Comments on: Filter @ Mercury Lounge – 13.05.2008

By: brita water filters

brita water filters — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 16:47:10 +0000

To know all is to forgive all.

By: Keith

Keith — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:41:05 +0000

Thanks for that info there, Chris. I think I now know exactly what you’re talking about. I guess its all about finding a good middle ground. I checked those shots you pointed out and I see it. I still think your technique works really well!

By: chris

chris — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:39:06 +0000

Hey Keith, Yes, there is blur. Take a look at photos #1,3 and 7. The issue isn’t blur per-say, it’s managing the exposure in a such a way that you maximize the ambient light coming in while minimizing motion blur and still end up with a properly exposed image.

If you shoot with a shutter speed that is high, you end up with a point-n-shoot-like image where the subject is bright and the background is completely black.

On the other hand, if you use a long shutter speed and you don’t hold the camera steady, you’re going to end up with a swirly mess where you can’t even tell who the artist is.

My technique is essentially that I find a pleasing background exposure in manual mode and then let the flash fill in the rest.

By: Keith

Keith — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:44:39 +0000

Hey Chris, when you use flash and slower shutter speeds like you did, how do you prevent blur from the performers moving around? I would assume there’d be some blur there. I’ve never used flash but am looking into getting one. Just curious.

For what you dealt with, there are some good shots here! I love the first one.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:47:00 +0000

What kind of lenses are you looking at? My friend just bought the 10-22, I just wish it had a faster aperture! Then again, I shoot nikon. What about the 11-16 tokina? I’m looking into that one..

By: chris

chris — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:22:08 +0000

Hi Chris, I wasn’t actually on stage. The setup is very low at Mercury Lounge and you can go right up the performers. I still needed a wider lens!

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 01:27:08 +0000

Great set, Chris. Do you shoot on stage often? Kind of gives a more personal experience of some kind, and gives you the opportunity to put the crowd in some shots. I think the lens definitely worked, and got some good semi-wide shots from under and in front of the guitarists!

By: chris

chris — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:12:55 +0000

Hi Kathryn, I was bouncing off the ceiling to some extent. It’s painted black, so most of the bounce was wasted. I had my Demb Flip-It bounce card on so most of the light was going forward. The only way I opened up the room was to shoot at high ISO and low shutter speed.

By: kathryn

kathryn — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 19:05:58 +0000

I rarely shoot Mercury just because it’s so damn dark in there. Were you bouncing the flash off the ceiling?