July 24, 2009 – Packing out the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, late-90s rock powerhouse Incubus threw down a fiery set that proved that they still have the chops and the stage performance that made them stars.
Photographer’s Notes:
This was a last-minute shoot, but I’m glad that I got to catch this set. The ground rules for Incubus were a little different than normal only in the allotted songs – press shot songs 4, 5, and 6 instead of the first three. There was no real reason evident except that the second song was dominated by red lights, so perhaps the band’s kind tour manager wanted to give us photographer’s a break.
The lighting for this set was generally quite good. Instead of from the front of house, the spotlights for this show were included in the stage rigging above the stage, where there were a couple of spot operators aiming lights down at Brandon Boyd.
Boyd himself was a relatively easy subject in that he stayed at the mic for the vast majority of the time. The one real obstacle in photographing him was the inclusion of two ego risers flanking his mic at slight angles, which meant that waist-up shots were main take-away during Boyd’s time at the mic. These ego risers didn’t see too much use during the show that I photographed, but Boyd did sit on them between the second and third songs, which put him at his closest to the photo pit.
Aside from the risers, the main challenge in photographing Boyd was simply capturing his expressions. While this isn’t really different from the task of photographing any other singer, due to Boyd’s relative lack of movement capturing his facial expressions became heightened in the shoot.
Like their singer, guitarists Mike Einziger and Ben Kenney were relatively easy subjects as well and didn’t move around too much on their respective sides of the stage.
I photographed this show primarily with the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 on the Nikon D3. The Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 was used on the D700 for a few shots, but, due to the relative distance of the band’s setup, it didn’t see to much action.
End Notes:
As always, let me know if you have questions about this set.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 7:55 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with 2009, brandon boyd, images, incubus, Music Photography, photographer, photography, photos, tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Amazing shots, as always, Todd. You would not believe the level of Incbus-fanboy I used to achieve. Haven’t really been big on them since Light Grenades though.
How much of a challenge was Jose to catch? His drum kit is massive and he’s a relentless drummer. Were you able to see Mike’s pedal set up at all? He loves to stack pedals – stomping on one sets of a chain. Dude is a beast – though not in stature.
Hey Brian,
Thanks for the kind words.
José was actually quite a challenge to photograph due to his kit and also because of the angles that the ego risers at the front of the stage blocked off. I tried a few different positions during the first two songs I shot, but they didn’t work out. However, I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied without a drummer shot, so I tried again during the third song and caught him bent over low enough to clear the cymbals.
I didn’t get a good look at Mike’s pedal setup, but that does sound interesting.
great job!!!!
escribo mi pregunta en español:
cuanto tiempo le de dedicas a editar las fotos de un show??
cheers!!!
Hi Gaisler,
Thanks for the comment. Depending on the show, I can usually edit and process a normal set of images from a concert in about an hour or two. I edit the set, concert from RAW to JPG, and then finish the images in Photoshop for output/delivery.
That shot of Brandon dancing around with the mic is epic. I have never seen light like that on a mic cord before.
Hey Tasha,
Thanks! Nice to hear from you here. That shot of Brandon with the mic cord was shot at the very end of the third song we shot – the only time he really came out in front of the mic, aside from sitting on the risers.
LOVE THESE! Thanks Todd! Incubus is one of my favorite bands and I can’t wait to catch the show in Atlanta in a few weeks. Thanks for helping me get even more pumped for the show! :D
AWESOME!
Hey Shawna,
Glad to hear you like these photos – you’ll have a blast at the show in Atlanta! Incubus puts on a great performance.
Nice shots Todd! I love the first one of the bassist, and the one of the guitarist with the red lighting behind him.
Also, that would be cool if the tour manager had you all shoot songs 4-6 because of the red lighting in the first three. That seems so unusually considerate for a tour to take that into account and try to cut the photogs a break.
Hey Paul,
It’s hard to say for the exact reason press were allotted the songs we were, but I certainly can’t complain too much.
I love Incubus and I love photography, awesome to see the two combined in this post! Thanks for the tips. Your pictures are great!
Hi Kyla, thanks for the comment. Glad to share the tips.
Incubus, catchflash, and some sweet, sweet gobos: http://bit.ly/KipvM
While I’m not so sure about the catchflash-photo – it looks a bit too plastic for my taste – the third from the bottom is one of my favourites i’ve seen here compositionwise. Love it.
Looking forward to see how you’ll do Green Day btw, they’ll be touring in our part of the world in November and I bet it’s gonna be big-bigger-biggest.
Oh, and another question: Festivals are evil. Radiohead [uber awesome] playing same time as Grace Jones [uber photogenic]. Who would you go for? (It’s this festival I’ve already mentioned once, lineup is complete and absolutely insane I find http://bit.ly/35H4kb)
Hey Niko!
The catchflash shot does have a different look to it, doesn’t it? Thanks for your pick.
Green Day should be a fun gig, I’m looking forward to it. Will you be shooting them as well?
I’d have to go with Radiohead between them and Grace Jones, especially because you’ll be at the same stage after Bloc Party and can just relax for a bit.
Is Radiohead still on with the same lighting/stage setup they used last year, or is there something new?
Hey Todd,
Can you tell me what is the complete spec for the first pic??
Thanks
Hi Pat,
Are you asking about the exposure for the first shot? As I recall, I think that shot was made around ISO 1000 and 1/500 at f/2.8 or so. That’s around where I shot the majority of the show.
Hey,
I made my pitch for Green Day, but last time they played here their management were extremely picky, allowing only 1 photographer from the national press agency for the first 30sec of the first 3. So, I’m hoping for some nicer treatment this time.
Ad Radiohead: It was the same as last year when they did South America this spring (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU12xg2gmqo is an awesome video of almost the full show in Sao Paolo btw), I doubt they have changed it… which is not a bad thing :)
Hey Niko,
Radiohead should be good regardless. I photographed them twice last year – once on their regular tour of amphitheaters and then again when they played Lollapalooza in Chicago. I think the lighting setup they have is nice because it gives a great atmosphere to the shots. If there’s a bit of daylight left when they start to play, that’s going to be even better.
Hi Todd, I’ve been looking for non-flash photo galleries to use on my homepage, and the stuff you use to pull images from your flickr stream looks just about perfect. I love the ability to navigate with arrow keys. Care to share where I can get it?
Beautiful stuff, shame about the risers though!
The set up looks different to the one I’ve seen (twice), but it sounds like the lighting was just as diverse
Yeah, it would have been a great shoot without the risers, though still good even with them.