NikonGear'23
Images => People, Portraits, Street, PJ & Cityscapes => Topic started by: Airy on June 10, 2017, 11:50:46
-
Doing a concert shoot with only two primes may sound restrictive. However the proven 70-200 zoom would not have done the short range stuff, so two lenses were anyway needed.
I used the 105/1.8 following Tristin's recommendation (good handling of light sources in the field). I am not disappointed.
For the time being just follow the link: https://www.behance.net/gallery/53646193/Lizzy-Strata-9-Juin-2017 (https://www.behance.net/gallery/53646193/Lizzy-Strata-9-Juin-2017)
I'll post a selection later when I have time.
-
The 105mm f/1.8ais is a very nice lens sharp but cooler, imo, in looks than the f/2.5, my copy is in the shop for now since it severely overexposes when stopping down the aperture.
Nice 'jazzy' set en plus ;)
-
Airy, very nice series
quite a mix of lights, what other lens did you use?
-
Great series Airy. Your skill and how you use these lenses drowns the glory of auto-focus. Very lively photos.
-
Airy, very nice series
quite a mix of lights, what other lens did you use?
Thanks Armando. Sorry for my confusing comments, but the second lens is given by the title - it is the Voigtländer 58/1.4.
All shots with 105/1.8 taken at f/2.8 or f/4 ; all shots with the 58 taken at f/4.0.
The mix of light was variable daylight (from 21:20...) shining through the windows, then all sorts of lights (floods, normal lighting) from the room.
-
Great series Airy. Your skill and how you use these lenses drowns the glory of auto-focus. Very lively photos.
Thanks Anirban. There were quite a few misses though; I selected 40 shots out of 151 and some rejections were due to bad focus (minority case though).
Fortunately, there was ample space for me to move around and shoot from interesting vantage points.
In addition, the postprocessing was not meant to enable lens comparisons, as the aim was to get a decent "series". So I PPed much more than usual. Typically:
- reframing, using all sorts of crop factors and proportions (3:2, 1:1, 5:4, 4:3, 16:9 and reciprocals)
- WB adjustments (a few; AWB works well and, if not, auto WP provided by LR6 is helpful; few override cases)
- all sorts of lighting and contrast adjustments
- clarity generally set at +12 in LR
- some dodging and burning, especially when faces were too much in the shadow
- luminance of orange and, to some extent, yellow and red pushed; blues and cyan decreased; this was to increase the contrast with the background (evening skylight)
- in some rare cases, saturation decreased (blues if background was becoming "obtrusive"; yellows or oranges if faces became donaldish due to some predominant incandescent light, red if saxophonist was under "high pressure")
- de-noising, and lateral CA elimination of course
- post-reframing vignetting applied, as the lenses had very little vignetting at the chosen apertures. Purpose was not so much to have a "tunnel-like effect", but to further reduce the high peripheral brightness provided by the windows.
-
40 out of 151 is great success rate! Thanks for the additional info, Airy.
-
A very hight ratio of keepers, specially with manual focus. I wouldn't dare... Apart from that, great job with the expressions. Some true classic shots and great coverage of the musicians -not always the case with other photographers-. Good job moving around too, it makes the experience all that more enjoyable and interesting.
Thanks for the extra information.
How was the music? :)
-
Great - most, if not all, musicians have a classical music training background and fully master the technique; they have been playing together for years; and they enjoy all that. The smaller of the two female singers, Ms. Capucine Meens, spends most of her time singing baroque operas and oratorios, but is equally at ease with "my favorite things" and French songs from the last decades (some of you may remember my shooting her some years ago in the context of a braoque ensemble performance; I published the shots on the former forum). Bottom line, a great performance in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.
Concerning the keeper ratio, please do not overrate the accomplishment: this was no ballet performance !!! singers are reasonably static and full aperture was never used.
I did once ballet with an MF lens (Zeiss 135/2) and two zooms; I had one keeper with the Zeiss wide open (but worth the daring)
-
Concerning the keeper ratio, please do not overrate the accomplishment: this was no ballet performance !!! singers are reasonably static and full aperture was never used.
You have a point, but still.
Thanks for sharing
P.E.: about that manual Zeiss and dancers... :o
-
This one. The "pas de deux" (in contemporary style) was executed by these two young ladies, and very dramatic. The shot was taken near the end of the performance, they were boath soaked wet, so was the dancing floor. They remained more or less static for just enough time to focus and nail this one. D800, 6400 ISO, 1/200s, f/2.5
-
Now back to Lizzy Strata, here's a first batch as promised:
-
Second batch:
-
Third batch:
-
Yes Airy, very good choices.
The "pas de deux" conveys emotion. Data suggests light in the "darkish"side of a dance show. Thechnically challenging, great results. Congratulations and thanks for sharing it!
-
Great expressions and enthusiasm Airy.
Looks like they were really enjoying themselves.
-
wonderful series. The close-ups are my favorites as they drag you into the performance. Especially 6, 9 and 11. Wonderful!
thanks for sharing.
-
Yes Airy, very good choices.
The "pas de deux" conveys emotion. Data suggests light in the "darkish"side of a dance show. Thechnically challenging, great results. Congratulations and thanks for sharing it!
I agree. The "pas de deux" is the most compelling to me. The expression, the color, the composition...all fits greatly together.
-
Thanks Peter, Colin, Akira.
I confess I had a great time shooting those folks. I do like roses, but...
-
Thank you! Great set of photos. Tonight is the first time I've seen them on my desktop. :) I was sure they'd be great though I only saw them on my phone before.
Dave Hartman
-
Impressive series, Airy ! Good with light and action. Both lenses are very suitable for this task of course ;)
-
Indeed, good piece of advice from Tristin I got - the 105/1.8 does a good job against the light. See for instance the attached shot (against the sun!)