magumi

Thank you for your comment. The ability to get on stage is very important for me and I insisted on that at this concert as well. In this small portfolio, I tried to achieve a consistent look, characterised by a single prevailing color in a picture, zero shadow detail and focus on individual performers. As I showed in this thread, I have other shots that illustrate the concert in more depth. The focus on individual performers was a matter of necessity, though, as the choir was very small, no more than 20 people including the band and there were no interesting patterns to shoot. Quite the contrary, the entire choir or the entire stage looked very unphotogenic.

I apologize for the misspelled name of my home city as it appeared in the critique forum, which might have confused you. The city is Prague, capital of the Czech Republic. The performers came from the United Kingdom to help raise funds for a Prague hospice. I shot the event for free for the same reason.

This picture is a part of my 24-hour-in-Prague series, which started

the "24-Hours of Street Photography" movement here on the Street

Photography forum. The picture depicts the statue of Alois Jirasek, a

formidable 19th century writer, whose long novels haunt generations of

children in the Czech Republic, who have to read them at school. Taken

at 1 a.m., I used flash to make the statue look as harsh as possible.

This is a great idea, and there's no problem with its low key tonality, but I can see two possible improvements. First, I think that the beer glass is too light and dominant, if you intend to present this image as a self portrait and not as a product ad. Second, the smoke is very effective, but again, since it obscures the bottom half of the face, it gives a mixed message about the picture's intent. I like the interesting tension in the picture created by the discrepant body language - while the hand with the cigarette appears relaxed, and in a classical pose, the other hand with the stretched-out fingers is tense and placed contrary to all rules of classic portraiture.

This must have been fun to shoot.

I like it. The blurriness of the birds, the simplicity of the background and the pattern the seagulls form give the picture a lovely dreamy character. I guess this kind of picture would benefit from being presented as a triptych or as a part of a larger series, to make it obvious that this was not just a lucky shot, but rather a part of a more sustained effort.

This picture breathes and lives. Concerning possible improvements, the highlighted hands (?) at the bottom section of the picture distract a little from the expression on the singer's face, and its hard to say from the picture, whether this is intentional or not. If not, a little crop would focus the attention on the face.

Hi,

 

I usually do not give crop-this-crop-that comments, but I think this picture would benefit from cutting away the ear and the ear-ring. That would focus the attention if the viewer to the bride's lovely smile and eyes. Of course, if the ear-ring did not touch the right border of the picture, it would be less of a distraction.

This is a picture from a recent gospel concert. There were backstairs

leading onto the stage, that I could climb to get behind the choir,

without being seen by the audience. Since most concert photography is

done from beneath the stage, here I had a great opportunity to try

something different. Concerning this particular shot, the members of

the choir clasped their hands during one song, so I chose my

perspective and waited for the proper light, that would illuminate the

hands but leave everything else in the shadow, underexposed a little,

and clicked the shutter. Thank you for your comments.

One more picture from a recent gospel concert. Feel free to comment on

the entire folder. BTW, the colour cast and the zero shadow detail are

intentional to give the images from the concert a more consistent,

characteristic look. Thank you for your comments.

I like the mood of the picture, with the front dark columns framing the portico and the lovely reflections, but looking at the image, my eyes are drawn to the missing top section of the first arch of the portico and than back to the blown-out whites of the columns in the left middle section of the picture. With these two elements improved, I think this would be a lovely illustration in a travel guide.

I like the "look" of the image, but I am not quite sure what the message of the picture is and how the individual sections of the image are supposed to work together. Maybe it's the creeper, which I find slighly distracting, or the seam/fissure, but even without those elements, it still is not quite there as a surrealistic image.

Thank you for your comments. You are right about a slightly higher position. I was lucky enough to be able to get on stage, unlike most concert photographers who shoot from bellow, so I could have made better use of this advantage in this shot. Concerning the colour cast, the actual prints that the organisers will receive are more neutral, but when shooting the pictures I tried to wait for a single-colour light and underexpose a little bit to achieve a consistent look in all the pics from this concert, with a single strong prevailing colour in each pic and little shadow detail to make the faces and hands stand out from the dark background, and I wanted to emphasize this look in the internet version of this small portfolio. At first, I also found it distracting that there are white highlight reflections in the glasses of the lady in the backround, but then decided not to remove them, for they add a little tension to the picture, as together with the microphone the reflections force the eye to travel back and forth in the picture.

 

This is my second attempt at concert photography, though, so I am still learning.

Very electrifying, well done. The neck of the standing guitar is indeed a little distractring, but otherwise the picture is excellent.

Obviously, it's the clever use of lines and the black and white simplicity that make the photo. The hands and the guitar work nicely to suggest the traditional symbol of harmony, the Golden Mean, while the dynamics of the situation and the microphone stand disrupt it. Well done.

I like the layered juxtaposition of guitars in this photo. Although it might not have been your intent but rather the matter of unfavourable lighting circumstances, I also like the fact that the guitar player in the background is illuminated, while the hand and the quitar neck in the forground lie in the shadows, as it creates a positive tension in the picture, which forces the eye to move back and forth and thus captures the attention of the viewer for a little longer. I did the same in my photo here.

I think the picture could have been improved, though, if you had changed the perspective a little bit to get the head of the guitar in the foreground a little bit higher, so that it would not have obscured the hand of the guitarist in the background.

M.

I like tea and coffee cups and I like your picture too. On the other hand, it looks as though the cup and the saucer are floating in the space and it is not obvious from the picture, whether this is intentional. The monochromatic look suits the cup fine, though. I wonder how it would like without all those exotic modification you made?

 

M.

A recent gospel concert

This was a fund-raising concert for a hospice in Prague, Czech

Republic and my my second attempt at a concert photography. Please

feel free to

comment

the folder as a whole.

Hi Erik,

For perfectly level pictures it is best to use a shoe-mount spirit level such as this one and get it right on the spot. At least, this is what pros do.

Cheers,

M.

Oh well, maybe it's just my eyes that are not straight. :)

 

It seems to me that the columns of the building at the right hand side (in the foreground) are not entirely vertical, but slightly tilted to the left, while the buildings in the background at the left hand side are slightly tilted to the right. Since the water level is OK, I assume that you slightly raised the tripod head, when you took the picture. I've tried doing a little perspective correction in Photoshop and it seems to help. If you have PS, try twiddling it using Edit>Transform>Perspective, moving the upper left node of the transform tool to the left.

 

However, overall, this is an excellent photo and my comments are just nitpicking to help you achieve perfection.

 

M.

At first sight the bikes might appear cluttered, but thanks to the simplicity of the grey-steel-and-red-light colour scheme, the picture works excellently. What keeps me thinking about the photo even more is the black negative space at the top and the tight crop at the bottom of the picture. I would venture to guess that you wanted to make the viewer feel the bikes more intensely, as if pushing in his face, am I right? This is at least how the photo affects me. It's a little uncomfortable, which is a good thing - I consider every photo that elicits some emotion to be a success.

 

M.

 

M.

You have managed to capture the decisive moment of a dramatic action, balance the composition, thanks to the blue colour the background is very simple and uncluttered and the yellow stripes on the uniforms and the yellow polyurethan foam are the perfect last touch. This would be an excellent illustration for some weekly news magazine.

Beautiful colours, excellent balancing of the ambient light and the fireworks. Most people forget to include any environment in their fireworks pictures, so it is commendable that you have included not only the background but also the foreground element. However, there is one small glitch that prevents me from calling this picture a classis - it seems to me that even though the water level is straight, all the buildings in the foreground and the background are slightly tilted, which makes this otherwise harmonious picture a little disconcerting. BTW, how much Photoshop was involved?

 

M.

I like the blue colour on the floor, the diagonal composition and the fact that the columns disappear in the darkness. Good treatment of a frequent subject.

 

M.

This is a good one. I like the skin colour, the pose and the expression of the model. I think that the picture could be improved, if you placed more stress on the girl instead of the toga, which is too intricate, heavy and prominent, IMO. The background tonality is a little bit uneven, but maybe it is just me being nitpicking.