P&P-Assignment Five; Learning Log; People and place on assignment

Learning log – P&P assignment 5; People and place on assignment

My Thoughts

This assignment was an extremely challenging process for me, but really enjoyable none the less. I tried to incorporate all of my research and past experience from other assignments to ensure I generated the scope that I was trying to emulate.

I decided to choose this subject, as it is something I have never done before and would certainly help me in future endeavours. It was also a fun way to test myself and my camera, as I rarely make images in very low lighting and I feel it is something I struggle with.

From reading my magazines, I discovered a new way to crop my images to improve the composition, which is ‘free transform’ and it has helped me greatly with this assignment.

I also had to amend the noise in every single image, as all of them were very grainy due to the settings I had to use. I also did a lot of dodging and burning, which I have not had to use much in my editing process before now, so the post production was just as much of a challenge as the actual creating of the images.

Primary research

Exhibition

 

I went to The Photographers’ Gallery as I knew the ‘Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2014’ was being exhibited, among many others.

“Miraculously, fear does not paralyse me, nor stop me dead; instead, it drives me on, forces me to keep looking at myself, even though I know that fear will always be the soul of the mask behind which I show myself” 

                (Alberto Garcia-Alix – Taken from the information on the wall of The Photographers Gallery)

Even though this quote does not directly relate to photography, Alberto is using it in reference to his photographic work. On reading this quote, it really struck a chord with me and I had to use it in this assignment.

I am always fearful of failure, but I always do things that I am afraid of, to push myself to be the best “me” I can be. I think that is why the quote is so profound and resonates with me.

I feel that I always try to challenge myself with my photography and I always want to improve, which is certainly scary, but that is why I like doing it.

Alberto Garcia-Alix was in the shortlist for the ‘Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2014’. This image in his collection really made me think about people and activity. This is my favourite out of the whole set of his images, the clarity and skill that he used to make this image still astounds me. Also the thought process behind it and what made him think to do a self portrait on his motorbike. I wanted to capture the same clarity and creative thinking with my images, not just for this assignment but for all future projects as well.

 

(Self portrait on motorbike (1978) - 'Autorretrato en moto' (1978) – by Alberto Garcia-Alix – picture taken at The Photographers Gallery)

 

Richard Mosse was the winner of the ‘Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2014’. This image for me really stands out, firstly due to the expression on the boys face, it is like you can actually see the concentrated pain behind his eyes. Secondly, the amazing colour that Richard has captured, all of which I wanted to incorporate in this assignment.

Richard used discontinued military surveillance film which registers infrared spectrums of light, resulting in the pink/red hue in all of his images of this set.

(Vintage Violence, North Kivu, Eastern Congo, 2011 – by Richard Mosse – picture taken at The Photographers Gallery)

 

 

Secondary research

Magazine

“Location shoots are the best. I find that studios can be a bit sterile…”

(Julian Hayr – Taken from page 62 of the “Digital Photo” magazine)

As I have said previously, I subscribe to the “Digital Photo” magazine, which is extremely useful for all kinds of information and tips on how to compose and edit images.

In the April 2014 issue of “Digital Photo” magazine, page 60 talked about the photographer Julian Hayr, the man who inspired my assignment. He really captures the essence of the moments that he is photographing, whether it is in black and white, or colour. I was drawn more to his colour images as they were so powerful and thought provoking.

Internet

With Tom Horton’s images, I think they are on a par with Julian’s. They are both vibrant and powerful, however I think that Tom’s work focuses more on the rest of the audience rather than solely the stage. Here is my favourite image of Tom’s.

 

 (Annie Mac @ The Arena, Digbeth © Tom Horton – URL http://www.tom-horton.co.uk/- Date website accessed 29/04/2014)

 

Skip Bolen’s work is amazing, every time I look at his images, I feel calm and like I am really there watching the performers. His works for Jazz musicians are primarily in black and white, for which I was toying with the idea of using for this assignment. However, I went down the Julian and Tom route and went for vibrancy over strong contrast. Although I have tried to incorporate the softness that Skip manages to portray in some of my images. I could not gain access to my favourite picture to put on here, so here is the link;-

http://skipbolen.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/Jazz-More/G0000RUexPx6B6go/I0000uWbfUking_0

The image that resonated with me the most is the one of Alvin Batiste, he is clearly performing but Skip still manages to show the emotion behind the clarinet.

 

 

Strengths and weaknesses on my assignment

Scott Hamilton

First image

Strengths; - This image is a strong one with a sense like you are really there. I am really happy with the image as a whole, but in particular the reflection and where I have placed Scott in the frame.

Weaknesses; - I would say that it may have been nice to have the whole image in focus, alas with my camera that was an impossibility. Also I was a bit unsure about showing the actual lights and the negative space in the top right hand corner.

Second image

Strengths; - The sharpness and detail in this image make Scott really stand out, I think the way I have composed the image is very strong.

Weaknesses; - Maybe there is too much dark behind Scott in this image, which unfortunately could not be helped as that is the way that it looked. I also feel the pink streak of light looks a bit on the fake side.

Third image

Strengths; - The colours are great in this image. I really like the mixture of lighting effects you get from it and the way the audience lead in to the stage.

Weaknesses; - There is not enough contrast on the audience as I had to brighten them by doing some dodging of the shadows. Also there may be a bit too much negative space on the bottom left hand side of the image.

 

Brian Culbertson

First image

Strengths; - The colour here is vibrant, as well as the action of the performers, I fell the mood of the event is captures well in this photograph.

Weaknesses; - As I said previously this is one of my weaker images. I can’t really out my finger on it, but if I had to I would say it was the composition, it seems a bit off.

Second image

Strengths; - The overall composition is good on this image, as you get a sense that you are sitting at the table watching the show. The lighting on Brian when he is playing is good.

Weaknesses; - The lighting of the audience is not really how I wanted it and it does not give strength to the image because of this.

Third image

Strengths; - The focus and composition are defiantly the best parts of this image. By doing this, it makes for a very strong individual image.

Weaknesses; - As I said previously the end of the trumpet is too bright and detracts away from Brian’s actions/face. If his trumpet had been a different colour, I defiantly would have gotten a different, if not better result.

Martyna Wren

First image

Strengths; - The silhouettes are exactly how I envisaged and wanted them, they defiantly add to the image overall. I think the lighting is good and draws your attention on to the trumpeter.

Weaknesses; - is perhaps the glaring light in the top left hand corner, even thought the lights draw your attention to the trumpeter, I feel the glaring light draws your eye away from it.

Second image

Strengths; - The creative trick shot is a definite attraction to this image, I like the way he stands out in the glass of the picture frame.

Weaknesses; - The noise is way too much and overpowers the image, it depends on how you look at it though as it could be an enhancement. If this was to be published, I would have kept the trumpeters image in colour and turned everything else in to black and white to be able to affectively reduce the noise and give it some “pop”.

Third image

Strengths; - The soft lighting in this image works well as it gives a very relaxed feeling, I also like the clarity of the pianist and Martyna as it makes the photograph quite strong.

Weaknesses;- I could have composed this slightly better, due to the negative space at the top, however I shot it like this to be able to get the trumpeter in to the top right hand corner.

David Benoit

First image

Strengths; - The composition of this image is really strong and the movement of his hands works well with showing that David is actually playing the piano.

Weaknesses; - The chromatic edging in this image is quite apparent around his hair and I have no idea how to eradicate it, which is quite frustrating. I am also not sure about the coffee cup and brochure in the bottom left hand corner, in a way is advertises that they serve coffee and have regular events, but if you look at it in another way it is a distraction.

Second image

Strengths; - The feel of the image works well, like you are actually there with them. I like that all three band members are in the frame.

Weaknesses; - The composition is slightly off, with a bit too much negative space in the top right hand corner.

Third image

Strengths; - Is how I captured his facial expression and the lighting on his face, as well as the clarity of the image.

Weaknesses; - The dark areas are a bit too dark and I could have compromised the shutter speed slightly to allow for more exposure to the sensor.

 

Some of my research sources-Books, websites and documents

Concert and Live Music Photography: Pro Tips from the Pit: by J. Dennis Thomas; (This was quite helpful to see what other people do when photographing live music events and how they go about it. Each image in the book has information about the kit that was used, as well as the settings used, which was fantastic. It really opened my eyes as to what I should be doing and the fact that I probably need some more money for camera equipment!)

The Jazz Image: Masters of Jazz Photography; by Lee Tanner; (This book is all in black and white and represents images of Jazz musicians over a period of four decades. It was really useful to see how he composed his images and used the lighting to his advantage. With strong contrasting images and some purposefully made “noisy”, this book was a really great find and made me think about how to compose my images)

Digital Photo magazine: Editor John Adams; (This magazine has been a massive help to me with my photography, as mentioned in my learning log, how to free transform images, dodge and burn, as well as the post production work)

http://julianhayr.com/- (To research Julian Hayr and examine his photography)

http://www.tom-horton.co.uk/- (To research Tom Horton and examine his photography)

http://skipbolen.photoshelter.com/gallery/Jazz-More/G0000RUexPx6B6go/- (To research Skip Bolen and examine his photography)

http://www.pizzaexpresslive.co.uk/jazzList.aspx - (To research the club and see what images they had on their website)

http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/home - (To see what exhibitions they had and images on their website)

http://deutsche-boerse.com/dbg/dispatch/en/kir/dbg_nav/corporate_responsibility/33_Art_Collection/25_photography_prize - (To see research the winner and runners up)

 

 

 

 

 

P&P-Assignment Five; People and place on assignment



Assignment Five; People and place on assignment

Object of assignment five

For this final assignment the choice of subject is mine. The only proviso is that the subject should be one from this course; - people and/ or the places they inhabit.

I have to first decide on a notional client, which could be a manufacture, a magazine, newspaper or a book publisher etc.

Then choose the purpose of the assignment which could be, educational, informational or promotional and finally, how the images will be used, to illustrate a story or to sell a product etc.

I then need to imagine what the basic brief would be, which will mean thinking form the other side of the fence – what someone commissioning a photographer might want and write myself a brief so that I can refer back to it.

Once I have assigned myself the brief, I need to complete it and submit 8 – 12 images accompanied with a short written assessment.

My choice of subject – People and activity

Notional client – Advertising agency

Purpose of assignment – Promotional

Client briefing/my brief

To compose a set of images fit for publishing to include the venue, guests and place. To be able to achieve an overall feeling of what the venue has to offer, with well composed, creative and intriguing images, which are well focused and colour managed.

Statement of planning - People and place on assignment – People and activity

I decided to photograph the Pizza Express Jazz Club. For which I received permission from the event organizer/promoter.

I really wanted to achieve the brief that I wrote for myself and show the Jazz Club as a diverse yet comfortable setting. Including my own vision, whilst portraying the musicians in the best possible light.

Taking in to account my tutors previous comments and Steve McCurry’s lecture about time, I decided to shoot this assignment for well over a month. Some of the performers were playing for a series of days and weeks, so it helped me to get a plethora of different images of the same band.

When shooting the musicians and club I was very conscious of not upsetting the paying customers, so I dressed in dark colours to blend in and quietly manoeuvred around the venue. I was not allowed to use a tripod as it would get in the way of the customers and waiters, which was understandable. For the most part I planned to lean against the pillars, tables and chairs, so I could be as steady as possible and made sure I had enough memory cards and spare batteries.

Whilst the performers are playing you are not allowed to use flash photography, so I knew I would need to do quite a few test shots at the beginning of each show first to see what camera settings I would need.

I also planned which musicians I would photograph as I wanted a diverse range of musicians, so to show the different facets that the Jazz Club has to offer.

I have included the ISO in the technical picture information to show how high it had to be to be able to capture the images. I also had to take all of the photographs with a low aperture, again due to the light and to be able to keep the shutter speed as fast as I possibly could.

 

On reading an article in the April issue of Digital Photo Magazine, photographer Julian Hayr who is commissioned to photograph musicians and actors, inspired me to choose the subject for this assignment.

As I was thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that photographing actors on a small stage would be difficult due to the nature of theatre, you are usually sat still throughout the whole show.

Whereas when you have musicians playing on a small stage, people are up and about and dancing. Which lent itself for me to be able to move around a small stage, without hardly any fuss.

In my opinion Julian creates images that fit the person or event, which is something that I am trying to aspire too when photographing people.

Here is a collage of his images which inspired this assignment and hopefully I captured a similar essence.

 

(“Specials-Joiner” – by Julian Hayr- URL http://julianhayr.com/ - Date website accessed 25/04/2014)

 

Bibliography;

·         Concert and Live Music Photography: Pro Tips from the Pit: by J. Dennis Thomas; (This was quite helpful to see what other people do when photographing live music events and how they go about it. Each image in the book has information about the kit that was used, as well as the settings used, which was fantastic. It really opened my eyes as to what I should be doing and the fact that I probably need some more money for camera equipment!)

·         The Jazz Image: Masters of Jazz Photography; by Lee Tanner; (This book is all in black and white and represents images of Jazz musicians over a period of four decades. It was really useful to see how he composed his images and used the lighting to his advantage. With strong contrasting images and some purposefully made “noisy”, this book was a really great find and made me think about how to compose my images)

·         Digital Photo magazine: Editor John Adams; (This magazine has been a massive help to me with my photography, as mentioned in my learning log, how to free transform images, dodge and burn, as well as the post production work)

Websites used for this assignment;

http://julianhayr.com/- (To research Julian Hayr and examine his photography)

http://www.tom-horton.co.uk/- (To research Tom Horton and examine his photography)

http://skipbolen.photoshelter.com/gallery/Jazz-More/G0000RUexPx6B6go/- (To research Skip Bolen and examine his photography)

http://www.pizzaexpresslive.co.uk/jazzList.aspx - (To research the club and see what images they had on their website)

http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/home - (To see what exhibitions they had and images on their website)

http://deutsche-boerse.com/dbg/dispatch/en/kir/dbg_nav/corporate_responsibility/33_Art_Collection/25_photography_prize - (To see research the winner and runners up)

 

 Rejected Photographs

I wanted to show the process of elimination with the following images, also to show the thought process behind what I was doing at the time of creating these images.

Scott Hamilton

 

First up is Scott Hamilton. This was a four piece band, however Scott was the main attraction for this particular show.

I initially wanted to have all four band members in the final photographs for the assignment, however on second blush not all of my images were up to scratch.

I tried to take images of the Bass player, unfortunately he was in a difficult location on stage for me to take a decent image and the above was the best I could achieve.

Image 9520 of Scott playing the Saxophone was one of my favourites and a difficult one to eliminate. In the end I had to take it out of the assignment due to a customer’s head being in the way and no matter how I tried to crop it, it did not look right.

With regards to the two images at the bottom, I have included different versions in the final images of my assignment. I liked these images but chose not to include them due to the composition, the first one with the piano and Scott does not tell as clear of a story as I would have liked. Even though the clarity of Scott is amazing, the piano joint is cutting his saxophone in half and it is too tightly composed.

In the image where you can see the audience, you can also see the stage and band very well. However I felt the lead in lines were not as strong as I would have liked and it lacked a certain atmosphere.  

 

Brian Culbertson

 

 

I got a myriad of different angles for Brian’s shows, as the piano was taken away and replaced with a couple of keyboards. Which made it a lot easier to shoot as a piano was not blocking everything on stage.

I love the black and white images that I made, but I rejected them as I felt the assignment as whole fitted better in colour. Some of the shows were vibrant in the way they performed and I wanted to portray this in my final assignment images.

The problem with both of the black and white images is the chromatic edging, I tried to eliminate this in the raw images on Photoshop but it did not work well on the final images.

The two images at the bottom were rejected due to the composition and clarity. It was difficult to get the composition how I wanted it as Brian’s shows were sold out every night and even though I wanted to include the audience, I also did not want to encroach on their experience.

The image on the bottom right hand side was initially in the final selection, however the woman who is sat just behind the man on the left hand side, is badly lit from the house lights. She looked extremely odd and no matter how much I tried dodging and burning in Photoshop I could not get her to look natural.  

 

Martyna Wren

 

 

Martyna’s show was very calm and really suited the black and what imagery. My favourite image is 0712, I love how the light is silhouetting her and the clarity of focus on the trumpet player, but one strong image does not a set make. The same goes for the other black and white image, but again I could not justify making the whole assignment in black and white solely for these two images.

I also love the image in the bottom right hand corner, as I feel it tells a story of the lone pianist, with Martyna calmly listening and watching. Alas her head was turned and I felt it would make a better publication if she was facing forward, on inspection when I looked at the other images where she was facing forward, she was not as well lit.

I wanted to include the rest of the band in one of the images and I like the top left image, but the right hand corner was to dark and the base player was in an awkward position on the stage again.

 

David Benoit

 

 

This was a fun show to shoot as David, the guitarist and drummer was very charismatic. I really like image 9905 due to the expression on guitarists face and the composition of the reflection of the keys in the lid of the piano. I chose not to include it in the end as I knew what the series of images was about, however as a standalone image it would not have fitted in to a publication as it is slightly confusing.

I also really like image 9935, again due to his facial expression and I was in two minds as to whether to include it or not, ultimately I chose not to as the microphone was not in full view and you could not see him playing.

The top left image has fantastic clarity, but he was only talking in to the microphone and not singing. Which I feel is portrayed in the image, it did not speak to me a much as the other images I included in the final set for the assignment.

I really like the composition of the drummer, I feel I did really well in making this image, but his facial expression is really off and looked really depressing, hence the reason for not including it.

Photographs for the assignment

Here are the final images chosen for my assignment, there are four sets of musicians that I chose to include, with three photographs in each set.

 

Scott Hamilton

First image

 

1; 1/13 seconds at f/4.0 –ISO 400 - Lens EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

This is one of my favourite images in this assignment. I love the clarity of Scott and the reflection on the side of the piano.

This image was inspired by Julian Hayr, I love the way the colours in Julian’s work are so vivid and directional. This is what I wanted to portray in this image, with the soft spot light on Scott and the coloured lights on the pianist, as well as the piano.

I focused on Scott playing the saxophone as I wanted the left hand side of the image to be in focus and due to the light “glowing” off of the pianist, I wanted to keep him in a soft focus.

As I said previously and with all of my images in this assignment, due to the low lighting I had to use a low aperture, to be able to capture all of my images, so I had to make sure I was focusing on the correct area of the image at all times.

I feel this image would be good for publication due to the story it tells and the refection of the Jazz club lights, unfortunately, the lights shown in the image are all I could fit in to the reflection off of the piano.

 

First image - Contact sheet

 

 

As with all of the images in this assignment I took a lot of photographs, not because I did not take my time with the shots, but solely due to the amount of movement the musicians were making. I really wanted to capture the correct mood and expressions I was trying to portray.

Trying to achieve the correct composition was difficult with this shot, as I had to do a lot of bending and crouching, however I am really pleased with the final result.

 

 

Second image

 

2; 1/13 seconds at f/5.0 –ISO 800 - Lens EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

This is another favourite image of mine I like everything about it, the composition, the clarity, the detail of his saxophone, the notable make of the piano and the microphone.

I really wanted to include the power of his saxophone playing in the image, which I feel I have captured. I positioned myself well as there were no customers in the way of this image and I captured the singular moment that brings the whole series of images to portray Scott’s playing.

 

Second image - Contact sheet

 

 

For the image I wanted to capture above, initially I was in a different position and at the time I was not happy with them.

It goes to show by changing just one element of what you do to create an image, can change the whole tone of a photograph.

 

Third image

 

3; 0.4 seconds at f/4.0 –ISO 400 - EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM

On looking at Tom Horton’s images (see learning log connected to this assignment) he tends to include the audience/crowd, with some amazing results. I wanted to do the same and include different people, other than the band. Although this image is not a striking as Tom’s work, I feel I have captures the colour and tone of the event well in this photograph. 

I wanted to have an image that included the audience, which proved to be a tricky task. For this image I positioned myself high up, with my wide angle lens to include as much as possible and angled my camera down.

I had to use a really slow shutter speed to light up the audience, which in turn unfortunately made the band a lot, lot brighter.

In saying that, this is the best out of the images that I took, due to the lead in lines and lighting near the top left hand side of the image.

Third image - Contact sheet

  

 

Unfortunately I had to take a lot of images to achieve the final image. Firstly due to experimenting with the lighting, but the main problem was that one of the customers kept staring directly at me for nearly all of the images.

It does not help that my camera is quite loud, which I think drew his attention to me. In the end he started to look away and I managed to create the image I wanted.

Brian Culbertson

First image 

  

1; 1/20 seconds at f/5.6 –ISO 800 - Lens EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

I feel that this is not one of my stronger images, I included it however due to the strength it would have as a publishable image. I wanted to include an image that had the saxophonist in and the distinctive Pizza Express sign. I like the clarity of the saxophonist and the blurred emotional face of Brian. I think this image does portray Brian’s playing and band, hence the reason I included it. 

 

First image - Contact sheet 

  

I repositioned myself from the first image 0281, as I could not get the Pizza Express sign in to the frame. It was defiant luck that Brian put his head back at the time that I took the shot above.

I had to reject the others due to the clarity and lighting.

 

Second image 

  

2; 1/8 seconds at f/4.5 –ISO 800 - EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM

I wanted to include the audience again, but from a different angle this time. I chose a seated position to be able to achieve this shot and used my wide angle lens to be able to incorporate Brian playing the keyboard. I also chose my wide angle lens to be able to include as much light as possible, to highlight the audience.

I focused in on Brian and hoped that the audience would still be in relatively good focus. I feel I managed to achieve the look I wanted to get.

As with the previous image of the audience, I had to use a slow shutter speed to bring in as much light as possible to the audiences faces.

Second image - Contact sheet  

 

 

As with the other image of the audience, this was a difficult one to achieve due to not being able to control where people look or what they do.

In a few of these images, the man with his camera thought it would be funny to take photographs of me whilst I was taking photos. Not his fault as he did not know what I was doing, but it rendered quite a few of the images obsolete.

I also decided against having the guitarist in the left hand corner, as his white shirt drew a lot of attention to that side of the frame.

Third image  

 

3; 1/20 seconds at f/5.6 –ISO 800 - Lens EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

This is another one of my favourite images, I had to get as close as I could and zoom in the rest of the way. I used a faster shutter speed for this image as there was a lot of movement going on. I also used the highest ISO that my camera would allow without incorporating too much noise.

The only problem I had with this image was with the funnel end of the trumpet. Brian’s trumpet was an off white colour rather than silver, so it looks slightly strange and dominates the frame. I tried to burn the highlights out of it, but this is the best I could do with what I had to work with.

Third image - Contact sheet  

 

 

As I said previously, there was a lot of movement at this moment of the show.

Actually, there was a lot of movement throughout the whole of Brian’s show, this was a difficult set of performances to photograph with my cameras limited capabilities. So I ended up going with the image that had the best clarity on his face and that had the best composition.

Martyna Wren

 

First image  

 

1; 1/15 seconds at f/4.0 –ISO 800 - Lens EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

For this image I wanted to have the audience in the frame as well, but this time from a different angle and in silhouette form, I also wanted to incorporate the whole band.

For this image I focused on the trumpet player and used a moderately quick shutter speed for my surroundings, so that I could create the silhouettes of the audience and not have the stage lights overpower the whole image. 

First image - Contact sheet

  

 

I took a few shots of this scene as I wanted to get the composition right and the whole band in the right stance at the right time. I think in the final image I managed to incorporate everything that I wanted to achieve.

 

Second image 

   

2; 1/13 seconds at f/4.5 –ISO 800 - Lens EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

I wanted to show something a bit different in this set of images and when I was standing at the bar considering what image I was going to make next, I looked at the pictures on the wall and saw the trumpeter’s reflection in the glass of one of the frames.

This was an extremely difficult photograph to create. I had to try and get the right angle from behind the bar, so that I could get the composition how I wanted it. This was to include the other images on the wall so that you can see what is happing in the frame. I had to get the timing right for when he lifted up his trumpet, to fit on the reflection of the glass. Also I had to have the right camera settings so that I could “freeze” him in the image and gain some sort of clarity through the fuzziness from the reflection.

I think I managed to achieve it, but I am not 100% happy with it, if there were more lights in that corner it would have been easier to have captured it without the noise.

 

Second image - Contact sheet 

  

As you can see, I took a multitude of images to get the one that I was happy with.

You can see from the bottom row, I tried to solely focus on the glass of the picture and not the surroundings, to see what kind of image it would produce.

They were good images, but from an outsider’s perspective it would just look like a strangely distorted image, which would not look like a creative photograph in the slightest.

 

Third image 

  

3; 1/20 seconds at f/3.5 –ISO 800 - Lens EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

Martyna’s show was a sombre one and this made me think of Skip Bolen’s work (see learning log connected to this assignment).

No matter what the musicians are doing, Skip seems to capture the relaxed atmosphere at the right moment, with the correct lighting. I wanted to capture Martyna and her band in the same way, as it was a very chilled out performance.

For this image, I focused in on the piano keys and Martyna. I wanted to incorporate the rest of the band as much as possible, without losing focus on Martyna.

I feel I managed to achieve this and capture a nice moment of her singing as well. Luckily the stage lights were quite high on this occasion and as she was not moving much, so I captured the clarity that I need to make a good image.

Third image - Contact sheet 

  

I took a few slightly different compositions as I wanted to capture a good emotion from Martyna.

As you can see from above, the stage lights were altered slightly through her performance and her movement also changed the lighting in the image.

These images were not as focused as I would have liked, hence the reason for choosing the photograph above for the final image.

David Benoit

First image 

  

1; 1/15 seconds at f/5.6 –ISO 800 - Lens EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

As I said previously with my rejected images, this band were very charismatic and I wanted to include the image of David playing the piano.

With this image, you get a definite sense that he is playing. I really like the blur of the hands, but the sharp focus of the concentration on his face.

I used an ever so slightly higher aperture as I wanted to have his body in focus as well as his face and I used a slower shutter speed to blur his hands as much as possible.

 

First image - Contact sheet 

  

 

As you can see I took quite a few images in this sequence and changed the composition a couple of times, to achieve the look and feel that I wanted.

I ultimately chose the image above due to the clarity, as in most of the other photographs, his face was blurred due to his movement and the adjustments of my settings.

 

Second image  

 

2; 1/13 seconds at f/5.0 –ISO 800 - Lens EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

I wanted to include an image that felt like you were part of the band, seeing it from their point of view. I situated myself behind the drummer for this photograph.

I like that I managed to get all three of the band members in the image, however I feel that there is a bit too much negative space in the top right hand corner. This could not be helped as I wanted to get a full frame, although if you look at it another way, it leads your eye down the middle of the frame.  

 

Second image - Contact sheet

  

This was a difficult image to achieve, as you can see I tried many different compositions.

I did primarily like the vertical images with the table at the bottom of the frame, however I felt it took away from the rest of the image and highlighted the bottom of the frame too much.

I also tried over the shoulder shots but it did not look quite right, so I situated myself at a lower level and tilted the camera up slightly instead.

 

Third image 

  

3; 1/20 seconds at f/5.6 –ISO 800 - Lens EF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

As I said in my rejected images, I was really happy with the composition of the drummer, but felt his face had an odd expression.

This composition is just as good and I really like his facial expression here. I feel it really lightens the whole image and it looks like he is having fun.

I used a slightly higher shutter speed and ISO to freeze his movement as much as possible, then I concentrated the focus on his face.

 

Third image - Contact sheet  

 

I took a lot of images for this particular shot as he had an expressive face and I wanted to capture the right moment.

I altered the composition slightly however I think I knew I had the angle I wanted, to correctly frame the image, but I wanted to try different focal lengths to see if it made a difference.

Which it did, but I defiantly prefer the composition I was comfortable with, which is in the image above.