You Say Tiger Images from The Pavilion

More light doesn't necessarily mean better images.

So the gig went well in The Pavilion on Thursday, the only problem I had was that my new lens has almost completely stopped working on auto-focus.  It was constantly focusing about 3 feet behind the subject in every picture I took, then when I was reviewing them in the bar during the shoot I switched to manual focusing as it was the only option.

Apart from arriving at 7:30pm when the gig didn't start until 11 everything went fine.  This time round the light was fine in terms of brightness, mainly because no one in the bar knew how to turn the main stage lights off but it worked to my advantage for focusing.  The only thing I felt was that the images all looked a bit 'samey'.  I know working with a small stage and only using one lens because of the lighting conditions this is likely to be the case, but I couldn't seem to capture the shot that I really wanted.  Thinking about it now, I might make a bit of a list like I did with the street photography project I did back in February and write down all the shots that I want to capture.

I did a little bit of post processing in Lightroom on some of the shots, but again, that was mainly just to convert to black and white. 

Here are some of the shots.

You Say Tiger Gig [Take 2]

No pictures this time, just an update and a bit of a gripe!

All was well for about the first 15 minutes of shooting with my new 50mm lens when all of a sudden the auto-focus stopped working.  I though it might have been because I didn't fit it properly or maybe the battery was needing recharged.  But after a closer inspection it was fairly obvious that there was something seriously wrong with the lens itself.  If I sort of turned the focus ring while semi pressing the shutter release it would intermittently work so I knew it would have to go back. 

My first mistake was to give feedback on eBay soon as I received the lens and fitted it to the camera.  Everything was in working order so I confirmed this in the feedback then it all went pear-shaped.  I've contacted the seller five times since receiving the lens but nothing has come in return.  I think I'm going to have to contact eBay directly or write the company a letter.  Either way, I'm stuck with a 50mm with no auto-focus.....(I guess this is a good time to work on my manual focusing skills).

Anyway, the good news is that You Say You Say Tiger are playing another gig this Thursday in The Pavilion on the Ormeau Road and they've asked if I could go back and shoot the gig again.  I'm well up for it because it's going to give me the chance to make up for the mistakes and things I've learnt from the last time.  Also, they are wanting some promotional shots taken before the gig, which means I'll have a few more pictures to put towards a portfolio.

I suppose the only other thing coming up is our trip to Rome.  I've never been before so I'm well excited, and I'm sure I'll take some shots while I'm away, but I don't think it's going to be a 'photographic' holiday as such.  Just a bit of R&R I think.  Still, the obligatory 'self portrait at arms lenght' will definitely be captured!

Peace.

The Birthday

Over 2 weeks since my last blog...never again!

After shooting the You Say Tiger gig I was buzzing and looking for more of the same thing.  Gigs, people, street portraits and the like.  But, again, due to work and timing issues I really didn't get a chance to lift the camera until Sunday there when it was my uncled birthday.

Apart from the massive gap in shooting, the birthday was excellent and so was the weather.  We landed up in Templepatrick at around four-ish and everyone was in full swing.  My uncle plays in a Bluegrass band and there were about 8 or nine all there knocking out the tunes.  It's not my number one music choice, but with live music I find most genres enjoyable.  So I took the opportunity to get some portraits in hard sunlight as well as shooting into the sun and working on the image in Lightroom afterwards. 

The most annoying thing about the day was that my 50mm lens that I bought from eBay has completely packed it in.  The auto-focus is knackered and won't work no matter how much I try to 'persuade' it.  I've contacted the seller four times now, but I've still had no word back.  I think the next step is to contact paypal and get them to reverse the payment...if that can even be done!

Anyway, back to the party and I got some great shots with my 70-300mm going solely for the candid look.  Being outside on a farm made for some great backgrounds with either 'green fields' or 'old farmhouse' as a bokeh-tastic background.

Here are some of the shots I captured, and the rest are on my Facebook artist page.