Amateur in the pit - Saturday, Oxegen 2011

ED E

Hey all,


So here they are. Really was a learning experience for me, in and out of the pit in seconds some time, and even at 6'1 I was struggling to shoot the artists on the vodaphone stage.

Go easy, remember this is the first time doing something like this. I made the mistake of trusting the 2.5" lcd a few times. Bad plan. Some of them have had a slight touch up in photoshop, most have only been hit with the logo/branding(paranoid/possessive to the max).

Its something I'd love to do again, though I dunno if I'll ever get the chance.

Full album here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1437507795829.42979.1777020561&l=052a8b676e

Let us know what you think:)
Oxegen above blue camp

Propaganda

Aoki

Paolo - Too soft

Bruno

Bruno Support

Plan B Support

Two Door

Prof Green

Aoki

Ballyman

I don't know anything about music photography so I can't help you out really but what I will say to you is that all of them bar the Plan B Support pic are either out of focus or suffer from motion blur.

Focusing can be difficult when faced with low light and back lighting so a little practice will solve this.
The motion blur is caused by using too slow a shutter speed. I don't knwo what settings you used but you should use a small aperture and a high ISO to achieve a suitable shutter speed. For subjects that are moving around on stage then would imagine 1/250 and upwards would be fine

Hecklar

Im not a fan of the composition of any of them, bar maybe number 3 and they are all blurred and out of focus with the exception of 1 or 2 of the daylight ones, which also seem to be less interesting than the dark ones and too tightly cropped for me. (missing legs, top of guitar etc.)

Put simply, you need to shoot faster and work on composition. decide what you want from the photo and make sure its in focus. Zoom with your feet and maybe ditch photoshop in favour of Lightroom.

BlastedGlute

I like the least obvious ones, the one with the green light and crowd and the last one(nice comp to)

Obvious points like the other guys said about some being out of focus, but I think in focus or not they are just not very interesting shots to begin with. Personally, I dont particularly "get" music photography like others do. There was an extensive post here the other day of just that. But I dont really know what I'm being shown nor am I excited by any of it, it's photo journalistic I guess. But if it's not exactly a London Calling cover shot then I'm just not really that interested.

These bands look the same on every stage they play all over the world on a tour, so unless there's something particularly special about their presence on THAT stage on THAT night and something unique is happening, well it just seems a bit boring to me, no matter how famous they are.

So back to your shots, I like the ones that looks like nobody would get that shot again. Which is why I picked the ones that I did.

ED E

Ballyman wrote: »

I don't know anything about music photography so I can't help you out really but what I will say to you is that all of them bar the Plan B Support pic are either out of focus or suffer from motion blur.

Focusing can be difficult when faced with low light and back lighting so a little practice will solve this.
The motion blur is caused by using too slow a shutter speed. I don't knwo what settings you used but you should use a small aperture and a high ISO to achieve a suitable shutter speed. For subjects that are moving around on stage then would imagine 1/250 and upwards would be fine

I was changing as I went along, as a newbie I was just getting a feel for things. I could have gone fast with 1600 say but the noise that creates wrecks my head. Smoke was something I'd never shot with before.

Hecklar wrote: »

Im not a fan of the composition of any of them, bar maybe number 3 and they are all blurred and out of focus with the exception of 1 or 2 of the daylight ones, which also seem to be less interesting than the dark ones and too tightly cropped for me. (missing legs, top of guitar etc.)

Put simply, you need to shoot faster and work on composition. decide what you want from the photo and make sure its in focus. Zoom with your feet and maybe ditch photoshop in favour of Lightroom.

No way to shoot legs really:( Below was the main stage, taken standing completely upright. The vodphone/green spheres were higher again. Unless they stood right on the edge anything but waist up was difficult/impossible.


Tried lightroom, not for me thanks.

BlastedGlute wrote: »

I like the least obvious ones, the one with the green light and crowd and the last one(nice comp to)

Obvious points like the other guys said about some being out of focus, but I think in focus or not they are just not very interesting shots to begin with. Personally, I dont particularly "get" music photography like others do. There was an extensive post here the other day of just that. But I dont really know what I'm being shown nor am I excited by any of it, it's photo journalistic I guess. But if it's not exactly a London Calling cover shot then I'm just not really that interested.

These bands look the same on every stage they play all over the world on a tour, so unless there's something particularly special about their presence on THAT stage on THAT night and something unique is happening, well it just seems a bit boring to me, no matter how famous they are.

So back to your shots, I like the ones that looks like nobody would get that shot again. Which is why I picked the ones that I did.

Have to agree with this, its the same thing over and over really. A big act will use the same lineup, stage kit and lighting for 50-150 gigs in a single tour and nothing changes except the "we love you ________" & "thanks for having us ________".


TBH I would have preferred to video it, but as an experience it was a memorable one. Going to try and really pick it up a notch next time one of the lads' bands have a gig. Hopefully the lack of time constraints will help.

Cheers guys for the feedback.

mehfesto

How'd you get into the pit? I'd have killed for a pass that weekend!

ED E

Won a competition Only had pit access for saturday afternoon. Was meant to end at 10, but they offered to let me finish the night, I decided to decline though as being in the crowd for Mau5 was more important than being in the pit for three songs.