a bit of saturation at ISO 12800 and above, just like the D2x’s files did above ISO 800, and especially at HI-1 (ISO 1600, where I so often shot).
I love that the saturation only takes at hit at ISO 12,800. Ha.
Yeah, it’s a beautiful thing. Color saturation and contrast do start to suffer after ISO 1600, but 3200 and 6400 are generally still pretty great as long as the images aren’t tremendously underexposed.
Effective ISO and real ISO are two completely different things. There is a lot more noise when actually setting the camera to 12800.
Anon,
I would agree with you, except that you’re assuming that the HI-1 extension on the D3 (ISO 12800) is achieved via analog gain in-camera.
Hi Todd. These are so beautilful as always. I love all of your works.
ISO 12800….thats enough make me surprise again.
How many pictures do you take one concert?