More Metal!
I just love shooting photos in dark places. It really makes for some difficult conditions, but I just love the challenge of having so little light to work with. Makes me get creative and push myself and my knowledge to the limit.
Well I got another chance to shoot some pretty heavy Christian bands. The lighting was different than most concert venues as the lights were all plain white spots. Usually I have lots of fun colored lights to play with and it makes for easy processing work. With the plain lights, I lean towards either a monochrome or slightly cold desaturated color image when editing.
Check out what I got.
If you have a show or event coming up and need photos, contact me through my website at www.PhotoSteven.com
Hartsville, SC Take 8
Its crazy to think that this is the eighth year that we've come to Hartsville, South Carolina for Judgment House. We always have a great time with all the awesome people up here. I pretty much live with a camera around my neck no matter where I am so I'll probably be posting a bit while we're here.
I've been using my D90 with my manual focus 50mm f/1.4. That combo lets me shoot in almost complete darkness. Most of these pictures were shot well after "good available light".
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| These are two of the coolest kids ever! |
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| Tuggie killing the target. |
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| This church always has a great sunset. |
Metal Time
I went out to Zydeco Sunday night to get some shots of my boys Labyrinth Within playing a battle of the bands. I had a lot of fun and got some fun shots and thankfully made it out with all my gear intact. I also shot all the other bands who were playing. Here is some of the mayhem that ensued.
Click to see bigger versions on flickr and please leave a comment.
Night Lights (when the crazies come out)
I'm getting rusty on my light painting lately so I waited till the middle of the night to go out armed with half a dozen colored flash lights, some toys, a speedlight, and some steel wool to get some artistic exercise.
This year I've had a lot of fun learning about light painting. Its a completely different world from the weddings, portriats, and motocross photography that I do, and while I'm still learning in all areas, light painting is an amazing exercise in composition. It makes me take all three dimensions into consideration more than just making sure my depth of field is going to be appropriate for my composition.
The picture below actually was an accident. It consists of me chasing my brother around with flaming steel wool and him trying to fight me back with a light saber.
I've learned that to incorporate light painting into a portrait (or portraiture into light painting), I have to take into consideration what I want to be in front. Its like layering in photoshop. In this one I first popped the subject (my bro James) with a speedlight through a small softbox. Then while he stood completely still, I ran around him waving my red light around to make the designs behind and beside him. If he had moved away from where he was standing, the light from the red torch would cover over his face and body. By the way, this is the only image that was photoshoped in this post. The rest are exactly as they were out of the camera except for some cropping.
The green orb in this one is an example of how hard it is to compose while standing in front of a camera in total darkness. My intention was to center the green orb up in the middle of the blue. I still love the green lines in both of these.
I hope some of you go out and play around with some lights soon. As always, please leave a comment and don't forget to find me on facebook and twitter.
Win Some Lose Some
So after a great day of second shooting at a wedding Saturday, I stayed up literally all night getting all gear ready to go for shooting/on site printing at the Challenger's Cup at Millcreek MX Park. It started steadily raining about 4am and never let up. At 6am Sunday, I packed up and headed out in spite of the rain hoping for the rain to stop and the race to go on as scheduled. Since Millcreek is only a few minutes from home I wasn't very worried about possibly having to turn around and head back home.
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| Bummed out folks seeking shelter at the concession building. |
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| Kevin Cozadd |
When I got to the track it was pretty soggy from all the rain and no sign of getting any better. After wrapping my D90 with a 18-200 lens up in a plastic walmart bag I ran for cover in the stands where Kevin Kozad of MXers For Jesus was getting ready to have church with a bunch of sleepy looking muddy riders. If for nothing else I got to listen to Kevin's sermon and have church in the mud. I didn't get many photos, but I kicked the D90 into video and got Kevin's message below. Its shaky but the audio isn't too bad.
Only a couple minutes after the service, the track owner came out and announced that he was calling the race due to the weather and condition of the track. Not much you can do to control mother nature. Many riders had come from neighboring states to race. I loaded up, headed home, and slept the rest of the day :) Maybe I'll have better luck next week.