The Demons Eye

[elmo]

I've been taking photos (well, trying to!) at my boyfriend's band's gigs for a while, and the best photos i'd taken were with my friend's D50, so after christmas I decided to get myself a half decent DSLR for the job. I went for the 400D in the end, and have been playing about with it over the past few months, but due to logistics and overlapping engagements, i hadn't made it to any of the gigs since getting it.

So, last night I decided i'd go along and have a go. The venues they play in vary in size quite dramatically, but last night's was a one off, and I had no idea what it would be like... it turned out to be a tiny pub....with only the band's 3 cans for lighting! (cue my panic!)

Anyway, after a quick flick through the photos this morning (and without *too* much editing) I've picked a couple out that I quite like. Let me know what you think, all C&C welcome as always!

</drivvel>

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/w.henderson2/The%20Demons%20Eye/IMG_3553-3.jpg

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/w.henderson2/The%20Demons%20Eye/IMG_3526frame.jpg

both taken with: canon 400D, 50mm f1.8, 1/125sec

[photostar_1]

Number 1 is great. The face in number 2 is a bit too dark for me, but still good. Might be worth "loosing" the white blob near his ear and also over on the left hand side.

[elmo]

ahh yes, i knew there was something i was going to do to that photo before i uploaded it heh. - fixed!

as for lighting, the guy in the second one was sood right under the lights, and i was restricted to only taking photos when the yellow light came on for best results! I can't seem to get the face lighter without the photo becoming really noisy/grainy.

I was really pleased with the way the first came out though!

[photostar_1]

So you should be.....gig lighting can be a nightmare.

Tried Lifting the face a bit.....hope you don't mind. I'll take it down if you don't like.:)

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/991/IMG_3526frame.jpg

[elmo]

smashin' cheers! could you let me know how you did it?

[photostar_1]

I used the lasso tool to make a quick selection of the dark area of the face and then another selection (this time holding down the alt key whilst doing it) to de-select the bright bit on nose. The I opened levels and nudged the gamma slider (middle one) just a touch. That brought in a bit of noise, so I ran the noise reduction filter I have as a plug in. Then I magnified to the stage where I could see every pixel and cloned the blob against the frame out. The I did the same with the blob next to ear.

I'm not at all sure this is the best way.... I'm a beginner at PS.... so this is just my way. One day, someone will teach me how to use layers and masks properly!;)

[elmo]

haha, cool. I'd tried quickly to do it using the lasso too& levels, but it was looking daft, so i just left it :p

[photostar_1]

Glad you like. What kind of music do they play?

[elmo]

they're a classic rawk band, they play covers of deep purple, whitesnake, led zep etc. there's a few samples on their myspace (http://www.myspace.com/thedemonseye). :)