Do you like photographing bands and musical performers as much as I do? I’d love for you to submit your best examples of this to the About Photography Group. I’ll post my favorites right here on the blog!

James Gonzales by patrickleroy

Christian Scott and Eric Gravatt by avbizzguy

Courtney Taylor-Taylor by heyheyjk

Thao by heyheyjk

BodyGroove_CanadaDay_SL_Studiob-6 by Steffi_YUL

Some musician friends of mine were in the Big Apple a couple of weeks ago and I had a chance to drop by for their show at The Living Room on the Lower East Side. Suzanna Choffel, Brad Houser, and Kyle Thompson are well-known in the Austin music scene, but what musician can resist an occasional showcase in NYC?

Naturally, I brought a camera along. Of course, you never know what the lighting conditions are going to be like in a given small nightclub, so I chose the Canon 7D for its low noise at higher ISOs. I switched between my 85mm 1.8 and my 17-40mm 4.0 lenses. Note: I don’t like to use flash for performance photography. I thought it might be instructive to share my thought process for each shot:

Brad Houser

I started off with an ISO 2500 and my 85mm at f/2.2. This gave me a good view of the bass player, Brad Houser, and the wide aperture not only provided me with a decent shutter speed in the ISO range, but also a shallow depth of field, which is nice. I like to get a shot of each band member alone in a frame, if possible. Sometimes this doesn’t work if they’re standing in a dark corner of the stage.

Suzanna Choffel

Another shot I like to get helps establish a context or story about the camaraderie of the band members. Here, you can see Suzanna doing her thing, with Brad looking on. The depth of field keeps her the focus, and him a noticeable but “supporting” player in the shot. Settings where the same as the previous shot.

Suzanna Choffel

Getting the name of the venue helps establish a location. The cool thing about some locations is that they can look great in photos. Bands love shots that show where they played, especially if it’s a well-known hotspot.

Houser, Choffel, Thompson

Finally, my 17-40, although slow at f/4.0 is sharp and wide enough to capture the whole scene at once. Dialing my ISO to 3200 was necessary to obtain a workable shutter speed.

Whether it’s boudoir or glamour, an editorial shoot, a band publicity photo, or a product shot, when it comes down to it, it’s all really just portraiture to me.  When I shot the promotional photos for Andrea Marie & The Magnolia Band, it was probably no surprise to them when I asked the members to pose for me individually.  Sure, I love a good group shot, but there’s just something great about working one-on-one with a person to get a nice portrait.

The shot above was taken outdoors.  But we wandered into a nearby beer joint to get some interior shots, too.  After all the main setups were shot, I asked each band member to sit individually by one of the windows and pose for a few frames.  I setup an umbrella, in shoot-thru configuration, opposite the window as shown with a 580EX II as the light source.  Below the diagram are my shots of guitar player, John Fink.  He’s got a great look which is perfect for demonstrating the effectiveness of having the subject simply turn their head when using this sidelight setup.

Notice how we can get a soft and contemplative look, as he looks out the window.  Then, more dramatic and intense looks as he turns his head away from it, letting the double side lighting really bring out detail and texture.  The shadow side, as you you can see, is always toward the camera.   A very similar effect is often created in the studio by placing two identical light sources opposite each other on either side of the subject.

Flash was set to approximate the intensity of the light coming in through the window. However, keeping the flash at a distance of about 10 ft. gave us a "harder-looking" indoor light effect.

For these shots, I used my Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM at f/1.8.  ISO was 200, shutter speed 1/100 sec.  The big window light is noticeably softer here.  You might wonder why the lighting from the shoot-thru umbrella is harder.  Consider that the umbrella was actually positioned about 10 ft. from the subject.  This, in effect, makes it a smaller light source than the window (relative the the subject), giving that side a more contrasty/harsh effect.  If we’d brought the umbrella closer, it would have provided a softer light, similar to the window light.

Eleanor Whitmore

Chris Masterson

Eleanor Whitmore, Ishaq Clayton

Photo Notes: For the most part, lighting was static and rather minimal (ok, it was near dark).  However, pushing my Canon 40D to ISO 1600, allowed me to get adequate exposures at f/1.8, 1/60 sec. on my Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM.  The truth is, most of the shots were underexposed by about a stop (shooting in RAW allowed me to adjust up in post), but I just can’t get myself to switch to ISO 3200 on the 40D.  It’s just a little out of my acceptability range most of the time.  Newer models can make life much easier in the higher ISO ranges, but this goes to show you, the older gear can still hold its own.  Color balance adjusted to taste.

Low-light shooting of this type was covered in the latest issue of my newsletter.  Sign-up to make sure you’re not missing out on the tips I send to subscribers.

Photos shot last night at 11th Street Bar, Lower East Side, NYC.  More about Eleanor Whitmore & Chris Masterson.

Amanda Kaletsky has recently moved to Brooklyn.  Great voice, beautifully written songs.  These shots were taken last night at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC, July 11, 2010.  Lens: Canon 85mm f/1.8 USM.

I shot this image for Meagan Tubb’s Beautiful Noise CD (2008).  She and her band, Shady People were able to put most of the recording together at Willie Nelson’s studio near Austin, TX after winning a band contest.  The prize consisted of studio time which helped with the budget I imagine.  Meagan’s not one for doing things half-ass, and she wanted the art and packaging on the disc to be up to standard with any nationally released CD.

There are about 6 images we did together that makeup the front, tray, insert, and back panel.  Some feature the band, some just Meagan.  Included are location and concept shots.

I told Meagan that I wanted to use a fan to blow her hair around.  I prepared her for it by warning her that it would definitely irritate her eyes, so we’d shoot fast to try to keep the “watery eyes” look to a minimum.

It’s a good idea to talk the subject through the movements and expressions before you turn the fan on.  A fan and long hair means lots of unpredictable hair movement.  And since I don’t machine-gun the shutter, I rely on experience, timing, and a little luck to get the shots I want.  For me, using a fan for a shot like this is usually a nine shot sequence — three shots in each of three “takes” with the fan on.

You know I love simplicity.  So, for this shot, I pulled out a single light in the form of a Photoflex LiteDome Q39, Medium Softbox with an Alien Bee (B800) on the back end.  I Velcro’ed a flag to the side of the softbox nearest the black seamless background to keep it from spilling light over there.  Shot with a Canon EOS 30D, Canon 50mm EF f/1.8 MK II, f/5.6, 1/250.

More on my work with Meagan >>

Richard Sanguinetti is a big fan of fallen Tejano star, Selena.  So much so that he’s written several songs dedicated to her memory.  When we shot this, he’d just begun working on a CD project that would to bring these songs together for others to hear.   The location was near Stubb’s on Red River in Austin, TX.  Notes: late afternoon, natural light, 40D, 50mm, ISO 400, f/4.0, 1/125.

I’ve always said musicians and actors are the most fun to photograph.  Even if they’re naturally shy people, they know how to turn it on and give you what you need for a good shot.  Performers will go the distance for you.  Seriously,  most of the time, they’ll do anything — even if it sounds crazy.  And while I never abuse the trust a performer places in me, I will push for something special.

Sometimes, however, the tables are turned.  Someone will come up with an idea that, for whatever reason, challenges me to think differently about how I normally photograph.   Hugo Black hired me to do some publicity shots, and suggested we shoot some of them at a cemetery.  As a photographer who’s generally up for anything, I suddenly found myself in the unusual situation of not being sure how I was going to go about the shots.  Typically, visuals will start popping into my mind at the first mention of the type of location I’ll be shooting at.  But I felt oddly blank about this.  And at the same time, excited and challenged.

What was the problem?  Looking back, I think it had something to do with my tendency to avoid shooting anything I’ve seen done already.  I’ve seen what cemetery shots look like.  I wanted to avoid doing something cheesy or played out.  Everything from the cliché “tombstone” shots of countless goth bands, to beautiful images taken at New Orleans cemeteries raced through my mind.  I didn’t want to do anything that looked like I was trying to hard.  I didn’t want the cemetery to be the prop.   That’s what so many cemetery shots have always looked like to me.  So, I decided I would think of the cemetery as the “world” or environment for the shots, rather than as a concept, theme, or “location.”  Just a mental shift, I know.  But it made a difference to me and to how I’d approach the shoot.

So, instead of draping Hugo over a headstone, or having him lie eerily on the ground with lilies in his hands, or some other nonsense bullshit, I just had him walk, sit, stand and “live” in the environment.  What we got this way was something that looked like a story instead of a bunch of dumb poses.  The cemetery isn’t played down, or played up, it just is.

Stick to your natural style, but explore the possibilities, and you’ll get shots that look like yours.  The best kind for you to get.

Bonnie is a super-talented superstar to me.

From last night’s late late birthday celebration.

The Sideshow Tragedy.  Nathan, Jeremy Nail on bass.  Momo’s, Austin, TX.