Hardcore heavyweights Converge brought a high-octane set to the Pageant opening for Mastodon and Dethklok on the Adult Swim Presents Tour with dim, dramatic lighting that just begged for the ultra-wide angle of the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8.
Photographer’s Notes:
This show was one with ugly lighting, plane and simple. Zero light from the front on the band and high and very dim colored backlighting from high at the rear of the stage. But hey, when life gives you lemons, right?
I shot this set at ISO 6400 at f/2.8 and marginal shutter speeds (i.e., 1/30 to 1/60) and mostly at wide angle.
The Nikon 14-24mm was a boon for this show. If you don’t take the images at face value, I can at least tell you that I have never been hit by a vocalist’s mic cord as much as by Jacob Bannon’s for this show. Everytime he was dominating the monitors and letting his mic cord whip around into the pit, I was there right there at 14mm.
Converge is one band I’d love to photograph with strobes and a lower stage, as I think their show would have even more photographic impact in this set with a more personal perspective.
Questions?
Questions about this set of images? Hit me up.
This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 8:34 pm and is filed under Music Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Welcome to ishootshows.com, the premier site for music photography featuring daily concert coverage, portrait features, and photo advice from professional music photographer Todd Owyoung.
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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.
Going wide definitely made these photos… a great technique for making an image where it’s just too dark to get the conventional tight shots. Nicely done Todd!
Hey Chad, thanks for the comment.
You’ve hit on a key point in the approach with these ultra-wide shots, which is that the atmospheric element of the lighting plays a much greater role.
these are @ 6400? Right, if I’ll never go digital, (it must happen at a certain point) I’ll go Nikon. Amazing shots as usual Todd…
Hi Valerio,
Yes, these are all at ISO 6400. One thing I really like about the D3 is that the luminance noise has a very tight structure. I’d say that it is the most “film-like” in that regard out of all the DSLRs that I’ve used. For now, I’m sticking with Nikon. I’m very happy with their current lineup and wholeheartedly recommend the brand for concert photography.
Your site and body of work has amazed me for months. I tout you as one of the best!!!
Question: At 6400, do you still have your in cam NR off, and rely completely on 3rd party NR (ie Noise Ninja)??? Also, do you convert RAW with Nikon software or ACR?
Thanks
Hi Wilson,
Yes, I have in-camera NR turned off — I prefer to have all the detail possible as a start. I do use Noise Ninja to reduce chrominance noise. I don’t reduce luminance noise with NN.
I use Nikon Capture NX2 for my RAW conversions. Thanks for the comment.
Yeah Todd!! here in Chile almost all shows have that ugly fuc..light, is very complicated take some photos.
Hey Rodrigo,
I feel your pain. For opening bands on smaller tours like this, the lighting is often very “minimal.” Still, sometimes it’s a nice challenge to go for captuing more atmosphere and less detail, I think. Thanks for the comment.
The 14-24 is a defanite need for my bag. If Todd let’s mic cords slap against it to get a shot, it must be good.
Hi Taylor, nice to hear from you. I’m pretty sure my head took the brunt of the beatings from the mic cords! Though the 14-24mm could take a hit or two, I have no doubt.
Typical photos! If the lighting conditions are bad, your photos are run-of-the-mill… you only can shoot if the lightshow is perfekt !
^^^^Amazing comment above. You suck Todd!! hahaha.
All I can say is this: bring it.
Haha! You’re a braver man than I. If I was faced with lighting that bad, I might’ve just walked out of the pit. The fact you can turn them into far better than viewable images is testament to your skill. Kudos
Hey SS,
When faced with such dim lighting, it’s always tempting to just walk out of the pit. However, at the same time, I’m almost always compelled to try harder to work with the available light. It’s especially challenging for hardcore bands like Converge here, when slower shutter speeds are recipe for massive motion blur.
Thanks for the comment.
Tood you are the master! I was faced with bad lighting last night & barely made it out alive, you take bad lighting & make art.
Hey groovehouse, thanks for the kind words. I’m trying here. When the lighting is this poor (relative to what the venue is capable of), the nice thing is that all expectations go out the window, which I think can give the photographer a unique position to experiment more, since there’s nothing on the line.
Ha! I’d like to see a link to Jens work. Keep on rockin’ Todd!
Hey Hilary, thanks for the support, I appreciate it!
“I don’t reduce luminance noise with NN”
At any point in your workflow do you reduce luminance noise? Is there a need? I am considering a copy of NN so I’m gathering info. Also- It seems, after testing, that shooting RAW and using in cam NR, the actual pixels are being altered, or ’smeared’ for lack of a better word. Wouldn’t this mean it is no longer a true RAW file, but an altered RAW file? I am shooting with a D700.
Do you handle ALL your post with only Capture NX2 and NN? I’ve dabbled with NX2, but it’s SO slow! Can you get such quality without help from Adobe? Wow
Wilson,
No, I don’t reduce luminance noise for my images. For the reproduction sizes of my images, there isn’t a need – the D3 offers a very fine “grain” and noise pattern, so I find that most any luminance noise basically disappears. This is true even for 20″ x 30″ prints I’ve made from the D3.
You can always turn off noise reduction in your RAW processor, so if you happen to shoot with it on in-camera, I wouldn’t worry about it. I use Nikon Capture NX and Photoshop in my workflow.
Thanks Todd. Time to go shoot n test. The D3 and D700 are using identical sensors no?
In regards to RAW, It sounds like what you’re saying is: the in-camera NR is just metadata applied to the display properties rather than altering actual image pixels. (ie WB) There’s been some debate between my friends and I on how in-camera NR is handled while shooting in RAW.
Thanks for the Wisdom
[...] photographing Converge and Mastodon, I had my doubts about this tour’s lighting. While doing research for the Adult [...]