Concert hall promo shot

[stevwils]

Canon T1i
Tamron 28-75 2.8 at 40mm
ISO 400
F4
1/80
Off camera flash on manual fired through white umbrella

A colleague of mine is being sponsored by Yamaha and needed a promo shot with him and his new drums. This was the first time I've ever used off-camera flash outside of goofing around at home and things seemed to go mostly as planned. I am curious, though, if the concert hall seems too dark. I wanted the focus to be on him and the drums with just a hint of the hall in the background for context, but I'm worried that what looks decent on my ridiculously bright iMac monitor won't look as good on an average monitor. And yes, that shirt is supposed to be pink...

[swilliams61]

On my monitor, it is a bit dark. I like the color and mood of the shot, but all the colors seem to run together; I didn't know what the drums were until I read your description. Maybe pull back a little to get more of the drums in the shot. The pose is a little stiff as well. I wish I could advise you on the lighting, but I'm still learning that myself.

[MrJones]

same here, I thought there were tables behind him, didn't see the drums.
plus, I would take the photo all over again if possible as your friend looks bored and grumpy.
try taking it from another angle and not just frontal or puting him behind the drums.

[BigFuzzy]

Yes, I believe it's clearly too dark. His eyes are almost completely lost. And the only obvious source of light is the light above his head which is reflecting on his forehead.

I agree with the others that due to the lighting, the drums aren't obvious to non-drummers

I also feel that the white balance is way off. It's very very yellow/orange to the point that when I first saw the image I didn't think you'd used any flash at all as it looks almost completely ambient lighting.

Since you're doing off camera flash now, here's one easy rule to remember that can help you adjust on the fly:
Aperture controls flash.
Shutterspeed controls ambient/background light.

If you need the subject that is lit to be less bright you change aperture, if you need more/less background light, you adjust accordingly.

It's a nice idea conceptually that I think falls a bit short technically. Right now, I would do some PP work to brighten the image and correct the color cast which would have the best immediate results.

[stevwils]

Thanks for all the input. It's funny the things we take for granted when dealing with something familiar. I just assumed that it was obvious that those are timpani behind him, but of course to someone who isn't an orchestral musician that wouldn't be obvious at all. This shot is meant for percussionists so I'm not too concerned about that, but it is a lesson worth remembering in the future.
As for bored and grumpy...totally. I think he was going for cool and disinterested but we were both less than pleased with the overall vibe. I actually ended up adding a little bit of a smirk to his lips in Elements just to make it a little less cold. I am always surprised how many things slip by me when I get obsessed with the mechanics of the shot and forget about the general aesthetic.

Big Fuzzy: The white balance gave me fits. I was trying to balance my (cold) flash shot through a white umbrella in a quite redish/yellowish/orangish room under strong overhead incandesant lights. The overheads are quite unflattering by themselves so I tried to add just enough flash to fill in the shadows. Would I have been better off just forgoing using the umbrella and gelling the bare flash for the ambient light and setting WB for incandesant? I actually pulled a fair amount of red out of the mix in post but didn't like his skin tone when I went any further. I guess that's just a symptom of trying to balance multiple colored light sources? Another reason to gel I suppose. The whole shot is just so monochromatic that I don't even know what to do. And the pink shirt and gray suit don't help.

[BigFuzzy]

Yeah, in the end, gelling the light that was the main used to light him would have balanced that out and still allowed for the what I think is nice ambient light. Yeah, it looks like really tough conditions.

On one hand it looks almost as if not flash was used (which is good), but then

By the way, I never said, that for the most it's a really nice image.
I could care less about his pose to be honest, to me it comes across as natural and a bit disinterested.. which isn't instantly bad for me.

Great sharpness (so many here get that wrong!).

Did yo consider shooting a flash from behind (if you had another flash).. like behind the drums, it would have helped separate them from the background and given him, with his dark skin, some separation from the bg as well.

I like the centered nature of this photo, as he's part of his environment.. ie surrounded by the drums..uh, timpani..

Oh, and the cropping of his feet.. not horrible, but noticeable.

All in all, if you can correct the wb a bit more and bump up exposure, I think it's quite good. I didn't realize how negative I sound(ed). I just wanted to say something nice (and true) in the end!

[RecurrentNerve]

Why not try making it black and white?

(I know, that's my answer for everything)

[Niresangwa]

I swear i'm not Fuzzy's fanboi, but he raises some excellent points. As always. (sigh for time zones and always getting to critique after he does). I've thought about this shot since I saw this post yesterday.

Generally I agree its a little dark, though I do like the warm tones. It will be a fine balance between lightening up the images and maintaining that cosy feeling. I like the pose, makes him look like a hard a$$, and dont have an issue with him as a model, but maybe would have asked him not to purse his lips maybe have dropped his head a little to raise the intensity. Maybe would have had him not clasp his hands that way either.

I think selecting the focal length is difficult here. Were it not for being told it was a concert hall, I wouldnt know it. I don't think 40mm is wide enough to accommodate the model, the timpani and the concert hall, but then again you need to preserve the portrait element; finding that balance in the composition is your decision however. Were it me, I would have taken a variety of shots including both a very wide shot to get a sense of environment as well as a tighter shot like the one you presented. I definately would have tried something wide (20's-low 30's), and also ultra wide, but then again I always have a hard on for shots around 12mm.

As far as lighting goes, it could have been more dramatic. If you have the capability, Fuzzy's suggestion of a second light to produce a harder rim light would be an excellent idea. I routinely use a second bare flash behind models to get this. If I was shooting wider, I would probably have used one to do that on the model and another to light the drums.

The key light, yes, a gel to warm it up would have been a better option. Looking at this, maybe a 1/2 CTO would be my first stop, and in this instance I would do it from above the model, central to the camera. Not knowing what equipment you have available though, it's hard to suggest what you can use. I routinely use a boomed beauty dish, though head on a gridded softbox would work well, and would have used a reflector for fill.

You may want to play with the shutter speed a little to control the ambient (sigh) again as Fuzzy suggested. You have room to slow it down a little, but I probably would have gotten rid of the ambient and gone up to 180 if i was using multiple strobes as I mentioned above. If you cant use the concert hall as a feature, might as well take it out of contention.

I think a well, creatively lit shot of the model and the timpani done as a low key-high drama image would have been great.

[stevwils]

Thanks again for all the input. Some interesting ideas that's I'm going to have to take some time to process. I like the idea of using a second flash as a rim light. I don't currently own one but I'm always looking for an excuse to buy something new. It's an affliction.



ISO400, f2.8, 1/80, 44mm

Here's another photo from the same session. This was actually the one that I preferred but for whatever reason he liked the other one. I felt like his face is better exposed in this one. I even thought about just cropping it to remove the background lights since, without really being able to see the hall, they aren't really adding anything. I somehow ended up blowing out the drum heads and had to take some from another shot and stick them in this one so that's why they may look a little weird. Had he chosen this shot I would have (hopefully) been able to clean them up.

[MrJones]

this one is much better.. still - try and get rid of the orange color...