Taken at Fenders in Tacoma, Wa. This is a member of my friend's son's band called Northend Mafia. This was a small venue and we were free to move around and get close to the musicians. At ISO 400 some shots were noisy but that made for an appropriate look to many of the shots. In this case I sharpened the shot aggressively and converted to black and white. I cloned out a very small element on his right arm and dodge a couple of areas like the guitar strings for more impact.
Statistics
Place: 69 out of 69 Avg (all users): 5.6309 Avg (commenters): 6.5147 Avg (participants): 5.4483 Avg (non-participants): 5.6618 Views since voting: 2725 Views during voting: 825 Votes: 401 Comments: 83 Favorites: 4 (view)
Quite simply - I did not question this shot in any way - I just accepted its technical and emotive excellence. What caused this ludicrous rating? Noise? It's grain. Unclarity? Mood. Title? He's a guitarist - just a bass guitar, that's all.
Hey, there's no shame in being at the bottom of this pack... I know -- I'm right there with ya! :) I really enjoy your work -- this is still quite a cool shot.
OMG - how can THIS come last? This was one of my favourites and I gave it a 9. For me this image captured something about what it's like to be at a concert. The grain gives the feel of a smoky atmosphere and the strong light and contrast really evokes the concert mood. Well done on a fantastic shot and shame on the voters for not appreciating it.
I am not a fan of the grain effect but it works well in the with the lighting. It also helps that the subject vibrant and engerized. I would like to have seen more of his face under the big blotch of grain on his right side.
Not that it makes that much difference (well, the strings are easier to photograph) but that's a bass (guitar). Nice action shot -- processing suits the subject matter well.
I guess a bassist is a guitarist but you should call it the bassist, or the bass guitarist, because they get angry when you say guitarist, some of them, and they do look that grainy in real life though! But seriously, there is a nice essence of rock and roll here- awesome.
I like the grain here and the tight crop. It puts more emphasis on the hand motion and the bass strings (your title might be incorrect ; )
Excellent lighting as well. One of my favorites.
even though the focus is spot-on, the shot itself is just ok. for performance shots to really work, you have to connect the viewer to the moment. here, the face is too shadowed to get a read on emotion of the moment. while you have nailed the focus on the visible hand, we can't see what the other hand is doing--we're only getting part of the story. on a positive note, the grain works very well here (and in shots like this) to help capture the emotion usually associated to listening to music in darker venues.
another thing to keep in mind about band shots: even though there are some bass players who are very energetic (think sting about 20 years ago), most are there to hold down the beat. the more interesting shots are going to be of the performers who are making the music stand on its edge.
This shot is not perfect but it is an original interpretation and it took nerve to go against the grain. It is an image where the thresh hold is pushed. A very interesting effect and a very good pose. The cropping is also original. Bumping to 7
there is some visible grain in this pic, have you not heard of NeatImage?
j/k love the pic, great feeling with the grain and very dynamic with the capture of the D being played, well done - deserves to do very well in the challenge
I like the composition a lot and the high grain and high contrast lighting help to give the impression of a smoky club scene. Great capture of the musician's facial expression as well. 9
You've caught a good expression on the musician's face. The crop at the top seems a little bit too tight and the grain is uneven. There seems to be too much grain at the top and none at the bottom. 6
Emotive - what a photo should do, create a feeling in the viewer. I really love the added noise, but do not like the blown out highlights. Excellent model.
I'm convinced there is an unwritten rule that there must be at least one guitar in every challenge. I'm betting you're getting complaints about the amount of noise -- I like it. It adds to the photo
I like the lighting and grain here. It has a very griity, live performance feel to it, so you have captured the mood of the event well. Not sure I like how the musician's head is vut off in the frame, but I generally like tightly cropped shots, so i don't think it is too much of a distraction.
Judging from the subject, I'd assume that this was taken in low light, and the noise is from the low light level. Very difficult shot to get right, since his face is in shadow, but his hand is brightly lit. This exposure is a good compromise between his hand getting totally washed out, and his face fading entirely into the shadows.
BRING THE NOISE! errr....I mean grain. Public Enemy if you didn't catch that. Anyway, good job emphasizing something that most people try to completely eliminate.
I think the grain in this shot really makes it! The lighting is brilliant, really makes it feel like you're at the concert. Maybe a little more light in his face to bring out the right eye area. 8
Quite daring to submit an image with lots of noice/grain on DPC, but I like it. The grain and the harsh light fit well a the rock atmosphere. Not sure about cropping of the top of the head.
I think it's too grainy! I'm guessing you added the grain yourself, but there's too much here for me. And being a guitarist myself, I can't not mention the fact that technically he's a bassist... :-) (don't worry I won't mark you down on that!)
The energy is what I like about this shot. I'm not quite as big of a fan of the grain, but I can see your intent. The close crop lends itself to this energy, but distracts from the movement of his fingers and strings -- which is where I want to focus my attention, rather than the words on his tshirt.
I believe too much grain was used in this effect. I would like to see both hands of the guitarist maybe if shot from another angle. I light that it's in black and white and the lighting is good. 6
Very nice composition, but looks more like a bassist to me ;-) Also it looks like that noise is there on purpose, but I'm not sure I like it. But overall, there is something that I like a lot of this picture that I still can't describe. Good job.
Isn't that a bass? Anyway, I like the grain ( tho I expect you might get slammed for it), the harsh light everything really. only wish there was a bit more light on his face - 9
I'm not sure if the grainiess is intentional, but I can't say I like it... the SHOT is good, the lighting is good, I like the shadows on his arm, but the photo overall doesn't have that smack in the face WOW... it's a good shot, though... Thanks!
very nice photo! i love the grainy effect, i believe it does add alot to the photo however though the lighting is well done i would IMHO look at introducing the light possibly from a different angle so that the guitar and the face can be seen clearly though thats just a personal opinion.... i like the photo over all and think its very well executed
I don't see any guitarists here. I'm not into your crop, I'm not sure where you intended the pof to be. Grain in b&w gig shots can work very well, but it hasn't done it for me here, maybe because there isn't enough tonal contrast here for my liking. There is loads of contrast on the arm though, but this stands out too much against the rest of the picture. I feel that the face is where I want to rest, and it's just not clear enough here. I think that the bass player would have looked like this throughout the entire gig, and you haven't captured him at a key moment. 4
the grain rocks, but i'd have preferred a little more contrast in the blacks...i don't even mind the blown highlights in his right hand.
creative submission; against the grain, so to speak :) well done.
I like grain in photos but in this case I think it is slightly too much. Without grain the photo would lose it's atmosphere, but a little less than this would look better. Also, I think boosting the contrast a fair amount would make this a lot better. 5
Have a Led Zeplin feel about it. Great capture. Fantastic editting. Let me guess you have had heaps of comments complaining about the noise. At least I see it, feel it and love it (10)
This is obviously a picture taken by a talented photographer. It's emotive and I think you pulled off the feel you wanted. I gave it a 5, however, because my personal tastes are just not drawn to the grainy look of it, and I would have liked it better if his entire head were in the picture.
I'm sure that others have told you already the he is playing a bass not a guitar. Other then that I really like the hard light on his hand and the soft light on his face it draws some attention to his expression but the lighting on his hand really amplifies where his attention is at. And the noise adds a great mood to this pic.
Looks like a picture that I would see in the liner notes for a CD. I don't like the technique used to make it look like regular film. It doesn't work for me because it is too uniform and looks like it was intentially applied (4).
I like the candid nature and the atmospheric lighting and grain. That said, would still prefer a touch more detail to his nearer eye. 7 (//www.dpchallenge.com/forum.php?action=read&FORUM_THREAD_ID=129433)
Personally I dont like all that grain. But I know that it is intentional so that will not lower the score. But one thing I can say is not good enough is the lighting on his face. And you know I',m just being extra hard on you because this is masters :)
Very nice... I like the grain and the overall mood of live entertainment photos of this nature. The tight composition also increases the intensity of this photo.
hrmm...the title is killing me, since he's playing a bass, not a guitar...bass guitar, I suppose you could argue. I really like the grain, but there's not quite enough dynamic range to really work for me.
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