Family Force 5

April 15, 2009 – Headlining the AP Tour 2009, Atlanat’s crunkcore kings Family Force 5 brought a raucous dose of crushing riffs, danceable beats, and charged chorus lines that had the pit heaving.

Photographer’s Notes:

I’d missed Family Force 5 on Warped Tour last year, but now that I’ve shot them, I can confidently say that they’re pretty much a concert photographer’s dream. Awesome energy and just an all around great show.

If there’s any show in recent memory that deserved the ultra-wide treatment, this gig was it. Lots of front-of-the-stage action from the FF5 crew.

I shot this performance with the Nikon D3 and switched between the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 and Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8, with a strong emphasis on the former.

For lighting, in addition to the house lights employed for the band’s set, I shot this with a Nikon SB-900 on-camera and an SB-600 fired wirelessly off-camera.

About the author: Todd Owyoung is an internationally published music photographer specializing in concert photography and band portraits. He also grills a mean steak.

Contact Todd for image licensing and assignments wherever the rock show lives. You can also get in touch with Todd via Twitter.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 6:13 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with alternative press, ap, ap tour, CLS, crunkcore, d3, family force five, ff5, flash, Music Photography, photography, pops. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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9 Responses to “Family Force 5”

1. Craig Ferguson says:

   April 23, 2009 at 9:24 pm

   Really like the wide angle shots here. How do you handle placement of the off-camera flash in situations like this?

   Reply
   • Todd says:

     April 23, 2009 at 9:56 pm

     Hey Craig, thanks for the comment. Actually, for a lot of these shots, I was holding the SB-600 in my left hand, while the D3 was in my right. Not that easy to juggle between focusing, zooming, and flashing with both hands full, but it was worth the challenge.

     Reply
2. Todd Owyoung says:

   April 24, 2009 at 4:06 am

   Family Force 5: No Hulk hands, but matching plaid pants, vests, and shirts? Check. http://is.gd/udiq

   Reply
3. Zach Stern says:

   April 24, 2009 at 9:23 pm

   Todd,

   Great photos as usual. How do you maintain such a natural look using flash? Do you just shoot at a slow shutter speed?

   -Zach

   Reply
   • Todd says:

     April 24, 2009 at 10:27 pm

     Hey Zach,

     Thanks for the comment. My basic approach to flash photography is to make the exposure a two-part process. First, I set my camera exposure for the ambient lighting. I set my flash for the subject.

     Depending on some shots, this does mean a slow shutter speed. For FF5, I was shooting at a relatively slow shutter speed – sometimes as low as 1/25 – as you can see in the motion blur in some of the images.

     Reply
4. Rich Copley says:

   May 9, 2009 at 8:26 pm

   Cool-o. I get a shot at FF5 in June and this gets me even more excited about it. Love the flash tips. Thanks.

   Reply
   • Todd says:

     May 12, 2009 at 11:16 am

     Hey Rich,

     Thanks for the comment. You’ll have a blast with FF5, their live show really translates well into still images – plenty to shoot, that’s for sure. Good luck with them next month.

     Reply
5. Amanda says:

   June 1, 2009 at 5:51 pm

   “they’re pretty much a concert photographer’s dream.”
   Yup, that pretty much sums up the Phamily :D

   These shots are spectacular. FF5 is by far my favorite band to shoot, ever. Not that I would call myself a concert photographer… but a girl can dream. I’ve been too chicken to actually take my 40D to a show, and have succumb to using my tiny little Panasonic TZ4.

   I have two questions for you:
   #1: How do you go about getting a photo pass for a live show or festival? This seems to be my biggest delema, the problem of not knowing where to start…
   #2: When you used your SB600 off camera for this shoot, can you elaborate more on where you positioned it? Did you have it on a stand in one spot the whole time, or did you move it around with you?

   Not that you haven’t been told already, but your work is fantastic. Thank you for all of the tips and advice. Your lens recommendations were wonderful!

   Thank you for your willingness to share your vast wealth of knowledge with the general public. Not a lot of people are willing to do that.

   God bless,
   amanda

   Reply
6. Paul Hooper says:

   July 26, 2010 at 6:25 pm

   @shoottothrill They look like they would be pretty fun to shoot: http://bit.ly/cAWupb

   Reply