Photo Monday: Under The Lights with Erykah Badu
Under The Lights, Erykah Badu. ©2008, Anthony Armstrong/IKONIK.
All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use is a violation of copyright law in the United States and beyond.
Shot with Canon EOS-1D and EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM @ 200mm, ISO800.
Click the image to view a larger version.
All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use is a violation of copyright law in the United States and beyond.
Shot with Canon EOS-1D and EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM @ 200mm, ISO800.
Click the image to view a larger version.
On Friday, I went to the Erykah Badu and The Roots show at Radio City Music Hall. It was a fantastic show, worth every penny patrons had to pony up. Four hours and 1200 frames later, I had several great images of Ms. Badu, ?uestLove and Black Thought doing their thing.
This is one of the most artistic images I got from the show: Ms Badu on a darkened stage, with six spots focused on her brilliance. In the immediate foreground, you can make out the silhouettes of two women cheering on the lovely Ms. Badu as she did her thing.
I must be on a black and white kick recently, because many of the recent images I've snapped have seemingly been custom made for black and white treatment.
This one is no different.
One of the main issues to overcome with concert shots is distance. Rarely can one shoot close to the stage without passes. The next issue to get by is lack of light. Atmosphere almost dictates low- to virtually no light shooting, and flashes are obnoxious in these instances. And once you've surpassed that issue, you're left with the related issue of depth of field.
Well, I got by the distance thing by shooting an Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM. This has to be in every serious Canon shooter's camera bag. Yeah, it's expensive. Yeah, it's heavy, and yes it's that attention-grabbing Canon pro telephoto lens putty color that screams "walk-up-and-ask-me-1000-questions-when-I-only-have-time-for-five-as-I-try-to-get-some-shots."
While the Image Stabilization (IS) version is superlative, this one without IS is every bit as good, and lighter weight -- not to mention about $600 cheaper. Even this lens has limits in terms of usable distance, but I was right inside that range. (The other option, a bargain -- no, for real, it is a bargain -- at about $565, is the EF70-200mm f/4L USM. You lose a stop of light, but it's still a damn good lens).
The lack of light dictated that I shoot wide-open -- that is, at the maximum aperture for the lens. In this case, that was f/2.8, and it was artistically the right choice, too. The good thing about the 2.8L lens is that the max aperture is constant, so at any focal length, you can shoot wide open, or optionally dial in an aperture that's gives you the desired depth of field. The low f-number gave me lots of light -- well not lots, but enough -- and also served to blur the background and foreground, giving Ms. Badu the complete attention.
But the thing that gave me the edge in getting a good good-focus shot: shooting in Program AE (on most cameras, it's the "P" on the settings dial). In this case, even shooting in Program mode, I "shifted" the Program to maintain aperture at f/2.8 and let the camera determine the correct exposure time. Instead of trying to do the settings myself, and risk camera shake with really long shutter times, or have missed shots, let the camera's CPU save you some effort in these cases. You focus on composition and capturing the moment.
Once I got the shot, it was into Adobe Bridge for keywords, and archiving. Out of Bridge, into Camera Raw, I did the conversion to black and white by converting to grayscale. Next, I did some split-toning, to give the shot a bit of an aged, classic look. Lastly, I did some minor sharpening and clarity corrections, and off the shot went to Photoshop, for final (output) sharpening, and export to jpeg for the web.
The end edition is what you see above...I think this image caught the essence of the show and gives the viewer an idea of the intimate environment that was apparent during this segment of the performance.
This is one of the most artistic images I got from the show: Ms Badu on a darkened stage, with six spots focused on her brilliance. In the immediate foreground, you can make out the silhouettes of two women cheering on the lovely Ms. Badu as she did her thing.
I must be on a black and white kick recently, because many of the recent images I've snapped have seemingly been custom made for black and white treatment.
This one is no different.
One of the main issues to overcome with concert shots is distance. Rarely can one shoot close to the stage without passes. The next issue to get by is lack of light. Atmosphere almost dictates low- to virtually no light shooting, and flashes are obnoxious in these instances. And once you've surpassed that issue, you're left with the related issue of depth of field.
Well, I got by the distance thing by shooting an Canon EF70-200mm f/2.8L USM. This has to be in every serious Canon shooter's camera bag. Yeah, it's expensive. Yeah, it's heavy, and yes it's that attention-grabbing Canon pro telephoto lens putty color that screams "walk-up-and-ask-me-1000-questions-when-I-only-have-time-for-five-as-I-try-to-get-some-shots."
While the Image Stabilization (IS) version is superlative, this one without IS is every bit as good, and lighter weight -- not to mention about $600 cheaper. Even this lens has limits in terms of usable distance, but I was right inside that range. (The other option, a bargain -- no, for real, it is a bargain -- at about $565, is the EF70-200mm f/4L USM. You lose a stop of light, but it's still a damn good lens).
The lack of light dictated that I shoot wide-open -- that is, at the maximum aperture for the lens. In this case, that was f/2.8, and it was artistically the right choice, too. The good thing about the 2.8L lens is that the max aperture is constant, so at any focal length, you can shoot wide open, or optionally dial in an aperture that's gives you the desired depth of field. The low f-number gave me lots of light -- well not lots, but enough -- and also served to blur the background and foreground, giving Ms. Badu the complete attention.
But the thing that gave me the edge in getting a good good-focus shot: shooting in Program AE (on most cameras, it's the "P" on the settings dial). In this case, even shooting in Program mode, I "shifted" the Program to maintain aperture at f/2.8 and let the camera determine the correct exposure time. Instead of trying to do the settings myself, and risk camera shake with really long shutter times, or have missed shots, let the camera's CPU save you some effort in these cases. You focus on composition and capturing the moment.
Once I got the shot, it was into Adobe Bridge for keywords, and archiving. Out of Bridge, into Camera Raw, I did the conversion to black and white by converting to grayscale. Next, I did some split-toning, to give the shot a bit of an aged, classic look. Lastly, I did some minor sharpening and clarity corrections, and off the shot went to Photoshop, for final (output) sharpening, and export to jpeg for the web.
The end edition is what you see above...I think this image caught the essence of the show and gives the viewer an idea of the intimate environment that was apparent during this segment of the performance.
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As a photo novice, I did wonder about the admonishment before concerts about flash photography. How far away were you taking your shots? I was out this weekend at a graduation in TN and took some generally OK shots of fam, but a few excellent ones (again by accident). My working lens is a Canon 28-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM. Even though I am not getting the zoom I expected with the lens, the IS is great and the close range stuff is excellent.
Met a photographer a few weeks ago who took excellent night time shots using only natural light. Impressive work, but a significantly patient process.
My next photo related purchase is a printer. Thoughts? I am teacher, so quality but frugal is best.
Effaridi, even so-called photo pros have issues with low-light shooting. And believe me, as a photo not-so-novice-but-nowhere-near-expert, I have problems too.
In this case, I was about 130 feet from the stage, give or take.
And your 28-135mm f/3.5 - 5.6 IS is a good lens, especially for the image stabilization. The issue is the wide open aperture at the longest focal length is two stops smaller than the one I was using. That's what makes the 70-200 f/2.8L such a beast. It's max aperture opening is constant along the whole range of focal lengths.
Shooting low-light requires lenses with f/2.8 -- or better, like the f/1.8 found on the EF50mm f/1.8 II prime. (This should be on your list of must-haves, especially 'cuz you can cop it for about $90 anywhere, the image quality is fantastic and that wide open aperture gives great bokeh and tremendous low light performance.)
Your zoom is not bad at all. Yes, it's a touch short, but remember, you're talking about a lens (your 28-135) that you can carry all day, and covers a very wide range of focal lengths, making it very versatile, so don't get down on that glass. You can do with one lens what takes me two to do, and it's economical for you right now.
Low light stuff requires either a very steady hand, shutter times no longer than, say 1/30sec, and even that's pushing it, or a tripod. You can do concerts better by using spot metering on your camera, and setting it to "P" (program mode). Try that the next time you're out shooting late.
As for printers, the Canon Pixma i4500 is fantastic, especially at $95 on Amazon.com. Bought one myself. Check it out.
Efaridi, the 50mm 1.8 is definitely a must have. Cheap, sharp and great bokeh. Downside is that it looks like a toy on the camera, but saves you from the questions from gawkers. Wait until you go for a long telephoto, like any of the 400mm. Annoying in some cases, but in other people move aside assuming you're a professional.
Another decent lens for the price is the 17-85 with IS. Given your crop sensor, you lose a good bit of wide angle at the 28mm end. I've heard good reviews on the 17-55 f/2.8 (my next purchase once the Canon rebate kicks in tomorrow). I'll let you know how it works out.