New York Music Photographer Chris Owyoung - The Best Concert Photography & Band Portraits » Portrait Photography

The Things They Carried

Chris Owyoung — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 03:54:36 +0000

Strobist: Dynalite 2050 head with 30 degree grid above camera. SB-900 through the doorway camera right. SB-900 through curtains behing the band.

Even though I’d done several sets of promotional portraits for the New York metal band The Things They Carried. It wasn’t until last week that I got to see them perform live. Here are a few of my favorites from their show at Mercury lounge and a few portraits for good measure.

Strobist: Dynalite 2050 head into Creative Light 5' Octabank camera left.

Strobist: Dynalite 2050 head into Creative Light 5' Octabank camera right. Dynalite 2050 head into Creative Light umbrella softbox camera left.

Strobist: Dynalite 2050 head with 30 degree grid above camera. SB-900 through the doorway camera right. SB-900 through curtains behing the band.

Strobist: Dynalite 2050 head into Creative Light 5' Octabank camera right. Dynalite 2050 head into Creative Light umbrella softbox camera left.

Nikon D3 + 85mm f/1.4G. Sunset through window light camera right.

Help Make Molly Coogan’s Music Video

Chris Owyoung — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:27:21 +0000

My client, the beautiful and talented Molly Coogan, is making a music video for her new song “It Could Be.” She needs a little community help to get it done. I don’t always promote on behalf of my clients, but Molly’s idea of getting an old theater, dancers and shooting the entire thing in one continuous shot, is something I’d really like to see.

If you’re in a giving and curious mood, watch her pitch video and consider helping her bring it to life.

About the photo

Molly and I worked together to create a series of promotional photos in 2010. Even though it wasn’t one of the final selections, this shot was a favorite of mine – taken with the Nikon 70-200mm VRII at somewhere around 200mm and f/3.2 using a Nikon D3 and natural light.

Portraits: Adele

Chris Owyoung — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:33:19 +0000

I had the distinct pleasure of photographing Adele on the eve of the US release of her second album 21, which if you haven’t already, you should run out and buy right now. Adele is gorgeous, warm, down-to-earth and unstoppably funny – just about everything a photographer could want in a subject. This shot is my hands down favorite from the session because even though it’s a manufactured moment, it’s 100% Adele, poised and beautiful.

Here’s the video from Adele’s acoustic rendition of “Rolling in the Deep” from her live performance after our shoot. You can even see me working during a few shots of the crowd.

Lighting Diagram

Key Light

Dynalite SH2000 head driven by a Dynalite Roadmax MP1000 power pack and fired into Dynalite SR-80 18″ Beauty Dish with 30 degree grid.

I’m a Dynalite user. Their pack and head systems are light-weight, powerful, roughly half the cost of Profoto and they’re built to take a beating. Just a few weeks ago, one of my Dynalite heads fell 12 feet while it was turned on. To my amazement, the head kept on working, modeling light and all.

The SR-80 beauty dish with grid is a great modifier for creating drama. The light is contrasty without being harsh and with the grids attached, you’ve got the ability to focus the light exactly where it’s wanted – all with a beautiful fall off around the edges.

For this shot, the center of the dish was aimed downward at Adele’s head, roughly 8 feet off the ground. I was careful to have her stand far enough away from the backdrop that the light from the beauty dish would not splash onto the seamless.

Hair Light

Mole Richardson fresnel hotlights.

Two hotlights were positioned symmetrically behind Adele and used as hair lights. The fresnel to camera left was pointed slightly more towards camera to add more warmth to that side. The fresnel to camera right was aimed towards the back of Adele’s head to prevent too much warmth from interfering with the cooler light coming from the rim light.

Since the hotlights did not have adjustable power, I had to set my shutter speed slow enough to make sure that they registered in the exposure but did not blow out Adele’s hair or bleed onto her face.

Rim Light

Dynalite 2050 head into Wescott 12″ x 50″ Stripbank.

It’s difficult to see, but the strip light is one of the most important parts of this setup. It was positioned so that it skimmed the side of the face and body, roughly opposite the light coming from the beauty dish. This ensured that the right side of Adele’s face and body would have some definition and detail instead of falling into complete shadow.

Flag

Large black fabric flag.

The stip bank was blocked with a large flag to keep any stray light from causing flare on the right side of the frame.

Camera & Lens

Nikon D3 with Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 AF-S.

Next to being confident and professional, having absolute trust in your equipment is key. When you’ve got 10 minutes to get a killer portrait of a multi-Grammy award winning artist in a dark storage room, you have to be sure your equipment can respond at the speed of thought. And no, you don’t want to have to shine a flashlight in a pretty girl’s face to make sure you can lock focus – yes I’ve seen people do this.

When shooting wider shots like this, it’s important to shoot at the right focal length with the right lens. A common mistake in bad environmental portraiture is for the photographer to stay at normal portrait distance 2-6 feet and simply zoom out to capture more of the scene. While 6 feet is a comfortable working distance to interact with a subject, staying at 6 feet and zooming out can have the major drawback of distorting the subject and bending lines that should be straight.

For this shot I needed to be more than 10 feet away from Adele to get the desired framing with a focal length was neutral enough to keep the light stands straight.

Backdrop

Avenger C-stands with a roll of white paper. If you don’t know what those are used for, get help, now.

Questions?

Leave ‘em in the comments section.

Portraits: Molly Anne Coogan

Chris Owyoung — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 03:19:58 +0000

f/3.2 and 1/320 at ISO 400. Nikon D3 with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II

I had the pleasure of doing a series of natural light portraits with the lovely and talented Molly Anne Coogan. Molly is a New York based actor, writer and a singer and musician with the Rooftops band. All of these photos were taken with the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II at between f/2.8 and f/4.0. Read on for more photos from the shoot and 100% crops.

f/3.2 and 1/320 at ISO 400. Nikon D3 with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II

f/2.8 and 1/250 at ISO 400. Nikon D3 with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II

f/4 and 1/200 at ISO 400. Nikon D3 with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II

f/2.8 and 1/400 at ISO 400. Nikon D3 with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II

f/3.2 and 1/400 at ISO 400. Nikon D3 with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II

Nikon 70-200mm VR II 100 % Crops

Here are the 100% crops from the point of focus for the headshots in this post. All of the photos were taken at ISO400 on the Nikon D3 and have not been resized or sharpened for web. RAW to JPG output was handled via Adobe Lightroom 3 with default noise reduction and sharpening.

100 percent crops from the Nikon 70-200mm f2/.8 VR II

Portraits: Deluka

Chris Owyoung — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:22:03 +0000

When Todd and I work a promotional shoot for a band, we typically take turns shooting while the other keeps an eye on the overall composition and makes sure we get everything we can out of the band and the setup. Occasionally, one of us will leave to prep the next look while the other continues to shoot with the band - a “leap frog” technique that works very well when the situation demands working on-the-fly. Todd’s sunset gig with Brit-rockers Deluka provided the perfect opportunity for this style of tag team shooting.

These ambient light-only portraits were taken in roughly 5 minutes in between more complicated lighting setups.

Thanks, Mad Props & Three Rounds of PBR

Huge thanks to Kris, Robbie, Stevie for being such great subjects. Special thanks to Ellie for putting up with my wisecracks and smiling a little.

On Shooting Film

If you’re wondering why these images look different, it’s because they were taken with the Contax 645 medium format system and Fuji Pro 800z film. The reason you’ve never heard me mention either of those is because this was the first time I’d ever used a film camera that wasn’t my Lomo LC-A+.

Wait…Isn’t shooting a band with a camera system you’ve never used before a bad idea?

Actually, it’s a horrible idea. But luckily for me, this shoot was entirely Todd’s responsibility and I was free to experiment and even downright fail without jeopardizing the job. Luckier still, it turns out that shooting film isn’t nearly as difficult as it’s made out to be and a photos taken at sunset look pretty damn good regardless of your tools.

If there’s one immediate benefit/difference between shooting film and shooting digital, it’s that with film, the entire creative process slows down to account for the fact that, you’re forced to do a lot of the work you might leave up the computer in your digital camera. Since there’s no RAW and no white balance, proper exposure and quality of light take on a much greater importance and, since you can’t change the ISO on the fly, you’ve got to deal with the permutations of aperture and shutter speed given to you by your film. Even for photographers who pride themselves on knowing how to nail everything at the point of capture, there’s simply more you have to get right with film.

As mentioned above, I shot with Fuji Pro 800z, which I chose for it’s low contrast, pleasing grain and tendency towards a pastel pallet when overexposed.

Impressions of the Contax 645

Compared to a modern digital camera like the Nikon D3, there’s a lot to dislike about the Contax 645; it’s slow, it’s heavy, it eats 10 dollar 2CR5 batteries like Joey Chestnut eats hot dogs, and it’s got an autofocus system that is so slow and so inaccurate you’d think the engineers at Contax would have tossed it out simply to solve the aforementioned problems with weight and battery consumption – then again I am talking about a company that stopped making cameras in 2005 due to “difficulties in catching up with the recent rapid market changes.”

What there is to love about the Contax 645 is entirely thanks to the Carl Zeiss Planar 80mm which is the fastest standard lens made for any 645 system – at f/2.0 it’s a full stop brighter than those made for mamiya or hasselblad and it’s tack sharp wide open. Although my experience is extremely limited, I’d say that the Planar 80mm f/2.0 is almost nice enough to justify buying a used camera body solely to shoot with it at f/2.0.

Behind the scenes with DELUKA

Chris Owyoung — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 23:53:11 +0000

a behind the scenes look at Todd Owyoung's promotional photoshoot with DELUKA

Just a quick behind the scenes look at my brother, professional music photographer Todd Owyoung during his recent photoshoot with U.K. electro rockers DELUKA. His shot was lit by a 90cm octabox camera-left and a large reflector camera-right for fill. Todd can be seen shooting with the Nikon D3 and 24-70mm f/2.8 lens.

If you’re wondering about the photo above, it was taken with a Contax 645 on Fuji Pro 800Z film and more notably, it was one of the first exposures I’ve ever taken using film. Stay tuned for a few of my portraits of the band as well as my thoughts on using medium format and film for the first time.

Photoshoot, behind the scenes

Chris Owyoung — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 02:56:35 +0000

A little behind the scenes music photography from a new shoot. (photo by matt eisman)

Just a quick behind-the-scenes shot from an album cover I’m working on. The all-day photoshoot was complete with ray guns, akimbo air horns, homemade hot sauce, and one massive parabolic umbrella from Paul C. Buff. The photo is courtesy of fellow concert photographer Matt Eisman who was kind enough to assist me. I’ll be able to share more once the finished product is released.

Band Portraits: My Silent Bravery

Chris Owyoung — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 02:36:14 +0000

I had the honor of spending the day with the guys from My Silent Bravery in their home town of Worcester, Massachusetts. Despite freezing temperatures, we executed a 5 hour shoot to create the imagery needed to support the band’s new album Are You Prepared? which is set for release in Boston on March 27. Here are a few photos from the project.

Photographer’s Notes

Starting at noon and lasting until sunset, the setups for this shoot varied in both location and lighting scheme. The goal was to create a diverse group of images that ranged from rockstar looks to more casual shots of the guys hanging out around town. Many times, both looks were possible in the same setup.

As necessary, the indoor shots were lit by the Nikon CLS wireless flash system relying heavily on the BrOwyoungs DIY beauty dish, for the main light source. Here is a shot of Anthony (who was kind enough to assist on the shoot) lighting himself with The Chinatown Special.

Need photos of your band?

I’m available for assignments and projects in New York and beyond. Visit the contact page to schedule a meeting.

DIY Beauty Dish Portrait example

Chris Owyoung — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 21:46:05 +0000

Here is a quick studio portrait (view larger) lit by my new “Chinatown Special” DIY beauty dish and taken with the Nikon D3 and the new Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII (my review).

The “Chinatown Special” is a new DIY speedlight beauty dish design by Todd Owyoung. As you can guess from the name, the majority of the parts came from a Chinatown restaurant supply warehouse. 100% crop, strobist info and shooting notes after the jump.

Strobist Info

Subject is seated roughly 5 feet in front of a set of white cotton curtains.

Nikon SB900 into “Chinatown Special” DIY Beauty Dish close to the subject, high and camera left just outside the frame
42″ photoflex reflector positioned low camera right, just outside the frame
Background – Snooted Nikon SB-600 behind subject pointed at white cotton curtains.

Shooting Notes

This photo was taken with the new Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lens at 200mm and f/3.2 at ISO 640 and a shutter speed of 1/60 using the Nikon D3. Considering that I’ve come to depend on the new 70-200 down to 1/10th of a second, the shutter speed of 1/60 was more than fast enough given the new VR II image stabilization and the stopping power of the SB900.

ISO640 enabled me to use far less flash power for the key light and the background light than the same shot taken at ISO200. As you can see from the 100% crop below, the noise at ISO640 is pretty insignificant.

Catchlight Characteristics – 100% crop

Despite costing about $20, the catchlight produced by the Chinatown Special is very similar to what you’d expect from a commercial version costing hundreds of dollars. Notice how even the distribution of light is around the center of the dish.

100% crop from the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II lit by the "Chinatown Special" DIY Beauty Dish

Breaking Benjamin

Chris Owyoung — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:42:33 +0000

Benjamin Burnley and Aaron Fink of the band Breaking Benjamin. Photographed for Guitar Edge magazine. (photos by Chris Owyoung)

What better way to kick off 2010 than shooting a feature with Benjamin Burnley and Aaron Fink of the multi-platinum selling rock outfit Breaking Benjamin. I caught up with Ben and Aaron on-location in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania for the January cover of Guitar Edge magazine.

More photos from the article and all of the the how-to goodies are just a click away.

About the Assignment

The job was very straight forward; drive to Wilkes-Barre, scout locations and shoot enough to yield a good selection of cover shots and a few shots for the interior of the mag.

My editor requested that the lighting be contrasty and rock’n'roll while leaving a lot of headroom for final toning and atmospheric adjustments in photoshop. (In the end, the photos did receive a lot of toning in post, though almost no retouching in the corrective sense).

Scouting the Location

My assistant and I spent roughly 45 minutes location scouting prior to the shoot. The search yielded four locations that I documented with my iphone along the way. The photo shows one of the best features of the final location of the shoot:

Obligatory List of Gear

Nikon D3
Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8
Nikon 24-70mm f2.8
5 X Nikon SB-900
12′ Manfrotto Light Stands
Lastolite 24″ EzBox Hot Shoe Softbox
3 Section Calumet Monopod
Pelican Case (doubles as on-the-fly posing stool)

Since the 12mp files of the Nikon D3 have more than enough resolution for a double page magazine spread, choice of camera body wasn’t an issue. The main decision was what system to use for lighting.

Even though I had a Dynalite pack and head system in tow, the lack of a constant power source demanded the portability of the AA battery powered Nikon CLS system. Luckily, overcast skies meant that the SB900s had more than enough juice to overpower the ambient light.

(As can be seen in my post on band portraits at Warped Tour, the CLS system is just powerful enough to be used in full sunlight if you don’t need to kill ambient too much).

The Lighting Setup

A total of four Nikon SB900 speedlights were used for the cover shot. A single SB900 was clipped to train car behind Ben and Aaron with twin rim lights and softbox completing the picture.

The Cover Shot

I arguably could have shot this assignment with ambient light only were it not for the need to highlight Ben and Aaron’s guitars for the feature. As you can see in the cover shot below, the position of the softbox and the camera-left rim light did a really nice job of showing off Ben’s custom hollow body PRS.

End Notes

Enormous thanks go out to Ben and Aaron for being all around great samples of humanity and such easy subjects to work with. Additional thanks go out to my assistant Sara, Heather from Hollywood and, of course to, Laurie Baldwin whose skill with both hair and makeup were essential.

Got Questions?

Leave ‘em in a comment below?