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

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.

Preview: Warped Tour Portraits

Chris Owyoung — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 04:40:15 +0000

How much fun was Warped Tour? THIS MUCH FUN! - Nick Kent of TAT at photographed at Warped Tour, 2009.

I took a few days off planning my wedding (yes, it’s in a few days) and caught up with my brother Todd for a insane day of band portraits at Warped Tour. As you can see, TAT was one of our favorite bands to work with.

The Owyoung Brothers knocked out a bunch of portraits for you, including exclusive shoots with Escape The Fate, Single File, Big D and the Kids Table, After Midnight Project, Forever the Sickest Kids, TV/TV, We the Kings, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, and more. Stay tuned!

Lighting Info

Todd and I rocked between three and six Nikon speedlights all day long. With the exception of one 15″ softbox, the speedlights were fired bare. Eat your heart out Joe McNally, this was straight up Nikon CLS at it’s best.

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.

The Energy

Chris Owyoung — Sat, 02 May 2009 01:14:53 +0000

March 28, 2009 – Last month, The Owyoung Brothers caught up with the guys from The Energy for a run-and-gun portrait session right before their sold-out show at The Fillmore at Irving Plaza. Here are some of the shots.

Photographer’s Notes

A combination of five Nikon speedlight flashes were used for this setup: four remote SB-600s controlled by a single on-camera SB-900 in commander mode. This is Nikon’s CLS system in full effect.

Since we had all of 15 minutes of shooting time, all of the shots used the same lighting configuration:

Two bare SB-600s as backlights
One SB-600 bounced into a 45″ reflective umbrella camera left (fill)
One SB-600 shot into a 15″ Lastolite EZYbox Softbox on boom high camera right (key)

The position (height )of the EZYbox gave the images the dramatic shadows need to fit the setting while the modifier itself enlarged the light coming SB-600 enough to soften it significantly. The EZYbox was mounted on a monpod and held very close to the subject – just barely out of frame. The closer and larger the source, the softer the light.

For more examples of the EZYbox in action, check out Todd’s portraits of Dragonforce.

End Notes

A huge thanks goes out to The Energy (Adam, Ian, James and Zack) for putting up with us while we barked orders for 15 minutes straight.