I think by now I’ve made it pretty clear that I consider myself a nature/landscape photographer. I photograph the occasional city when we travel, but I feel most happy when I am out in the woodlands/fields/etc. However, now and then I get the opportunity to photograph Stoer Toeval, the rockband of a good friend of mine. A big challenge, but a lot of fun!

Recently they performed in a cafe in Eindhoven (for the first time with their new singer), and I was there to enjoy the music and try to capture some nice images. The first thing I did was make a test photo, see how dark it actually was. This is the stage they were going to perform on, and to me it looked dark, but promising. Loved the colors!

With these low light conditions I have a strategy where I use maximum iso (3200 for my camera), and set the exposure to 1/30 second. This is what I can sort of get away with when it comes to motion blur (with the motion coming from myself!). If this leads to a dark image so be it, at least it will be more or less sharp. I can do something about exposure in post processing, but there is nothing I can do about an unsharp image.

To paint the picture: the stage shown above was the stage for the entire band, consisting of 5 people. Around the stage was about a 2-person wide space available. Pretty tight! Another complication: being in a dark environment is one thing, but the band members tend to move. So if you do see motion blur, I blame it on them! 😉 (see below)

The lighting was fun, a lot of different colors, but also guess-work. The colors changed pretty fast, so you could not anticipate what it would like in the next couple of seconds. I used the continuous exposure mode (3 photos in a sequence) to maximize the chance of a decent photo. Below you see three photos made in 3 subsequent seconds, each with completely different light:

Leica Tele-Elmarit 1:2.8/90mm; 1/125 sec @ f/2.8

Leica Tele-Elmarit 1:2.8/90mm; 1/125 sec @ f/2.8

Leica Tele-Elmarit 1:2.8/90mm; 1/125 sec @ f/2.8

I thought I would spend a lot of time post processing getting the white balance right. But with all these coloured lights there is no such thing as getting skin colors correct. In the picture below I used the logo on the back of the wall as a reference, and the sleeve on the t-shirt looks pretty white, but the face is pink/red due to the light. After trying a few photos I came to the conclusion that the automatic white balance was pretty accurate, so I stopped trying to correct.

This was also a good test case for my new Summilux (50mm), being the most light strong lens I own (f/1.4). But that also leads to a small depth of field, so focussing can be difficult. For the photo below I focussed on the knobs on the guitar, as the hands were too difficult with all the movement. I like the result, I think the colors work really well here, and I  like how the guitar is sharp where the rest isn’t. And I like the light-bubbles next to the guitar.

Another consideration for the post processing was the amount of noise-reduction. In these conditions a lot of the photos have quite some noise. I did some noise reduction in Lightroom, but in some situations I preferred the version with noise. Partly it had to do with the subject. With the male band members I often prefer noise, otherwise the face tends to get too smooth. For the photo below I did add some noise reduction, it still doesn’t look artificial, and with a female face a smoother finish is not a problem.

After a while I noticed that some of the photos were actually getting too light, specifically with light falling directly on the face this led to un-usable photos. I switched back to automatic exposure, but I think this led to more noise in some of the darker area’s. For the photo below I really needed the noise reduction, I think longer exposure would have been better as there is no direct light on the face. However, the lights changed too fast for me to adjust every single time. I still like the result with the silhouette against the red light.

I also used the 35mm Summicron to get a wider perspective. Which made it possible to make the photo below where all the band members are in one photo. Although I have to admit that you have to look hard for them… 🙂

My favourite photo of the evening is the one below. It was made with the 90mm Tele-Elmarit, which I didn’t think would do very well because it is not that light strong (f/2.8). And ironically, it was made during a moment when the band stopped playing due to some technical problems. I had to do some post-processing as the singers head was partly blocked by a microphone, but luckily she has curly hair, so inconsistencies are not very obvious. I like the soft quiet character of this image, which is actually in contrast with the energy of the band during their performance. To me it represents the moment of relaxation (relief?) after the first part of the performance. I can imagine being on stage, taking a moment for yourself, taking a deep breath, and go back to focus and concentration for the next part of the show. But maybe I read too much in this? Even so, I was lucky to catch the two in mirrored position, it was just a short moment, and the light was right for this specific moment.

Thanks Stoer Toeval, for giving me the opportunity.
Thanks for reading!