Elvis Birthday Bash

Gary752 · January 10, 2010

Well, last night I went to the Elvis Birthday Bash at the Whittaker Center in Harrisburg, PA with the intention to try a few things. But after seeing the lighting, I decided to go for available light. Here are a few samples of what I got. (Click on image for EXINF)

#1 Brad in leather - 60's come back special

#2 Brad in light blue jump suit

#3

#4 Brad in white jump suit

#5

#6 The back-up singers

The rest can be seen here: http://brophoto.smugmug.com/People/Brad-Crum-Elvis-Birthday-Bash/10904143_djLDv#761233083_cyptY

As always, C&C welcome!

GaryB

Gary752 · January 11, 2010

A few more from the Elvis 75th Birthday Bash at the Whittaker Center in Harrisburg, PA

#1

#2

#3 Brad & backup singer during "Return to Sender" song

#4 The BCT Legend Band

#5 The venue - looking from the stage before they allowed people to enter

GaryB

Gary752 · January 14, 2010

WOW...186 views and not one comment or critique! If my photos are that bad, will someone please tell me. I've been looking for C&C on several posts in the past and get very little if none. It's getting to the point to where I don't even want to post anything, cause I know I won't get any critique on them. If no one tells me what I'm doing wrong, how am I supposed to correct it the next time?

GaryB

adbsgicom · January 14, 2010

No idea, and I can't really give you much in the way of good/bad concert photography. Many of them look pretty good, though you have some just barely clipped edges that are a little bothersome (but perhaps okay in this genre, I don't know). #1 has his knuckles clipped, 3 in both are just a bit tight on the side, and 5 in the second set.

You are also a bit OOF/blurry in several. Looking at the EXIF on #4 in the second set, your ISO is 200 and you had 1/45s on a 75mm equivalent focal length. Why ISO 200? Indoor, you would could have been ISO400 and had less shake, or gone to 640 or 800 (don't know how far you can push the D300) and either had better DOF (read this more as margin for error on your focus) and/or higher shutter speed to deal with the singers moving and/or your camera shake.

The venue picture has some rotation or distortion. The balconies are all slanted, though the chairs seem level near the front, but torque as you go further back.

All this may be very wrong advice though for these sort of images. Couple that with me never being much of an Elvis fan....

anonymouscuban · January 14, 2010

Don't know too much about this type of photography. I think I like the first one the most. Overall they look pretty good to me.

Makes me want to grow some chops, dawn a polyester jump suit and gyrate my hips while holding a mic!

Qarik · January 14, 2010

hehe..about coments..here is my observations.

1) If you would like to get critiques then request something more specific in what you are after. Is my exposure okay, do you like the processing, are these sharp, how is the noise? etc

2) if your photos really suck and have obvious issues with simple fixes..folks will comment. If your photos are really good you will get comments. If you photos are not bad but not great..then folks tend not to comment..what do you say? "These are not bad but not great"? hehe. So if you are not getting comments trust that you photos are pretty much average!

that said..your exposure looks good in these shots. Many of them are soft though. I do like the shot of elvis with his legs spread (that doesn't sound right)

Gary752 · January 15, 2010

adbsgicom wrote:

No idea, and I can't really give you much in the way of good/bad concert photography. Many of them look pretty good, though you have some just barely clipped edges that are a little bothersome (but perhaps okay in this genre, I don't know). #1 has his knuckles clipped, 3 in both are just a bit tight on the side, and 5 in the second set.

You are also a bit OOF/blurry in several. Looking at the EXIF on #4 in the second set, your ISO is 200 and you had 1/45s on a 75mm equivalent focal length. Why ISO 200? Indoor, you would could have been ISO400 and had less shake, or gone to 640 or 800 (don't know how far you can push the D300) and either had better DOF (read this more as margin for error on your focus) and/or higher shutter speed to deal with the singers moving and/or your camera shake.

The venue picture has some rotation or distortion. The balconies are all slanted, though the chairs seem level near the front, but torque as you go further back.

All this may be very wrong advice though for these sort of images. Couple that with me never being much of an Elvis fan....

Thanks for the comments. When I got there, I was in awe with the lighting on the stage, and decided to go with natural lighting. Before the show started, I got the chance to get up on the stage to check out the overhead lights, which were huge colored flood lights above what appeared to be slotted walk ways that sorta looked like grids. Maybe that was part of their purpose. The purpose of this shoot was to get at least one shot that could be used for promotional purposes in the future. They picked 2 for that, and a few others for their web site. We're in discussions now on usage fees for them. As for the venue shot, I know what you mean. The weird thing about that room is it gets narrower as you go back, plus the back is higher than the front. The balconies on the sides are at lower levels as you come to the front, so that makes it look weird. I had tried leveling it at one spot and it would look crooked at another. So I did the best that I could on that. The next time I shoot one of his shows, I'll try different ISO & apeture combinations.

GaryB

Gary752 · January 15, 2010

anonymouscuban wrote:

Don't know too much about this type of photography. I think I like the first one the most. Overall they look pretty good to me.

Makes me want to grow some chops, dawn a polyester jump suit and gyrate my hips while holding a mic!

Thanks for the comments! They picked the first one to use for future promotional stuff, and that one is my favorite as well. I'm going to print that one at 20x30 to see how it looks.

There ya go! That would make for an interesting SP challenge!

GaryB

Gary752 · January 15, 2010

Qarik wrote:

hehe..about coments..here is my observations.

1) If you would like to get critiques then request something more specific in what you are after. Is my exposure okay, do you like the processing, are these sharp, how is the noise? etc

2) if your photos really suck and have obvious issues with simple fixes..folks will comment. If your photos are really good you will get comments. If you photos are not bad but not great..then folks tend not to comment..what do you say? "These are not bad but not great"? hehe. So if you are not getting comments trust that you photos are pretty much average!

that said..your exposure looks good in these shots. Many of them are soft though. I do like the shot of elvis with his legs spread (that doesn't sound right)

Thanks for your comments, they are appreciated! I know I have a ways to go to get to the caliber of many on here, but I'm working on it. I also know that my main weakness is post processing, and I wish there would be a workshop nearby, as I would definately attend. I know one guy close by that is pretty good with PS. Maybe I can get him to tutor me.

GaryB

Elvis Birthday Bash

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