Something for everyone: twins, asymmetrical haircuts, and indie rock. After two long years, Tegan and Sara returned to the Pageant in a sold out show filled with two-thousand of their die-hard fans.
I do have to apologize to all the Sara fans out there – for the songs I photographed, Tegan was simply at the mic a little more and generally better lit. With twins, I’m generally an equal-opportunity photographer, but when the going gets tough (and concert photography is always tough) I go where the light is.
Photographer’s Notes:
This show was tough shoot for a few reason. Prime among them was the lighting for this show, which consisted almost entirely of colored spots mixed with the house cans on Tegan and Sara. In addition, duo were set back about two meters from the edge of the stage, which created a more static shooting situation.
Still, I do like a challenge.
Exposure for this set was around ISO 3200 and f/2.8 with shutter speeds ranging from 1/80 to 1/320. Even with the faster shutter speeds, I was a little surprised to see so much motion blur on the strumming hands of Tegan and Sara – if you’re shooting this tour, you’ve been warned. These girls strum with a ferociousness I don’t usually see at most shows.
Having shot Tegan and Sara’s 2008 tour, I was very curious to see what kind of lighting the pair would bring with them this year. However, the lighting treatment will depend on the songs you get during the allotted three-song limit for photography; I’ve seen some very well-lit shots from this tour.
End Notes:
Want more Tegan & Sara? Check out photos from their 2008 tour here:
Tegan and Sara @ The Pageant 2008
Even though the current tour features a plethora of stage effects that initially had me excited, I have to admit that, as a photographer, I preferred Tegan and Sara’s more low-key look from their last round. What do you think?
This entry was posted on Friday, April 2nd, 2010 at 11:56 pm and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with 2010, images, live, music, music photography, pageant, photography, photos, sara quin, st. louis, tegan and sara, tegan quin, tour, twins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Welcome to ishootshows.com, your source for music photography featuring daily concert coverage, portrait features, and photo advice from professional music photographer Todd Owyoung.
Support this site by purchasing your photo equipment through my affiliate links to B&H Photo Video or Amazon.com
Learn more about how you can support the features of ishootshows.com.
Shooting Caitlin Rose and band before the Old 97s was a fantastic warm up, and a nice way to dust of…
Here’s a little preview from a recent shoot with my friends Option Control toward the end of l…
Today Adobe has released the beta version of Lightroom4, the successor to their popular image manage…
You’ve seen it before – weird, colored blobs in your photographs radiating outward from some…
About that time when I said about the megapixel war being over with the release of the Nikon D4 and …
Goodness, man. You are quick. You’re right, the lighting isn’t exactly a photographer’s best friend on this tour. Definitely very cool from a fan’s perspective, though, those ones that shot out over the crowd especially. Personally, I did manage to get some decently lit photos later in their set, not that it helps you any.
Oh, and about the lack of Sara photos, I forgive you. I guess.
Hey Chris,
Nice seeing you last night. The lighting was pretty tricky, though I did really like the gobo’ed spotlight effect that was used a few times directly behind Tegan and Sara.
I did see that during the fourth song, there was of course a little nice white light and nice accent lighting – but those are the breaks.
Wow, that was quick. I just woke up recovering from last night’s show. I have to agree that the lighting wasn’t great, I wasn’t taking pictures but alot of the time it was hard just to get a good look at them. (Sara FTW!) nonetheless though you did a great job as always!
Hey Phillip,
Thanks for the kind words. It would have been nice for a little more even lighting to give more equal coverage – maybe next time. I do think the lighting was very cool from the audience, though, and nice to see them with a bigger production.
Hey Todd,
Funny how I just found out about Tegran and Sara on the way down from a San Francisco trip and then you end up blogging about there show. I really like the shot of the whole band with the beams of light coming across the stage! Keep posting!
– Melly
Hey Melly,
Yeah, the double beams of light behind the two sisters was pretty cool – definitely a nice effect.
Tegan & Sara are great, you should check them out. Thanks for the support!
Nice work, Todd. They’re tough to shoot anyway, since it’s hard not to get the same pose all the time. The challenge becomes making that same pose look good, and you succeeded.
When I saw them a couple of months ago, one of the spots behind Sara was in my face half the night, and I ended up with a headache because of it. Lighting isn’t always the audience’s friend, either.
Hey Doug,
Thanks for the comment. Tegan and Sara were a bit tricky, but it all worked out in the end, I think. They girls do stay pretty close to the mics, so the angles can get a little restrictive, that’s for sure.
These are great, todd. Tegan & Sara were simply amazing. I definetely loved the lighting though, it was very interesting.
Hey Stephanie,
Thanks for the comment, glad to hear you liked the photos. The lighting was interesting and I think it worked well for the audience – my comments are just from a technical viewpoint as a photographer, that’s all.
Wicked shots. I love these girls, and their music. I shot their set back in Vancouver. The lighting wasn’t a photographers best friend, but we got to make due with what we get hit with!
Hey Ryan,
Yes, as concert photographers, we’re really at the mercy of the lighting designer and whatever comes our way. That’s the challenge, and that’s the fun! Thanks for the comment, nice to hear from you.
I really like that first drummer picture. Perfect composition. Can´t wait for festival season to start with my first festival photo pass ever…
Cheers
Hey Lennart,
Thanks for the comment. The drummer had nice lighting, so I had to tear myself away from Tegan & Sara for a few snaps of him. Good luck with you live music photography this year.
Great shots Todd!
I was particularly interested in the note about motion blur on the strumming hands @f2.8/ISO3200
I’ve just finished editing a 7 band shoot from last weekend and the lighting was so abysmal (at least it wasn’t red) I had no choice but to shoot at f2.8/ISO6400 all night. Even then, I couldn’t avoid motion blur due to the crazy shutter speeds I had to use.
I am so grateful to you though for last weeks’ heads up on the Lightroom Beta 3.2 Luminance noise reduction feature.
The whole lot would have ended up in the recycle bin otherwise!
Send a few of your clients my way so I can afford some fast primes LOL!
Something for everyone: twins, asymmetrical haircuts, and indie rock. Tegan & Sara (@theteganandsara) http://bit.ly/aiDP2t
RT @toddowyoung: Something for everyone: twins, asymmetrical haircuts, and indie rock. Tegan & Sara (@theteganandsara) http://bit.ly/aiDP2t
RT @toddowyoung Something for everyone: twins, asymmetrical haircuts, and indie rock. Tegan & Sara http://bit.ly/aiDP2t <- Great shots, Todd
RT @toddowyoung: Something for everyone: twins, asymmetrical haircuts, and indie rock. Tegan & Sara (@theteganandsara) http://bit.ly/aiDP2t
RT @toddowyoung: Something for everyone: twins, asymmetrical haircuts, and indie rock. Tegan & Sara (@theteganandsara) http://bit.ly/aiDP2t
RT @toddowyoung: Something for everyone: twins, asymmetrical haircuts, and indie rock. Tegan & Sara (@theteganandsara) http://bit.ly/aiDP2t
http://ishootshows.com/2010/04/02/photos-tegan-and-sara/ some nice shots!
And I like the photographer's comments RT @realtin http://ishootshows.com/2010/04/02/photos-tegan-and-sara/ some nice shots!
RT @toddowyoung: Something for everyone: twins, asymmetrical haircuts, and indie rock. Tegan & Sara (@theteganandsara) http://bit.ly/aiDP2t
[...] off with a little singer-songwriter action at the keyboard, Holly Miranda’s set opening for Tegan & Sara ended in an all-out rocker of beautiful, amplified [...]
Great pictures of Tegan and Sara. I’m a big fan of theirs.
cool Photo: http://ishootshows.com/2010/04/02/photos-tegan-and-sara/