Photos: Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D. World Tour

Rocking the E.N.D. World Tour, the Black Eyed Peas delivered a fantastically photogenic performance, including big lights, great costumes, and an arena-fill stage presence. If anything, there was so much going on at any given moment that it was tough to choose one’s subject – a great problem to have for any music photographer.

After seeing great images from earlier on in the tour, I was eager to get a crack at the Black Eyed Peas. Despite a double-header day with a stint out at Pointfest 27 before photographing the Peas, the group’s energy was infectious.

Photographer’s Notes:

The Black Eyed Peas are a band that have great production and put a lot to photograph out on the stage. Don’t think that they make it too easy, though, because there’s plenty of challenge in their set.

There’s a very long thrust out from the stage, so the Peas have a lot of real estate to work – and they do. Consequently, this show can require a little running, depending on your approach.

During the first song, the group take the stage one by one, coming up on lifts one by one from below the stage. For my show, will.i.am shoot out on the catwalk during the first song, but only for a second – he was heading back practically as soon as he hit the end.

The second song is where the majority of the action on the thrust happens, with all four Peas heading out there at some point during the performance. For me, the big shot here was catching will.i.am and Fergie on the B-stage at the same time – a prime time to break out the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8.

Cameras Used:

Lenses Used:

Overall, the shooting was very evenly split between the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8; both the midrange zoom and telephoto were essential for this shoot. If anything, I could have left the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 at home for this show, as the space in the pit was just far enough back that 24mm on the 24-70mm was workable for full-length horizontal shots of the will.i.am and Fergie at the end of the catwalk.

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 Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 7:36 am and is filed under Music Photography and tagged with 2010, apl.de.ap, black eyed peas, concert photography, fergie, hip hop, live, music photography, taboo, tour, will.i.am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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Kevin deLeon says:

August 23, 2010 at 9:00 am

Absolutely amazing Todd. What a production, huh?! That Fergie shot with the pyro’s in the back is..umm…hot? Heeee Hawwwww… ;-)

Todd says:

August 23, 2010 at 9:14 am

Hey Kevin, thanks! I don’t even recall if that was real pyro or on screens. Either way, the production for this show was fantastic. Really nice, and even made up for some of the other challenges of this shoot. Thanks for the comment, and I’m looking forward to the unveiling of your new site.

Todd says:

August 23, 2010 at 9:28 am

Actually, now that I’m looking back at the original set, that’s not pyro behind Fergie at all – it’s actually done with haze/dry ice and lights. Pretty cool.

- Kevin deLeon says:
  
  August 23, 2010 at 9:29 am
  
  hahaha…holy hell…that looks JUST like fire. Now that you say it though, on further inspection, you CAN see that it is more smoke like effect. I would have never known. So…not so hot after-all. ;-)
  
  - Michael says:
    
    August 23, 2010 at 1:12 pm
    
    So are you going to add a fog machine and colored gels to your backstage portrait kit? This looks like it was a fun show.
    
    - Todd says:
      
      August 23, 2010 at 1:18 pm
      
      If it produced effects like it did for the Black Eyed Peas, then I’d have to consider it. Dry ice and gels for the flashes seems like it could produce something like this – The trick would be getting the haze/smoke thick enough to get a feel for like what they had on this tour. Thanks for the comment, Michael.
  - Petr Klapper says:
    
    August 24, 2010 at 1:12 am
    
    It seems the “fire” shot comes from this scene
    
    http://petrklapper.com/Events/100516-BLACK-EYED-PEAS/photos/BEP012.jpg
    
    and even though the show was the same here, the “fire” effect was not pronounced so much, also not sure how much it could be reliable to repeat in controlled environment and I guess you’d need something to release the smoke in bursts and another something to clear to background before another “batch” ;)
    
    Anyway, cool shot Todd, maybe I’ll be lucky next time ;) Different perspective of the same show:
    
    http://petrklapper.com/Events/100516-BLACK-EYED-PEAS/
    
    - Todd says:
      
      August 24, 2010 at 8:19 am
      
      Hey Petr,
      
      Thanks for the link, you made some really nice shots on this tour. I do think that the lighting must have been down to luck on some of that “pyro” or at least on the intensity of the haze. Definitely an indoor effect, or maybe outside in a naturally misty/foggy field.
    - Todd says:
      
      August 24, 2010 at 8:24 am
      
      BTW, just checked out your recent work – absolutely killer stuff! Love it.

Melly Lee says:

August 23, 2010 at 10:47 am

whoa black eyed peas’s production team made it cake to make exciting photos

consistent as always todd!

Todd says:

August 23, 2010 at 1:14 pm

Hey Melly, thanks for the comment. The production really made this show a spectacle, which added to the Peas’ stage presence.