5 Tips For Better Band Portraits & Promos
Band portraits. One photographer and at least one person – or five or six – who makes music. Lights, camera, action. Whether you’re shooting editorial portraits on tour or producing material for a promotional campaign, here are five easy tips for shooting band portraits and promos.
DIY Beauty Dish Band Portraits
It’s been a full year since I designed and built my first DIY beauty dish, the “Chinatown Special.” So, after shooting with the dish for all of 2010 and the year coming to a close, I thought I’d put together a collection of band promos and portraits lit with this inexpensive light modifier that’s made [...]
Photos: My Chemical Romance @ The Pageant
I never had the opportunity to photograph My Chemical Romance in the glory days of the hugely theatric Black Parade days, when the band was rocking out with spotlights, costumes, and all that glorious high production. But photographers: Never fear. The band is still a blast to shoot. But you better come prepared, or they [...]
Preview: My Chemical Romance @ The Pageant
Here’s a small preview from My Chemical Romance’s sold-out performance at the Pageant this week – the one and only Mikey Way. Another snap of his bro Gerard after the jump.
Portraits: Owen Pallett
Before photographing The National at The Pageant, I had the pleasure of meeting up with musician Owen Pallett for a photo shoot. One light, a beauty dish, and a little ambient light later, here are the results.
Portraits: The Secret Handshake, Luis Dubuc
Kicking off his headlining tour for Night & Day, Luis Dubuc – AKA The Secret Handshake – rocked the Firebird with A Cursive Memory, The Narrative and Speak. Before the gig, I caught up with Luis for a portrait shoot with two looks – one outside nearby the venue, and another in the venue itself.
Portraits: Cancer Bats
In July, I caught up with the Cancer Bats while they were on tour with As I Lay Dying and Underoath for The Cool Tour 2010. For these shots, I used a simple two-light set against a simple backdrop for a slightly moody shot with a little graphic pop.
Portraits: Underoath, The Cool Tour
While they were out on The Cool Tour with As I Lay Dying, Blessthefall, Cancer Bats, and others, I met up with metalcore heroes Underoath for a portrait session before the gig. For this editorial shoot, we did two quick looks: one setup with the bright afternoon sun on their backs for a natural rimlight, [...]
Portraits: The Devil Wears Prada
Two weeks out on their “Back To The Roots” tour, I caught up with metalcore heavyweights The Devil Wears Prada for a quick portrait session. With sweltering heat outside, we decided to stay cool and shoot indoors doors as much as possible. For the first look, we used a five-light setup, cranked up the stage [...]
Portraits: Everest
Before their show at the Firebird, I caught up with L.A.-based Everest, who gracefully endured rampant humidity for a portrait shoot. Having toured with the likes of Neil Young, My Morning Jacket, and Wilco, I was looking forward to meeting up with the guys and shooting with an approach that would compliment the band’s Americana-infused [...]
Portraits: VersaEmerge @ The Bamboozle
You never know who you’ll run into at a music festival. It may be a fellow music photographer, a fan who’d written just days before, or rising Fueled By Ramen stars VersaEmerge.
Photoshoot: Melissa Etheridge
Your favorite music photographer siblings had a great shoot with rock icon Melissa Etheridge as she celebrated the release of her tenth studio album, Fearless Love. Chris] and I did some stealthy backstage reportage of Melissa’s radio interview followed by a quick portrait shoot and coverage of an intimate performance for a lucky group of die-hard [...]
Portraits: Music Photographer Kenny Williamson
Recently, my friend and fellow music photographer Kenny Williamson commissioned me to shoot a set of portraits for inclusion in the launch of his new website. For this portrait session, Kenny was interested in producing a set of images shot at his home turf of the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, where he’s the house photographer for [...]
Portraits: Band Of Skulls
While they were out on tour with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, I met up with Band of Skulls for a quick portrait session. Even fresh from SXSW, the three-piece was lovely to photograph. High speed sync, a few fast prime lenses, my DIY beauty dish, and a sunset later: here are the results.
DIY Beauty Dish Examples: Portraits
You may have seen a tweet or two over the last month about a little project I’ve been working on: building a DIY beauty dish. The full details and how-to on my design are ready to go, but first, here’s a look at a few examples shot with the homebrew light modifier for speedlights.
The Dillinger Escape Plan: Portaits
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.
VersaEmerge: Portraits
47″ octabox boomed over the band, reflector camera left, two speedlights for rimlighting behind the band. I caught up with Blake, Sierra, and Devin of VersaEmerge on the Love Drunk Tour for a portrait shoot. We shot with a handful of Nikon Speedlights and one Alien Bees B800 with the 47″ octabox – here are [...]
Preview: The New Heathers
Here’s a preview from the promo shoot I had with the New Heathers, who are on tour now in support of their new EP – The Fuel, The Fire, The Spark.
Warped Tour 2009: Portraits
13 bands, 10 bottles of water, 8 speedlights, one brother, and zero live shows later: Backstage portraits from Warped Tour 2009, featuring TAT, Escape the Fate, Forever The Sickest Kids, We the Kings, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, and more.
Lighting Diagrams – You want ‘em?
I’ve been playing around with the idea of providing lighting diagrams to supplement the write-ups of the band portrait/promo shoots that I do. The illustrations would include plan-views of the setups, including placement of the subjects, lighting equipment, modifiers, and so forth.
Promos: August Burns Red
Fresh from conquering Vans Warped Tour 2009, Chris and I met up with metalcore sluggers August Burns Red. Naturally, we did it up with wireless flash CLS style for a series of on-location band portraits. All the shooting notes after the jump.
Preview: Warped Tour Portraits
Hey guys, just a preview of some of the portraits that I did with my brother Chris at Warped Tour. TAT here was one of our favorite groups to work with during the day – the three-piece brought a lot of enthusiasm and energy to the shoots, and we all had a blast.
Portaits: Slayer
July 22, 2009 – What do you do when you get five minutes with thrash metal kings Slayer? You make sure you know all of the band member’s names, you dial in your lights, and you don’t think about the fact that they’ve been crushing eardrums and melting faces since the time you were in [...]
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