Irish Pub

sara505

I had a an opportunity to try out my brand-new 5D the other night in one of my favorite dark bars, one of the reasons I bought the camera (shhh...I tell people it's for dark church weddings).
These were shot with my 50mm/1.4, at ISO 6400.
Technically, I suppose they're not great, but they are a far cry better than what I was getting with the G12, and I'm fairly pleased. No. I love them. I love the camera, and this is my favorite style of photography.

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12.

Andee

Awesome series! Love them!

E Colby

A delightful group. Looks like all had fun.
Cheers,
Colby

Juano

I like them. I especially like #12 and #1. I laughed when I saw #2, it looks like Mr. Spock playing the violin!

Were your pictures extremely noisy at 6400 right of the box?

Andee

Juano wrote: »

I laughed when I saw #2, it looks like Mr. Spock playing the violin!

I thought the same thing, that is looked like a young Lenard Nemoy, (? spelling) minus the Spock ears.

rainbow

I am impressed that these are ISO 6400 -- not sure why you think they fall short technically. Processing seems to complement your shots very well, too.

Richard

Congratulations on your new [strike]toy[/strike] tool. I'm envious. ISO 6400 on my 50D usually looks like the screen of an old B&W TV after the station went off the air.

Nice set. I don't know what technical issues you are concerned about. They look good to me. I think I like the last one best. Do you have any shots that include the audience?

sara505

Thanks, Andee and Colby.

Juano - only a little noisy. I only had to de-noise (LR3) a very little (compared to what I've been faced with with my G12).

Funny, I never thought of Levi as looking like Spock, but you're right

My technical concerns revolve around not being able to get some of the whites a bit whiter without pushing everything too far.

Richard - Re old b&w TV!

As for the audience: one, the light is much worse where the patrons are sitting (at tables and at the bar); two, I'm a little leary of pointing my camera into a crowd of people drinking, this being not very welcomed, I have found, and I agree, I think folks should have the freedom to enjoy a pint, privately, without ending up on the front page of some blog (or photography forum ).

I suppose I should fully disclose that these are people I play music with once or twice a week who have become inured to the fact that I am often photographing them.

I also do a fair amount of shooting at other sessions around Boston, but this is my "local." To see more, as well as the evolution from G9 (the very first post looks just like Richard's TV screen) to G12 to 5D, click on my Trad Diary link.

The only other thing I would add is, the auto-focus in this low light was a real challenge and I often had to focus manually.

And when I'm not photographing, you'll often find me doing this:



(taken by Ryan, the whistle-player in #3)

lizzard_nyc

Hooray for the low light shots--Isn't the 5d a beauty?
Your post made me realize that I have not really pushed mine as far as the ISO goes, I'm so used to keeping my ISO low on my olympus that I haven't really pushed my 5d. Thanks for this lesson.

This is a very fun series with beautiful conversion.
I'm just bowled over about the high ISO!

sara505

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

Hooray for the low light shots--Isn't the 5d a beauty?
Your post made me realize that I have not really pushed mine as far as the ISO goes, I'm so used to keeping my ISO low on my olympus that I haven't really pushed my 5d. Thanks for this lesson.

This is a very fun series with beautiful conversion.
I'm just bowled over about the high ISO!

Thanks, Liz. I had not heard that you got a 5D. I love it!

saltydog

Hmm, I don't want to be a party pooper but - I am totally missing eye contact or any kind of photographic interaction/relation with the people in this series. Except for #12, they all seem to be in their own little world and the photographs do not really tell me anything about them or the moment, or even convey the spirit and energy usually present when a musician immerses himself into his or her music. The photographer seems very disconnected from the subjects of her photographs if you ask me...

rainbow

saltydog wrote: »

Hmm, I don't want to be a party pooper but - I am totally missing eye contact or any kind of photographic interaction/relation with the people in this series. Except for #12, they all seem to be in their own little world and the photographs do not really tell me anything about them or the moment, or even convey the spirit and energy usually present when a musician immerses himself into his or her music. The photographer seems very disconnected from the subjects of her photographs if you ask me...

The photos are at the top of the thread...

sara505

saltydog wrote: »

Hmm, I don't want to be a party pooper but - I am totally missing eye contact or any kind of photographic interaction/relation with the people in this series. Except for #12, they all seem to be in their own little world and the photographs do not really tell me anything about them or the moment, or even convey the spirit and energy usually present when a musician immerses himself into his or her music. The photographer seems very disconnected from the subjects of her photographs if you ask me...

Hi, Saltydog.

No problem. Every photo is not every person's cup of tea. Sorry these missed the mark for you.

Maybe it would help to explain that an Irish music session in a bar doesn't involve much eye contact, and yes, while the music is usually tight as a drum, each musician is in his or her own little world, so even if I had wanted to capture eye contact or interaction, I wouldn't have found it.

I was trying to capture portraits of the musicians in the context of a dark, urban bar; also testing the 5DMkII's low light capabilities.

But, if I have to explain all of this, the photos have missed with you, and that's fine, because I know what I was after and I'm very happy with what I got. It helps that I love the music, I love the people, I love the instruments, and the Irish session scene, and that each photo does show a reasonable likeness to the subject.

Syncopation

The image quality is excellent esp @ ISO 6400. I've just bought the 50mm F1.4 but have a 7D rather than a 5D so it'll be interesting to see how image quality on the crop compares to the FF.

My personal favourites are #5 and #7

bdcolen

sara505 wrote: »

I had a an opportunity to try out my brand-new 5D the other night in one of my favorite dark bars, one of the reasons I bought the camera (shhh...I tell people it's for dark church weddings).
These were shot with my 50mm/1.4, at ISO 6400.
Technically, I suppose they're not great, but they are a far cry better than what I was getting with the G12, and I'm fairly pleased. No. I love them. I love the camera, and this is my favorite style of photography.

Very nice, Sara - particularly #s 1 and 8. And you avoided the big pitfall with these high iso lightsuckers - you did not turn night into day. clap

sara505

bdcolen wrote: »

Very nice, Sara - particularly #s 1 and 8. And you avoided the big pitfall with these high iso lightsuckers - you did not turn night into day. clap

Thanks, BD. Ha - funny, here's what I wrote in my blog post: but I am very, very happy with the stills, a vast improvement from the G12; like night and day - literally, the 5D turns the dark cave of Tommy Doyle's into daylight! Okay, well, almost.

:D:D

sara505

And if anyone is interested in hearing and seeing the actual energy from this place, also, what the 5D can do in terms of video (I know, wrong forum, but it goes with these shots), try this (to get you in the mood for tomorrow? )
(First attempt at video with 5D, combined with my friend's Lumix footage; 5D are the straight-on angles, Lumix from below))

pathfinder

Very nice series, Sara.

I like your conversion a great deal. Not the dark grainy film noir of Tri X, but nice deep blacks with great skin tones captured.

Leica fans, eat your heart out!!

sara505

pathfinder wrote: »

Very nice series, Sara.

I like your conversion a great deal. Not the dark grainy film noir of Tri X, but nice deep blacks with great skin tones captured.

Leica fans, eat your heart out!!

Thanks, Pathfinder. Yeah, I love this thing, had been dreaming of it for months, and it has met and surpassed all expectations.

Bendr

I like the series! nice photos, Sounds like you will have fun with the camera too

saltydog

sara505 wrote: »

Hi, Saltydog.

No problem. Every photo is not every person's cup of tea. Sorry these missed the mark for you.

Maybe it would help to explain that an Irish music session in a bar doesn't involve much eye contact, and yes, while the music is usually tight as a drum, each musician is in his or her own little world, so even if I had wanted to capture eye contact or interaction, I wouldn't have found it.

I was trying to capture portraits of the musicians in the context of a dark, urban bar; also testing the 5DMkII's low light capabilities.

But, if I have to explain all of this, the photos have missed with you, and that's fine, because I know what I was after and I'm very happy with what I got. It helps that I love the music, I love the people, I love the instruments, and the Irish session scene, and that each photo does show a reasonable likeness to the subject.

Sara, I think you nailed it in your first sentence, everybody looks at photos differently - and looks for different things in them. And sometimes you just don't see what the other person sees. But I have to bring this up, lol - I actually was a bartender in an Irish music pub in NYC for 9 years and took a ton of low-light shots in there (pushing good old Kodak Tri-X film to an often unacceptable 6400 ISO) at the very beginning of my photographic endeavors. And while I rarely shot pics of the musicians and my photos were rather crude to say the least, I think I am still under the influence when I see photos tagged as "Irish Pub" and expect them to look somewhat like mine . That said, and revisiting your pics, I really do like #1 and #7!

sara505

saltydog wrote: »

Sara, I think you nailed it in your first sentence, everybody looks at photos differently - and looks for different things in them. And sometimes you just don't see what the other person sees. But I have to bring this up, lol - I actually was a bartender in an Irish music pub in NYC for 9 years and took a ton of low-light shots in there (pushing good old Kodak Tri-X film to an often unacceptable 6400 ISO) at the very beginning of my photographic endeavors. And while I rarely shot pics of the musicians and my photos were rather crude to say the least, I think I am still under the influence when I see photos tagged as "Irish Pub" and expect them to look somewhat like mine . That said, and revisiting your pics, I really do like #1 and #7!

Saltydog - helpful to know where you're coming from - and we all have a story, I guess. Thanks for clarifying and glad you ended up liking a couple.
btw, I like your NYC BWs very much.

sara505

Bendr wrote: »

I like the series! nice photos, Sounds like you will have fun with the camera too

Thanks, Bendr. I'm having a blast. :D

Joco

It is really a wonderful series. Very atmospheric, as it is supposed to be. I like the small dof of a fast fifty on a full frame camera. Even though my Pentax K5 can equal your Canon in ISO performance, a 'full size' sensor just gives that nicer depth of field.

sara505

Joco wrote: »

It is really a wonderful series. Very atmospheric, as it is supposed to be. I like the small dof of a fast fifty on a full frame camera. Even though my Pentax K5 can equal your Canon in ISO performance, a 'full size' sensor just gives that nicer depth of field.

Thank you, Joco. I agree Re 50/1.4. It's what I used for years (on a Pentax SPF - my favorite camera of all time), and it feels like coming home, especially with the FF.

bdcolen

saltydog wrote: »

Hmm, I don't want to be a party pooper but - I am totally missing eye contact or any kind of photographic interaction/relation with the people in this series. Except for #12, they all seem to be in their own little world and the photographs do not really tell me anything about them or the moment, or even convey the spirit and energy usually present when a musician immerses himself into his or her music. The photographer seems very disconnected from the subjects of her photographs if you ask me...

Well, totally disagree - and, for this kind of photography, the last thing I'd want to see is "eye contact." This is not "hey, look at me" shooting - this is capturing people "in their own little world," thereby opening up that world to us.

Richard

Hmm...this is something I puzzle over. Most of my shots don't have eye-contact, but the waiter I posted the other day does and I don't see it as a problem. You don't want to disturb the scene, but eye-contact with the camera means eye-contact with the viewer, which can draw you in. I just looked at a series of portraits by Rembrandt and Raphael: some have it, some don't. I suppose formal portraits are a different class, but I am also reminded of some Velázquez paintings in which eye contact from someone in a group is quite engaging. Dunno that I would worry about it much.

sara505

Richard wrote: »

Hmm...this is something I puzzle over. Most of my shots don't have eye-contact, but the waiter I posted the other day does and I don't see it as a problem. You don't want to disturb the scene, but eye-contact with the camera means eye-contact with the viewer, which can draw you in. I just looked at a series of portraits by Rembrandt and Raphael: some have it, some don't. I suppose formal portraits are a different class, but I am also reminded of some Velázquez paintings in which eye contact from someone in a group is quite engaging. Dunno that I would worry about it much.

I puzzle over this, too; I dare say we're not the only ones. I tend to think that both is okay. Depends on a lot of things. The one of Sean (eyes closed) would have been a very different shot had he been looking at the camera. I love capturing these kids lost to the world, but I also adore the last shot where they're engaging with me.

I struggle with this in my family and events photography also. There's the obligatory posed-staring-at-camera shot, but the best shots of families are when I say, that was fun, now - ignore me and talk to each other, make each other laugh.

I've said it many times before - I don't think it's either black or white. Each situation, each photo, is different.

I am not Orthodox in these matters - call me Reform.