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

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.

Behind the scenes with DELUKA

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?

Wedding Band Portraits

chris — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:42:37 +0000

Chris Culgin and Benj Rowland of County Boys photographed at the Raab Ranch, Millbrook Ontario

The overwhelming urge to shoot band portraits can strike anywhere at any time; even at a friend’s wedding in Canadian farm-country.

I caught up with Chris Culgin and Benj Rowland (a.k.a. Tin Can Chris and Banjo Benj) in the small town of Millbrook an hour east of Toronto. The duo was playing old country and bluegrass at a friend’s wedding.

When they broke for a drink, I seized the opportunity for a few portraits. As it turns out, the farmhouse setting was a perfect match for their vibe. Photos and shooting notes are just a click away.

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTES

Walking up to complete strangers and asking them for a portrait is something I need to do more of. I spent just 5 minutes with Chris and Benj and was very happy with the results.

A few minutes was only enough time for snaps at two locations on the grounds.

The lead shot was taken in front of pile of scrap metal, old toys and deadwood in the corner of the driveway. An old lawnmower chair and some metal framing made the perfect seating for the shot. Benj and Chris looked like they could have been busking that location all day.

#1 – The photo was made with the Nikon D3 at 1/160 and ISO 800 and the 24-70mm stopped down to f/5. I would have preferred a shallower depth of field for this shot but decided on a “safety setting” of f/5 to make sure both faces were tack sharp.

#2 – The second image was shot with Chris and Benj facing the sun. A heavy layer of cloud cover provided the perfect diffusion to what would otherwise have been harsh afternoon light. The photo was shot at f/5 and 1/500 at ISO800. In hindsight, I could have backed off the ISO and shutter speed to get a final image with somewhat lower noise (but the D3 at ISO800 is no slouch). Since I did not have a gold reflector with me, I added a similar reflector-like effect in photoshop.

#3 – This photo and the old school photoshop treatment are a favorite of mine. The pose and setting remind me of civil war era portraits taken in the deep south; the framing of the old tree house in the background even looks like corner edge of a second story veranda. Shot at f/4 and 1/320 at ISO800.

End Notes

Thanks to Chris and Benj for being such good subjects. Thanks to Eleanor and Ron for letting me steal their musicians.

Band Portrait: August Burns Red

chris — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:02:20 +0000

Band portrait - August Burns Red - Nikon D3, 14-24mm. ISO200 at f/10 and 1/50

Hot off our series of band portraits at Vans Warped Tour, Todd and I caught up with metalcore savants August Burns Red for a quick shoot on-location. Shooting notes after the jump.

Photographer’s Notes

Dont’ let the tats, crushing breakdowns or death growl scare you, the guys from August Burns Red are incredibly funny and generally awesome to work with.

As always, Todd and I our band photography Nikon style, employing several different configurations of speedlights using CLS to trigger. The lead image is lit by an SB-900 fired through a 15″ softbox, high and camera left. Another SB-900 fired into a 45″ silver umbrella was used for fill, high and camera right. Accent lighting from the back and side was provided by a pair of SB-600 units fired bare. The lighting ratios were controlled by an SB-900 in Commander mode on-camear.

With almost no ambient light left in the day, a shutter speed of 1/50 was necessary to let a little bit of atmosphere into the shot.

The money shot

Band Portrait - August Burns Red - Nikon D3, 24-70mm. ISO 200 at f/11 and 1/80

The tightest shot of session came during Todd’s setup below the dock.

Behind the Scenes

The BrOwyoungs light it up with Nikon CLS

After you’ve got the framing set, that lighting rig looks a lot like this:

Portrait of Chris Owyoung, music photographer

End Notes:

Thanks to August Burns Red: Jake, JB, Matt, Brent, and Dustin and additional thanks to Josh for coordinating the shoot, and to Ricardo for introducing us.

Warped Tour 2009 – Individual Portraits

chris — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 03:13:10 +0000

Jake Reed of TAT shows me his pearly whites.

One of my favorite aspects of music photography is photographing individual artists. Don’t get me wrong, photographing entire bands is awesome, but whether you’re trying to properly position the founding members of the group or make sure to photograph the drummer from his good side, band shoots often governed by rules and roles to play. On the other hand, individual portraits leave a lot of room to either get very serious or have a lot of fun. The BrOwyoungs did a little of both on our visit to Warped Tour. All of the good stuff after the jump!

Lighting Info

Straight up Nikon CLS. Without exception, the lighting setups for these photos were the sames as the Warped Tour group portraits.

Shooting Notes

Some of the best portraits come from knowing when to offer direction, when to egg someone on and when to shut up and shoot what’s in front of you. We photographed a lot of inidividual artists, here are the highlights:

TAT

Jake Reed, Tatiana DeMaria and Nick Kent get frighteningly close to the Nikon 14-24mm

Nick Kent shows me "The Guns"

Tatiana DeMaria

Nick Kent

Jake Reed

Ricardo

TAT with Scary Kids Scaring Kids

Yeah, that will leave a mark.

Chris Depew of Single File

Joe Ginsberg of Single File

Joe does his best "Home Alone"

Chris Depew of Single File

Chris goes metal on metal

Robert Ortiz of Escape The Fate

Jason Evigan of After Midnight Project

Spencer Bastian and Christian Meadows of After Midnight Project

Alana Grace

Warped Tour 2009 – Band Portraits

chris — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:37:27 +0000

After Midnight Project photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

So you’re standing backstage at an all day music festival with a bucket full of Nikon speedlights, a brother who happens to be one of the premier music photographers in the world and a few hours to kill – what would you do?

If you answered correctly, you’d shoot the hell out of whatever band was in front of you and lather, rinse and repeat until you find yourself slumped over your plate of shoestring cheese fries in a suburban Steak ‘n’ Shake at 1:00am.

As luck would have it, Todd Owyoung and I did just that at the Saint Louis stop on Warped Tour, 2009.

Shooting Conditions

With the exception of TAT, who we photographed on two occasions that afternoon, we averaged roughly 6 minutes of shooting time per band. Setup time ranged from just 3 minutes to about 10. Shocked? Horrified? It was insane but after all, it was Warped Tour.

When you’re in the challenging situation of having back to back shoots scheduled hours on end either you get very good at setting everything up or you end up pissing everyone off and going home with a lot of people who think you’re unprofessional and no photos.

Lighting Info

For anyone who wonders whether the Nikon CLS system has enough power for daylight use, here is the answer – most of these photos were taken under the full intensity of the afternoon sun.

As many as 7 nikon speedlights were used for each portrait. In general, at least one Nikon SB-600 was placed behind the subject with one SB-900 on either side of the subject. An additional SB-900 was fired into a small softbox (for more examples see my portraits of The Energy and Todd’s portraits of Dragonforce) that was boomed overhead. Additional SB-600 units were added to the existing setup if more power was needed. All of these speedlights were configured as remote flashes.

The output of the each group of remote lights was controlled by an on-camera SB-900 in Command mode. The ability to change the output of three groups of remotes without running around to adjust each light made the shooting process extremely efficient.

Alana Grace

Alana Grace photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

Alana’s photos were taken in a shaded area just outside the press room. For this specific shot, a silver reflector was used to for fill, held low and camera right, just out of frame. The Nikon 70-200mm lens was zoomed to 160mm and stopped down to f/3.5, which gave the photo a pleasing background blur (bokeh) while maintaining a high level of detail at the point of focus.

Big D and The Kids Table

Big D and The Kids Table photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

With a total of 9 band members, Big D and The Kids Table was one of the most difficult portraits to pose. Taken after dusk, almost all of the light in this photo is courtesy of the remotes. The background would have been completely black if not for the slow shutter speed of 1/20 at ISO200. I liked how the flare from rear lights added accent to the edge of the frame.

As you might infer from their name, everyone from Big D and The Kids Table is incredibly nice in person.

Conditions

Conditions photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

Even though we only had a few minutes with them, the guys from Conditions were great to work with. My favorite thing about this photograph is the how “Hollywood set” the tool shed looks. Earlier in the day we were kicked out of this very area because one of the venue staff couldn’t imagine “why anyone would want that shed in the background.” She went on to suggest we take all of our photos inside where there were “plenty of nice [blank] walls.”

Escape the Fate

Escape The Fate photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

I was eager to shoot Escape the Fate as they were one of the very first bands I ever photographed live. Since my photos of that show were nothing short of horrible, I was glad to have another crack at them.

Forever The Sickest Kids

Forever The Sickest Kids photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

When I discovered a discarded floor-standing sign frame in a pile of junk, I knew there was only one band capable of doing it justice. After shooting a few “normal” photos of FTSK, I threw this in front of them and they knew exactly what do it. Todd got in close on this one with the Nikon 14-24mm stopped down to f/13.

Single File

Single File photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

Don’t let this understated group shot fool you. Despite a long day of rocking out, the guys from Single File cut loose for their individual portraits (I’ll be posting individuals from nearly all of the bands).

TAT

TAT photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

TAT takes this year’s award for Band Most Fun To Shoot at Warped Tour. Whoever said that brits are known for their dry sense of humor clearly never met Tatiana, Nick or Jake. Despite dislocating her knee cap during the band’s live set and being bitten by Pouyan Afkary of Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Tatiana brought humor and poise to every frame we shot. If that weren’t enough, Nick and Jake took turns outdoing one another with facial gags and rock attitude.

This photo, shot between a pair of tour buses, came from the second of two sessions with the band. A group of three SB-600s were ganged up behind the band with a diffused SB-900 for key light overhead.

TAT and Scary Kids Scaring Kids

TAT with Scary Kids Scaring Kids photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

You don’t have see the group hugs or the wagon circle of tour buses to know that Warped Tour is like a gigantic traveling family. TAT dropped by our session with Pouyan and Tyson of Scary Kids Scaring Kids and we had to get a shot of everyone together.

One of the most amazing things about the Nikon 14-24mm is how sharp it is across the entire frame – not something one associates with a zoom lens let alone an ultra wide. It allows the photographer to get right in on the action without worrying about image quality on the wide end. This shot was taken at 14mm, just inches from the band and it’s tack sharp all the way out to the sides.

If I can remember correctly seven different speedlights were used for this photo.

There For Tomorrow

There For Tomorrow photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

There For Tomorrow was one of the first bands we photographed. The guys kept their cool despite the fact that Todd and I put them inside a smelly recycling container that had been cooking in the 90 degree heat for hours. “Don’t lean up against the walls guys, they’re sticky.”

TV/TV

TV/TV photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

Our shoot with TV/TV tested the limits of the Nikon CLS system. Shot in full sun, the speedlights had plenty of reasons to fail (overheating + infrared interference) but they didn’t. Although the background of the unedited shot could have come down a stop, it wasn’t anything a 5 second pass with the burn tool couldn’t fix.

Westbound Train

Westbound Train photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

What are the chances that a ska band with seven members will all show up on time? Better yet, what are the chances that all of them remember to bring their glasses? Westbound Train, it must have been fate.

We The Kings

We The Kings photographed backstage at Warped Tour, 2009

We The Kings was definitely the fastest shoot of the day. Two minutes to set up, two minutes to shoot. Thanks for squeezing us in guys.

Behind The Scenes

Band Photography with Nikon CLS Speedlight System

Todd Owyoung tests the lighting rig before the photo shoot with Westbound Train

Chris Owyoung makes final adjustments before Todd Owyoung's photo shoot with TAT

Thank You

At the end of a 14-hour work day, there are a lot of thank yous to be given. Thank you to all of the bands for coming out in the heat, playing your asses off and then pulling it together for awesome photo shoots. Thank you to whoever in the catering staff decided to put those wafer-thin slices of lemon into the fried shrimp poboy sandwiches – absolute genius my friend.

Finally enormous thank yous to Todd and Bethany – without your numerous talents and steadfast friendship, none of these photos would have been possible. You will be paid in full with boom-holding and ice cream when the time comes.

Stay Tuned

Be sure to check Todd’s website of concert photography for his take on the day. Also check out the highlights from the Vans Warped Tour 2009 individual portraits.

Joanna Levine

chris — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:20:05 +0000

June 10, 2009 – Brooklyn singer/songwriter Joanna Levine commissioned me to shoot a series of portraits for her new promotional materials. Her shoot is a perfect example of the variety I try to achieve in my band photography sessions.

Despite shooting between 150 to 300 shots in a normal session, I try to keep things as simple as possible. In Joanna’s case, this meant working with mostly available light and a few changes of clothing. Likewise, all of the images in this set were taken within a couple blocks of her Brooklyn apartment.

I’m a firm believer that every portrait should have a concept that guides the look, composition and equipment used. Having a concept, which could be as simple as needing a variety of shots to use on Facebook and a promotional postcard, ensures that photographer and client are working towards the same goal. In the midst of a multi-hour shoot when either party can loose focus, taking a break to refer to the concept can be critical.

As I do with all of my clients, I met with Joanna in advance of the shoot to hammer out the exact look we were going for.

The concept? One that is a bit Folk, a bit Rock and a bit Fashion all at the same time.

Here are some of the highlights:

PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTES

Joanna’s shoot started around 10am and went into the afternoon following a short lunch break. Conditions were cool and bright (a stark contrast to the lightless sweaty confines of the photo pit a.k.a. my normal working environment).

Though I enjoy working outdoors, we shot a lot on either side of noon, which necessitated finding creative ways to improve upon the harsh sunlight.

This meant everything from shooting on the shaded sides of buildings to using wardrobe (hats) to provided the needed diffusion. When little or no shade was available, I made sure to have Joanna’s back to the sun while using a reflector (on the ground or held by an assistant) to fill the shadows.

I shot entirely with D3 and a mixture of both prime and zoom Nikkor lenses. To my surprise, a majority of the best photos came from the most humble of lenses.

Yup, the Nikon 50mm f/1.8. Despite being made of plastic and retailing for only $100, the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 provided two of the essential qualities for the shoot, a comfortable working distance with the subject and very shallow depth of field. To my astonishment, the 50mm provided plenty of resolution on the Nikon D3 even when shot wide open.

Several of the tighter headshots were taken with the Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR. Even though the working distance is further away than I like (about 6 feet), the telephoto end of the 70-200 is perfect for lots of subject isolation and the creamy background bokeh.

Nearly every shot in this post had different exposure settings and post processing.

As always, if there’s anything I haven’t mentioned just ask!

END NOTES

A ginormous thanks to Joanna for still looking good even though it was cold out. The great shots would not be possible without the help of Sabrina: Photo Assistant and Stylist to the stars.