My poor unsuspecting boyfriend was in the shower and i was playing about modding this. After he got ready and came back i made him pose im a bad person.

The setup seems to work quite well im hoping to use it on some fashion shoots soon. I should really invest in canon flashguns mainly because of their tiny size for portability and my light stands are made for them. Hmm i should really should think things through more.

Anyhooo i was starting to think my photoshopping skills were getting rusty so i shot severl portraits of Glenn and loaded them straight into CS3

This shot is made up of 4 layers and a lot of the editing was done using masks or by painting., the ‘hydrolics’ are free stock.

I am now working on more to this series im gonna be a zombie im realllly scared of zombies, especially the runners T____T

The lighting at this gig was not amazing although if i could have knocked the iso higher than 1600 i may have been able to pull more through. My poor camera is on its last legs the shutter is continuously jamming and im missing shots that i should be able to get. None the less i keep pressing that button like a crazy bitch (my poor finger was hurting for days after loll) and manage to get some really cool but different shots to what i would normally go for.  The other big problem was that the press pit was at the side of the stage, Chris the Drummer was lit beautifully but from where we were the rest of the band were just back lit, although once i dawdled into the crowd afterwards the front looked really well lit. Fudgeicles!

Band photography is awesome for this reason, you don’t know what lighting you are going to get and in the space or 3 songs or 15minutes (whichever comes first)  you have to work out the lighting, your settings and get kick ass shots that your editor is going to love.

Iso 1600 f4-5.6 (could have done with my 50mmf1.8 that night must also invest in a 100mm f1.8 soon to). I really pushed the images during the post processing then smoothed it out with noise ninja and slapped a film grain on.  Film grain looks so much nicer than digital noise so this part of the processing is mainly due to a personal preference.  A few were put into black and white so i could push them even more. Im starting to think i should just shoot gigs in film haha  When i get my own place so i can have my own darkroom i think i might shoot every gig in film. <(*o*<)

Anyhoo onto the pics, The singer Richie was molested at this gig  <(T__T)> naughty audience giving us Geordie gals a bad name lol

www.heavensbasement.com

Glenns review and my photos will be viewable on www.inthepit.co.uk!  very soon !

I really do think Irfanview is plotting against my images especially the landscape ones :-S it seems to be making them really noisy?  boo hissss Irfanview >:- (

lol

Christine

xx

A band that has heavily featured on my playlists recently is The Answer (don’t any of you dare ask me what the question is).  Very, very,veryyyy  catchy songs and Paul the guitarist is an absolute sweetheart. Can i keep him?

I shot this gig with my currently dying canon 30d and my 17-85 and 70-300 zoom i shot mainly 1/125^th and above for this on iso 800. The band had extra power cans at the front of the stage which was awesome lighting wise but crap for the short arses like me who can barely see over the stage anyway haha Lots of colour in the lights as well i don’t think any white lights featured at all, mainly blues and pinks or the odd greens that do make for very pretty pictures.

Loved these guys live the academy 1 seemed a little quiet when the support acts were on but as soon as The Answer came on it filled out a lot more. I missed the first support but when they came from backstage and stood beside me they did have a lot of hair. The second band were so young very sweet and handled their set very well and i got a free badge and fake tattoo

The Answer images

Hmmm not liking the way Irfanview has compressed the smaller images, think im gonna have to mooch aboot for a new program to do batch conversions T____T

When Miyavi came out the crowd went wild, there was no support beforehand he just went straight for the kill. I was expecting him to be good but not this good, I was honestly blown away. He worked the crowd and teased them by hiding behind his umbrella as he made his way to the mic. Even then barely showing his face while the crowd go wild in front of him. There was a lot of happy people in the room that night.

I did however feel slightly sickened at the fact I noticed the bassist was using a ampeg svt 2 pro and svt 4pro >.<  haha I think my boyfriend has got me well trained in the art of bass amps. Did I mention the bassist had an ampeg cab to? Lol

Anyhoooooo  a few pics from the gig  – al watermarked as i realy dont want to find them all over lj and photobucket. Sorryyy x

- Christine   xx

Anyhoo I asked the awesome www.maocouture.co.uk if  myself the awesome www.gregsanders.co.uk and the beautifully talented Lizzie Jobes www.flickr.com/photos/lizziejobes/could take some photos in an abandoned building. Well the amazing Mao lent us a LOT of dresses for the shoot but we didn’t have time to shoot them all as several models had to be elsewhere for a certain time. We also had the fantastic styling abilities of the lovely Ashleigh Rodda who was such a good giggle and kept us all on track especially with the time constraints.

On make up the amazing Paula Pace http://www.perfectionnailandbeauty.co.ukgo hire her now!!!!!!!

The models were the lovely Laura, Sarah and Annika who al looked stunning in the dresses >:-(

Some behind the scenes shots.

Laura getting her make up done byt the lovely Paula

Greg pulling funny faces at the models and hogging all the dresses lolll sorry its my revenge haha

Annika and Sarah waiting patiently while Laura gets her make up done

Suiting up and sorting out

Lizzie playing with her camera

Now the piccies

Once again a huge thank you to everyone involved it couldnt have happened without you xxx

So it a shorter sentence, Im only going to waffle on about my technique and experience! )

First off I am going to talk about Flash photography. I HATE when people say you shouldn’t use a flash as it kills the atmosphere of a gig. NO it doesn’t, it only kills it if you do not know how to use it properly. The best way to experiment with this is by shooting local bands as its highly unlikely you will be allowed to use flash at larger gigs.
If allowed there are several options for flash, you can have a wirless setup with several lights on the stage or the surrounding area.
If you are using a lower end DSLR then you have the option of a pop up flash, which can be used to your advantage if you actually tweak the setting and intensity of it. But it is quite direct and you can get quite a harsh effect from it.
Or you can use a flashgun which will give you more options as you ca swivel and tilt the head. Use it directly on the subject or bounce it off walls, ceiling and even the bands equipment.

www.minnikin.com

I tend to use a flashgun, the shot above was taking using a metz 45 cl-4 on used on manual. I normally have it two stops difference to the aperture but I had it on 3 as the lighting isn’t amazing in the Angel Inn and also purely for funnsies (great pub I advise you all to go to). The ceilings in there are quite low so it was great to be able to bounce the flash off the ceiling, it gives a great effect very dramatic especially playing with the curves in Photoshop afterwards.

Im always hearing ‘It’s easy for you, you have a big camera to do it for you.’ Now there are two arguments to this statement. The first one is assuming the camera does it for you. No it doesn’t, I only ever use manual on the camera and manual focus when im shooting gigs. People think that’s crazy and more work, but im in complete control at the same time I wouldn’t know how to use any other setting on my camera as I have spent most of my time using a pentax k1000 with film.

The second argument to this is assuming you have to have a DSLR to be able to take good gig photography. Here are some of my shots I have taken not using my DSLR.

Joe Satriani

This shot was taken in Newcastle City hall using my Fuji point and shoot which happened to have a manual mode on. The lighting was amazing so it was kind of hard not to get a good shot. I took this before I knew about RAW files and is a jpeg and the camera was set to only 3megapixels and it prints out beautifully on a4 which goes to show it isn’t about how many megapixels your camera has ;o) I was also just in front of the mixing desk which is situated at the middle of the venue.

This one was a crowd shot at Download festival during KISS’ set, quite a nice abstract shot that may not show the band but does show the crazy stage show and a nice silhouetted crowd. This was taken on a bog standard point and shoot camera with no manual (

Kiss - Downloads 08

and a shot of Paul Stanely

Paul Stanley

This last one was taken with my toy Holga camera, who said you had to be at the front of the stage to get a good shot?  I have an entire hugeee post to do just about the crazy effects you can achieve from these amazing little cameras.

Black Stone Cherry, Disturbed and Biffy Clyro + a Glenn portrait

Its not the tools its how you use them.

Lighting

You are not going to be able to control the lighting at the venue unless you managed to sweet talk management of the band to allow you to use a wireless set up or you are best friends with the light tech. The best part of gig photography is not knowing what the lighting is going to be like. You could research gig photography from earlier shows in the tour, but in the end it sometimes just depends on the venue.

So the thing to do it make the best of the situation you are in.

Some of the gigs I have shot have been extremely well lit others have not. But its not a bad thing it just meant I was able to experiment more with different kind of lighting.

Chris - Black Stone Cherry

Chris from Black Stone Cherry silhouetted against the harsh back lighting. If you haven’t seen these guys live I highly suggest you do so, amazing!

Ben - Black Stone Cherry

Ben from Black Stone Cherry from the same gig as above. Ironically the lighting got a lot better after the first 3 songs haha typical. But this shot shows a good lighting set up and the ideal lighting any photographer could wish for especially with the venue.

Glenn - Minnikin

One single light can create a damatic image.

Joel O' Keefe - Airbourne

Lots of red and blues can usually kill a shot, making sure you have the white balance set correctly beforehand shooting on RAW can help a lot and will make life easier during the post processing.

Composition. You are under a lot of pressure when shooting bands as you only usually have 3 songs to take photos in. Its not a lot of time at all, so while you are worrying about your settings and lighting you also have to think about composing your shots. Apart from the settings on your camera, composition helps define your style as well. The choices you make before you press the shutter determine the outcome.  When Im shooting I don’t think about the rule of thirds, the golden spiral etc (well I do when shooting anything but gigs lol) You have to rely on the band to make the shot, you just have to capture the moment and make sure there is enough detail in the frame or cut out anything that disrupts the shot.

Micky Crystal www.minnikin.com

Close Crop.

Stone Gods

Shot from below.

Stone Gods

Going wide.

Stone Gods

Seperating subject from band and background.

Black Stone Cherry

Portrait

Airbourne

Including the stage and equipment.

I could go on and on but the point Im trying to put across is that the possibilities for a shot are unlimited.

Other factors to think about are catching a moment. This shot was taken as Chris was encouraging the crowd to sing along.

Chris - Black Stone Cherry

Most people hate smoke, I love it and try to use it to my advantage. This shot of Joel O’ Keefe is quite dreamlike and surreal as the smoke engulfs him.

Airbourne

Band members jumping into the crowd is another good one. But it only usually happens as the photographers are getting ushered out of the press pit haha or Richie from Stone Gods tries to jump on your head.

Also the main thing to remember when shooting bands is…………………………..

Dont forget the drummer lol

Black Stone Cherry

Then once the 3 songs are over relax and enjoy the rest of the gig and then bug the band for cheesy shots at the end while forgetting to sort out the white balance haha

Jon -BSC

I love this shot its on my wall loll next to the photo of me with Die and Toshiya from Dir en grey

I haven’t mentioned much about shutter speed or ISO as I usually wing it on the night sometimes I can get away with an ISO of 400 but other times 1200 (I rarely have it as this as I hate digital noise) and my shutter speed with vary all the time. Like I say ive only taken photography serious for a while im yet to find a suitable pattern or technique to suit my needs yet. But I am learning all the time.

I will probably write up an article about the lenses I use as well once I have updated my collection ) but any questions feel free to ask.

Christine

xx

<3

Not my usual kinda thing but it was still fun
xx

xxx

Squeeee she sings too
And om nom nom at the bassist lolll ;D

I havent gotten out of bed at all today, spent all day editing photos on the laptop (update tomorrow) watching you tube videos, giggling at Grandpa Simpson with a bedpan on his head screaming ‘I’m a speedy alka seltzer’ ha
Think i might watch my collectors edition of Bram Stokers Dracula *o* It even has extras with Eiko Ishiokas costumes squeeeeeeeee and Gary Oldman working it as a sexy sexy vampire ;D screw you twilight lol

Think i might take a day trip to London this week to mooch at RankinLive *o* Graham sent me a picture message of Rankins studio :O wahhhhhhh really want to go.

I start my training in a studio this week im still trying to get around paying this money for this college course boo hisssss lol Stupid Newcastle College putting the price up >:( for ding a linbgs like me who already have qualifications but are greedy and want more

Meep realised i have work at 8 and i have loads to sort out D:

xx