I caught up with the guys of The Dillinger Escape Plan on their 2009 tour for a quick portrait shoot. With my newly built DIY beauty dish and two trusty assistants, we banged it out Strobist-style.
The Dillinger Escape Plan are touring with fellow Jerseyites Thursday and will be releasing their fourth studio album, Option Paralysis, in March of 2010.
Photographer’s Notes:
For these images, my DIY beauty dish was used as the key light. I stuck the beauty dish on my carbon fiber monopod, and with a simple tilt monopod head allowing for angling and a Nikon SB-900 behind the dish, the main light was ready to go. In addition to the main SB-900, I used several Nikon speedlights for rim/background lights, as well as a 45″ silver reflector for fill. All lights triggered by Nikon’s wireless flash system.
Overall, the beauty dish worked out great for this set, providing a nice spread of light for the five-member group. Going into this shoot, I knew that I wanted to work with the deeper shadows rendered by a light modifier like a beauty dish in comparison to an umbrella, and the DIY BD worked great in this regard, especially used as a downlight over the band.
End Notes:
Big thanks to Fallon and Lauren for helping coordinate everything for this shoot, and of course to the guys of DEP for being great subjects, even in the brisk weather for the outdoor locations.
Also, thanks to my assistants Allyssa and Jason for their work assisting.
Stay tuned for images of Dillinger Escape Plan’s performance coming up next. DEP put on one of the most insane, entertaining, and supremely difficult shows to capture, and I had an absolute blast hustling in the pit for 45 minutes during their show. If they’re coming to a venue near you, don’t miss these guys.
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 13th, 2009 at 11:25 pm and is filed under Music Photography, Portrait Photography and tagged with band, dep, dillinger escape plan, flash, music photographer, Portrait Photography, promo, promos, strobist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Nice results Todd, was it the usual baking dish option for the DIY?
Lookin forward to the live shots! They are truly insane on stage and a good challenge to capture that in each frame
Hey Dan,
Thanks for the comment. The reflector of the beauty dish was not a baking dish, but a stainless steel mixing bowl. More details on the dish coming soon.
And yes, The Dillinger Escape Plan are a crazy challenge live – had a great time photographing them on-stage and off.
Great Stuff Tod as always!
Did they climb into the audience with a lit torch ? Insane, but def great photo op!
cheers
Paul
Hey Paul,
Nice to hear from you, thanks for the comment. They didn’t have a lit torch, but various members jumped into the crowd at different points during the set. At the end of the show, Greg Puciato got on an overturned monitor and climbed up onto the rigging above the stage, and I think Liam jumped into the crowd. Ben was playing on top of an amp around the same time, ha. These guys definitely know how to close out a gig!
Todd, sounds like a typical night out with the ‘boys’, great entertainers indeed.
The Dillinger Escape Plan are definitely first-class entertainers. I’ll be posting the live shots later this week, probably tomorrow night – speaking of great entertainers, first, I have some KISS images to get out.
Backstage portraits of The Dillinger Escape Plan (@DillingerEscPln) – lit with my DIY beauty dish. http://bit.ly/65oY6D
RT @toddowyoung: Backstage portraits of The Dillinger Escape Plan (@DillingerEscPln) – lit with my DIY beauty dish. http://bit.ly/65oY6D
Cool. Backstage portraits with The Dillinger Escape Plan -– lit with my DIY beauty dish. http://bit.ly/65oY6D (via @toddowyoung)
Todd,
Great shots man. Love the fact that you guys did it guerrilla/strobist style. Just goes to show that you don’t need a million dollars in equipment to bang out some amazing shots. Quality as usual.
Hey Kevin,
Thanks for the comment. Yeah, this shoot was totally guerrilla style – but then again, most all of them are. ;)
One thing that I think has been a great learning experience with shoots like this is that I’ve learned to work very quickly in general – something that definitely came in handy when I had to shoot Slayer in five minutes time. I was happy to be able to do it in four. I’m having a blast learning here.
They are incredibly nice guys. Ben Weinman went to HS with one of the Getty photogs and he took care of EVERYONE.
Hey Taylor,
Yeah, DEP were definitely cool to work with for this portrait, and totally insane during the live show.
Without doubt, my favorite promo shoot I’ve seen from you. Sometimes when you do shoots around Pop’s, especially outside, I get a little distracted by the backdrop for the images. Here, there’s full focus on the band, with exceptional lighting. It all just looks very classy and professional, with a hint of grunginess, as it should be with DEP. Props.
Hey Chris,
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. Yeah, it’s always a challenge doing a shoot with a band on tour, as the time frame is so limited. I was happy with the two locations/looks for DEP and was glad to were able to make it all come together. Thanks for the kind words.
[...] If you haven’t already, you can see the portrait shoot I did with Dillinger here: Portraits of The Dillinger Escape Plan [...]
[...] is bound to crop up sometime or another, whether it’s reading Strobist, looking at the technical notes from shoots, or simply surfing for more gear you don’t [...]
Hi Todd,
I’m fairly new to your site and have been getting more serious about concert photography as well as band portraits/promo shots…for the portraits/promo shots – which lenses do you most often use?
Hey Lisa,
Lens choice really depends on the sort of shoot, direction, and the character of the band. For these images, I used the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 – a solid midrange zoom is always a good bet.
Thank you! I’m about to buy the 24-70 f/2.8…I’m about to buy a d300s, as well; I would really like to spring for the FX d700, but not sure i can work it right now…I’ve been shooting with a D40 and the 24-120 f/3.5-5.6 VR. that was meant as a daily lens, as I had no clue I would begin shooting shows! I’ve since been able to get photo passes for Mayhem Festival and shoot local venues/festivals with my best friend’s band (Wanee Fest is right around the corner and am hoping to have my new rig by then)!
[...] DEP photos? Check out photos from Dillinger Escape Plan’s 2009 support of Thursday and the portrait session I did with the guys. Related [...]
Cool shots. So I’ve never actually used a beauty dish. Does it mainly affect the light falloff rate?