In Perth City with The Plugs

[Kombisaurus]

Last week I did a Photoshoot with a local band called The Plugs that was a lot of fun, but I felt we didn't get the photos they needed from the shoot.
So we met up a couple of days later in the city to grab some more shots.
Here are the results.


1. Using a long exposure (roughly 2 sec) while the guys stood very still.


2. and 3.


4. I loved the fact they all wore different coloured shoes.


5.


6. Individual Portraits.


7. B/W Portraits.

[Toad]

Excellent - a double-header of Plugs threads. Looks like you are getting some great stuff with these guys. The B&W portraits really leap out at me - I think they are really strong across the board. The lighting and DOF on #3 (beside the stair shot) really makes that one stand out as well.

I like how you broke this into 2 threads - I think that worked really well.

[matthew]

I'm with Toad on the B&W portraits, but the first slow-shutter shot would be my pick for the group. (It might be interesting to see it in monochrome as well.)

[Kombisaurus]

Thanks for the feedback.
It's interesting to hear you both show a preference for the group of b/w portraits. I also much prefer the b/w versions, but of the non-photographers who have seen these photos, the colour portraits seem to be much more popular.
Either way, all the individual portraits are definately my favourites from the shoot. I felt like they actually succeed in capturing a bit of the guys' on-stage personas.

It also seems the only people who like Shot #3 (the b/w shot of the guys on the stairs); are a couple of other photographers and myself. All the non-photographers who've seen it are indifferent.
Shot #3 was also the most difficult shot to get decent lighting, and I still wasn't happy with it at the end. The backlight is nice but the light on their faces is too flat - I wanted something more like the light in shot #5. But because we were walking around the city and had to be very mobile, I didn't have any lighting gear with me apart from a single on-camera strobe.
I guess it shows why photographers make bad editors.

And Matt, here's the b/w version of the first shot. I'm torn between them - but I don't think one is clearly better than the other.

[matthew]

I'm not sure if it would suit the usage, but I do prefer the B&W. It tones down the red red pants, and makes it easier to see the two chaps on the left.

[Kombisaurus]

hmm.. yep, good call.

[Don Schaeffer]

I usually don't like band photos but these are well thought out. Great work. I like the color version.

[Kombisaurus]

Thanks Don.

[Zig]

Sorry mate: I read "in Perth with the plugs" and expected a picture of you in a gimp suit...

As my reply on the journo section, I think these are great: the fisheye again is masterful Ade.
IF I were asked(and I know I've not been, so forgive me), I might venture that personally I'd have preferred a combo of wider aperture and/or closer proximity to the subject with the tele portraits, if only to blur some extraneous little details. I also reckon that colour has a bit of an issue here: colour intensities of our Canon reds are naturally a bit pokey, so this tends to drag the eye against where the composition wants to go perhaps..? Mono would , as above comments, release the composition..and tonally the reds can then be adjusted via post hoc "filtration", darkened with a green, lightened with a red, or whatever(which I know you know..just me blathering...) Hope you don't mind my comments on a showcase item...in my defence, I rate your work so highly that I know it more than stands up to any critique.

[Kombisaurus]

Thanks Zig.

No fisheyes used here though, the wide shots are all done with a 35mm f/1.4L. I was trying to play with perspective though, and I agree that the portraits all look wider than 35mm, but they're not.
I agree with you about wanting a softer background for the tele shots too. Because we were walking around the city, I left my 135mm f/2L at home in favour of the slightly slower, but more flexible, 70-200 f/2.8L IS.
But in hindsight, all of the tele photos could have been shot comfortably with the 135L and the extra stop would have been great at blurring the background. In the first photo I shot at f/20 and 50iso in order to get a 2sec shutter speed in bright light without ND filters.

[Zig]

The 2.8 as a walkaround: that's the spirit! Arms like a bison mate. Thanks for pointing out the 35/1.4; it draws really well, lovely.