Inner City Surfers

I've finally shot something this year -- never thought it'd happen but I did.

I had the pleasure of shooting the Inner City Surfers show this Saturday at Foggy's. If you do not know Foggy's is closing it's doors at the end of the month and this was the Surfers last time playing there -- as Foggy Notions, who knows what the future holds for the place.

In this group I "liked" 25ish shots but none really stood out to me from the rest so I'm posting some here that semi stood out. The rest of the shoot can be found at: http://www.murderflymultimedia.com/ics_gallery/ I'm testing out a new piece of gallery software and it all sort of tied in. I'm just using the demo defaults but they work nicely, too lazy to play too much right now.

I was also testing out my sharpening technique with these shots too as I'm trying to get it sorted out in somewhat of a uniform matter (I made some nice tasty actions in PS which I haven't done before, damn does it speed up processing). These shots have no other adjustments done to them besides the sharpening.

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You always manage to do something that is usually tough... getting good shots of drummers.

One thing I notice is you usually post up a lot of close-up shots but rarely any of the whole band. Not really a criticism, just something to think about.

Thanks Ken.

I somewhat focus on drummers a bit as I'm friends with a number and I know they often get lost in the background. So it's been a while to just get in there and no moments when to shoot them.

I only use my 50 (currently) when shooting at either Foggy's or Loplops (the two main spots where I am). I've tried whole band shots at Loplops (more room to work with) but you always end up with somewhat out of focus/blurred movement etc. The two locations are pretty low light so any mid aperture rating you're somewhat screwed -- even 2.8 was causing my gigantic blur in a brighter place. Foggy's is a different beast, I was just off stage left when the show started, then the crowd closed in and I saved myself by actually jumping on stage and standing stage left and shooting from there for the first set moving to stage right for the 2nd.

I know cool live band shots can be done as I have a friend who has created some by stitching a couple of shots together and they look awesome. I just don't think we have a venue capable of getting the band well lit and and good focus that regular hosts these guys. The Speakeasy is probably my best bet but they've really been limited on things they've brought in lately and I haven't been there since last year I think.

I'll def keep the consideration though -- I was thinking of it for this show but with the crowd up front getting anyone half decent would have been a chore.

The Other Place is pretty big....you could get some good shots there.


I love to see band photographs.....all the sweat and energy is great!

Never been to the Other Place, may have to check it out sometime.

If you want to get a little wider feel free to borrow my Sigma 30mm f/1.4. Just let me know before you need it.

They have lots of bands at the other place. Um the last one was something of Bedlam(can't remember exactly) They have had the Billy Bastards and a few cover bands that were fun to watch. One was an Aerosmith cover band ......it was pretty entertaining. Its the old GLOW but now its all bands that they have in. Much more space to be taking pictures and fairly lighted too.

Nice shots Cujo. I really keep going back to the last one. I think it's my favorite, but that is a cool drummer shot.
The sharpening is really well done. I wouldn't have noticed.

Thanks Colin.

Don't forget there's a link up in my main post for a bunch more shots

I'm going to play with that last one and see what kind of B/W I can convert it into. One of those when I have time things to try out.

Sneaky! You left the two best shots on your site
I love the first and last ones of that gallery. Great shots

Well I was constantly debating which ones to put up and the five above won out after my quick once through the gallery.

The last shot didn't cut it as I felt it was a more "you had to be there" shot. Basically they ended their final set and the guitarist dropped his guitar (to a loud thud as it was still amped up) and walked off the stage into the back. The stage went dark at this time and I was able to see the outline of the guitar so I thought I'd take a shot and see what I could get.

That was the only shot of it in that position -- there's one other with me closer up on just the guitar -- it was greatly underexposed as I still had the camera set for my quick shooting in the brighter lights. I brought it in to LR, played with the exposure a bit to define it and converted to B/W. There's lots of grain in the shot and that was due to bringing the exposure up as much as I did.

Another reason why I like shooting in RAW though.

I couldn't tell if you texturized the shot. The grain pattern seems to run in vertical pinstripes.

Nope no texture, I think the pinstripes is the result of the two carpets down. The one what the drum kit was under looks like a general runner type thing and then the old beat down carpet on the stage at Foggy's is the other. The pattern possibly became more prominent again with the boost of exposure.

I'm not sure it comes from the carpet, as it is visible around the entire image. (shadows, drum, guitar...) I may be wrong though. Anyway, it looks AWESOME. that's why I had asked if you had done it in pp. It just looks so cool that way.

Hmm... good point. Think it's probably a combo of everything then

ISO1600, low light, bump in exposure, going to grey scale etc etc etc. Maybe I'll throw a texture on there as well and blow your mind -- whoa dude.