At it again #4

Swartzy

Geez, can't say I've ever had this much difficulty....well....what about this?

HARMONY IN THE KITCHEN

LiquidAir

Heh. Are those spice jars wearing tuxes?

This shot really needs lower key light and a spot light on the conductor. If you manage to reproduce stage lighting your story will be much stronger.

Swartzy

Liquid Air...
Yes, spice jars wearing tuxes. Yes, I have many shots that look the way you suggest.....I'm working on them now for the right flavor of light. So often others say, "oh, that's underexposed" but I think in this case it's the "Diva" spice, Coriander, who should take up the spot light!

Tentacion

Very cute shot, I don't usually comment, but since you asked, I would say the lighting is off.

ChrisJ

I almost didn't notice the conductor in front... cute. It looks artificially organic to me! Tricky theme junction. I'm on the fence, it doesn't really grab me, but it has potential.l...

Nikolai

What LiquidAIr and ChrisJ said...

LiquidAir

Swartzy wrote:

Yes, spice jars wearing tuxes. Yes, I have many shots that look the way you suggest.....I'm working on them now for the right flavor of light. So often others say, "oh, that's underexposed" but I think in this case it's the "Diva" spice, Coriander, who should take up the spot light!

Putting the spot on Coriander should keep the shot from looking underexposed. The whites on her tux will provide a reference white in the scene which will let you expose the rest darker. I do think you also need a tight spot on the podium coming from behind the conductor as a cue to help tell the story.

Swartzy

Thanks....
Working on it as we speak (or type and read to be more acurate).

Swartzy

OK, here's the next one
HARMONY IN THE KITCHEN

Nikolai

David,

Swartzy wrote:

HARMONY IN THE KITCHEN

This one looks too PS-ed to me. Besides, all the "choir" is so dark that you can barely see it. Neither of the themes is virtually there (I mean, I think neither artificial nor organic when I look at the picture).
I still think this particular setup has a potential, but the lighting is plain W.R.O.N.G.
Hope you have more aces in your sleeve!

LiquidAir

Ya know what I meant to suggest in my first post and completely failed to communicate? I think the shot needs a dark, and probably black background. Try picking up a couple yards of black felt at your local fabric store. You'll find it comes in handy for lots of shots in this category. The other thing that would often comes in handy is a sheet black acrylic. If you have a Tap plastics near by try picking up a 3' square sheet of 1/4" black acrylic. Set up your scene on the acrylic and use the felt as a backdrop.

Here's a quick primer on high key light vs. low key light:

In high key lighting, your backdrop is the lightest color thing in the scene. Your subject then pops by being darker than the background and tyipcally the darkest element will draw the most attention.

Low key light is the opposite: the background is the darkest element in the scene and the feature elements are bright.

The white background in this shot sets the stage for high key which means that to feature something you need to be dark. That works well for portraits of people with light skin because the eyes are often the darkest element in the frame. It also works well when you are trying to feature bright colors because the colors are often richer if they are slightly underexposed. In this shot, you are trying feature your soloist by putting a spot on her but you are really having the opposite effect and losing here in the background. You'll notice that real concerts rarely use high key light for just this reason. By going low key you will lose a little pop in the colors of your vegetables but in trade the spice jars will pop. Even the jars that are underexposed a stop will show much better than they are against the white.

DRabbit

LiquidAir wrote:

Ya know what I meant to suggest in my first post and completely failed to communicate? I think the shot needs a dark, and probably black background. Try picking up a couple yards of black felt at your local fabric store. You'll find it comes in handy for lots of shots in this category. The other thing that would often comes in handy is a sheet black acrylic. If you have a Tap plastics near by try picking up a 3' square sheet of 1/4" black acrylic. Set up your scene on the acrylic and use the felt as a backdrop.

I totally agree.

Another thing too, look at pictures of stage lighting... it is often very contrasty with hot highlights and real dark lowlights... and it's almost never all white. Whether you simulate it in post or do it when you shoot doesn't matter, but it will really help you get that stage feel if you follow suit.

Swartzy

LiquidAir wrote:

Ya know what I meant to suggest in my first post and completely failed to communicate? I think the shot needs a dark, and probably black background. Try picking up a couple yards of black felt at your local fabric store. You'll find it comes in handy for lots of shots in this category. The other thing that would often comes in handy is a sheet black acrylic. If you have a Tap plastics near by try picking up a 3' square sheet of 1/4" black acrylic. Set up your scene on the acrylic and use the felt as a backdrop.

Thanks Liquid Air. I'm reshooting today. I thought of the black background intitially but didn't have what was needed, so opted for the transparent white, putting lighting behind it. It also made sense to me (at the time) that using a backlit background would give the feel of being in a kitchen, using the countertop. I thought it looked cool but see what you've described. I suppose it's more about perseverence at this juncture. Thanks for taking the time...appreciate it.

sherstone

Personally I think the idea is a very good one.

I do agree with the others about lighting but I also understood your original intentions of a kitchen setting (it came through for me).

There is one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb for me and I'm not really sure if a substitute is possible but that piano just doesn't fit the rest of the texture and feel of the rest of the image. I do think the piano is needed since that is the main "spotlight" but maybe a more organic looking piano?

so far this is my favorite of the images you have worked on.

douglas

I like this idea also, the lighting is going to be tricky for sure though. The piano does look a bit outta place to me, but may look fine in the final outcome. Good luck and keep at it.

Swartzy

Thanks for you encouragement
This has been an exercise...hopefully not in futility. I really like these with the black background as it allowed me to work with individual lighting much easier....like I mentioned...the idea of the kitchen and such but realize the lighting was conflicting with the overall mood. I sincerely appreciate your generosity in commenting. Here are two versions...which do you like better? OH, BTW...that's a potato harpsichord .

#1


#2

LiquidAir

That is definitely progress. There is one other thing I would try: put the widest lens you have and bring the camera in close to your soloist with the rest of the group in the background. Play around with the framing a bit to see if you can develop a relationship between the soloist and your conductor.

Nikolai

Swartzy wrote:

This has been an exercise...hopefully not in futility. I really like these with the black background as it allowed me to work with individual lighting much easier....like I mentioned...the idea of the kitchen and such but realize the lighting was conflicting with the overall mood. I sincerely appreciate your generosity in commenting. Here are two versions...which do you like better? OH, BTW...that's a potato harpsichord .
#1
#2

NOW you're talking! That bright BG was a mood killer for me.
I like #2 better, seems a bit brighter.

Nikolai

I would also suggest to reproduce the actual stage shot and change your vantage point to a lower angle?

This is how IRL band shot looks like:

sherstone

Bravo!
Nice potato Harpsichord!

The only thing that feels off in these versions is the left vegetable tree it's off by itself and atracts a bit too much attention maybe?

definitely #2 out of these.

Swartzy

Ok...new vantage point
I didn't want to get so low that the back row of the bass section was lost or the altos. My thinking was that I was either going to be in the first section above the stage mid way out, or closer in but high enough to capture the essence. This is a different look....shot with wider lens, closer up, different angle (sorry Nik, I would have gone further but my little room doesn't allow it), and moved the rubarb closer in so it wasn't out there by itself.

#1


#2

Nikolai

Swartzy wrote:

I didn't want to get so low that the back row of the bass section was lost or the altos. My thinking was that I was either going to be in the first section above the stage mid way out, or closer in but high enough to capture the essence. This is a different look....shot with wider lens, closer up, different angle (sorry Nik, I would have gone further but my little room doesn't allow it), and moved the rubarb closer in so it wasn't out there by itself.
#1
#2

Maybe I'm going blind, but I can't tell the difference #2 is a tad poppier, but barely so...

And, for the record, I didn't mean "from further away", I meant "lower", which you did, at least to a degree

The spotlight on the conductor seems to be PS-ed in. It definitely looks artificial, but I'm not sure if you're shooting for that particualr interpretation...

Overall it's getting better by the minute. I think you're on to something here:-)

sherstone

cool!
Yes I like this angle much more.

#2 again!

The difference is very very subtle but #2 is a teeny bit brighter.

Swartzy

Tanks!
OK, out of all, this one I like best (newest revision...wow, what a workout) The spot on the conductor is changed as used a subtle spot for him as well.....ran out of floor space downstairs with all the booms, lights, tripod and me

Nikolai

Swartzy wrote:

OK, out of all, this one I like best (newest revision...wow, what a workout) The spot on the conductor is changed as used a subtle spot for him as well.....ran out of floor space downstairs with all the booms, lights, tripod and me

Looks good to me.
Soooo, who did you say take this pikcha?
JK

Now, the real question is - what's the title?

Swartzy

Thanks Nik....the title....

Nikolai wrote:

Looks good to me.
Soooo, who did you say take this pikcha?
JK

Now, the real question is - what's the title?

Yea, for real...I might have taken it but not in it's present state....you're all too kind!
The other morning at 4:00 AM I woke up with this idea in my head....I called it "Choir in the Kitchen". Well, that's kind of like "Electric Toilet Seat" as I don't think I've ever seen a choir in the kitchen. But......there is harmony in the kitchen when using the proper spices and ingredients....so, the title is

"Harmony in the Kitchen"...the only thing missing is the wine....I think I may open a bottle :slosh

sherstone

careful now,

looks great! The title works.

douglas

Great work, Background and lighting look much better, and I really like this angle.