by successfulbob | black & white, commercial photography, fine art musician portrait, graphic design, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography, photography, photography education
If you follow my blog and life you’ll see that I’m a music fan. Photographing live music is something that I have been devoting myself to and adding in creating art for the musicians. When something like the Old Town Center for the Arts annual Blues Fest comes along I am in hog heaven. It gives me a chance to photograph and practice new techniques.
Tommy Dukes, Arizona Blues Hall of Fame member. Artistic Photoshop work from blues fest performance. Original capture with Lumix GX7 35-100.. 2.8 lens. Impressive Art filter. Layers and textures add to final art mix.
Did I say it gives me a chance to practice? I believe practicing is as important to photographers as it is to musicians, athletes or anyone else who needs to have the skill of working under pressure. Changing settings, working in new lighting (and often challenging) conditions is something you need to be able to work with almost without thinking so you can capture the essence of a performer. In this case I was playing with some of the presets in the camera and finding some cool looks. In order for you to access the camera pre-sets after downloading you need to capture the images as jpegs. For safety sake and to have all the info presented to the camera you can save as RAW plus jpeg.
Tommy was quite animated and his shirt added to the life of the performance. Capture with Impressive Art filter then layers of texture added to foreground and background.
Then I self assign creation of CD covers, music and musician art and share the ideas with the artists and their marketing people. This has led to being hired to do the work I enjoy. Hmm. Practice. Self assignments. Sharing. Marketing. People often ask me how I get the images I do and the work I want to do. Re-read the last paragraph again and you’ve got he answer. When are you starting your next personal project?
Pretty much straight out of the GX7 camera using the monochrome art setting. Pretty clean black and white!
Straight out of camera with the Impressive Art setting on the Lumix GX7
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art musician portrait, fine art photography, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography
These are two of the house players for Sound Bites Grill in Sedona who have been added to the Wall of Fame
New Wall of Fame member Steve Sandner playing keyboards and singing as part of the Jazz Fest Jam night at Sound Bites on March 23rd.
Chris Finet is a strong Bass Player. He made the Wall of Fame at Sound Bites Grill. Originally from Phoenix, Chris is the Professor of String Bass and Jazz Studies at Northern Arizona University. In addition to his work as an educator at NAU, Chris keeps busy performing throughout Arizona and the rest of the country.
Images were captured with the Panasonic Lumix GX7 and 35-100mm 2.8 lens (70-200mm 35 mm equivalent)
by successfulbob | commercial photography, fine art musician portrait, Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, people photography, photography
One of the jobs I really enjoy involves taking the art techniques I’ve been developing and using them for my commercial clients. These have been created for the Sound Bites Grill Wall of Fame. Musicians are photographed live during their performances and then I create 8×10’s for display at the restaurant. It’s an increasing challenge (which I love!) to have a slightly different look for each artist. Here are a drummer, guitarist and keyboard player as part of the latest installment…
Jazz Guitarist, composer and Recording Engineer Peter Sprague of Road Work Ahead
at Sound Bites Grill Show Lounge
Road Work Ahead Keyboard Player, composer and arranger Bill Mays jams
at the Sound Bites Grill Jazz Fest Jam in Sedona
Jim Plank, drummer and percussionist for Road Work Ahead plays on the
Sound Bites Show Lounge stage at the Jazz Jam in March.
Images were captured with the Panasonic Lumix GX7 using the 35-100 (70-200 35mm equivalent) 2.8 lens ISO 2500. This is a great combo for getting intimate images without getting too close to the stage. For some of the captures in the future I might bump the ISO up another notch to get just a bit more shutter speed when the performers are moving.
One of the most important parts of my job is to not be obtrusive when capturing performers. I am very conscious of the guests and not disturbing their enjoyment at performances. The GX7 and lens combo is small and helps me remain low key but strangely enough looks pro enough to get inquiries all the time about what type of camera I’m working with.
After the show images are downloaded. Musicians are separated from the background using Adobe Photoshop’s various selection techniques and placed on their own layer. At that point I can start the art part… Adding shadows, textures, blending modes and lighting effects that were not on the stage.
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | marketing, musician photography, photography, photography education, success education
SUCCESS!
This job started as a result of a personal project. I was trying some new art techniques on images made of musicians during live performances. Showed the results to Mark and he immediately asked if I would design his next CD release cover and marketing materials…
Six fold CD packaging design for Mark T Small started with a personal photo project
Apparently he made a good choice. Here’s an email from Mark.
“Bob – I think your art work is paying off big time. The media promo started Jan 1 and I am getting more looks than the last CD. Doing some radio interviews and getting some good action on the blogs. I really think that your work is making these people pick the CD up out of the pile to further investigate. Thank you so much Bob. The reporting radio stations start next week and I will keep you posted. I sent out 200 CDs for media on 1/1 and 200 CDs on 1/24 for reporting. Pretty crazy – I will keep you posted .
Thanks again Bob – best to Holly”
mark
Mark T. Small (a.k.a. – J. Wyman Burke)
Delta & Chicago Style Blues
www.marktsmall.com
I ask you… What personal project are you working on to stretch yourself? And, how are you working it into your business?
Yours in Photography, Bob
by successfulbob | fine art photography, fine art portrait, landscape photography, musician photography, photography, photography education
Chills! They wandered up and down my spine when I saw this video.
This presentation is based on images from the Professional Photographers of America Loan and General collections from the International Print Competition 2013. Awards were presented at the convention held in Phoenix this past week. I proud to have several images included…
When you watch this video crank up the music and make sure you go full screen for the most impact!
In this competition I entered two print cases of four images each. In total I received three general collection merits and four Loan Collection images. I’m proud to be in PPA and a member since 1998 to continue to pursue exellence in imaging so my clients get the very best I can offer. As far as I am concerned when you stop learning your imaging skills start to deteriorate.
by successfulbob | Lumix GX7, Lumix Lounge, musician photography, photography, photography gear
The carved metal sign vibrated with the color I was chasing. Add the blues music accompanied by this signage and it was the start of a great evening. Able to photograph blues musicians while not on assignment allowed me to try some new techniques and experiment with different settings.
I included the hanging light in the foreground as a semi-complimentary
color to set off the blue of the light on the sign.
Host RJ Howson with Guest Sidney Wingfield on-stage at the Blue Rooster on 4th Street in Sarasota
Blues piano & Sidney Wingfield frame blues guitarist RJ Howson live at the Blue Rooster.
GX7 camera preset Sepia tone of RJ making blues with his guitar.
Sidney Wingfield keyboard player with personality!!! Wonderful vocals too!
Most photos in this post were captured with the 35-100 f2.8 Vario lens. A few done with the 12-35 f2.8 Vario lens. All with the Lumix GX7 camera.
Since this blog is for photographers I want to address a thought about camera formats.
I have been shooting with larger formats than the micro 4/3rds for a long time and when I talk to photographers about my preference for the smaller system I often get the question, “Aren’t you afraid your customers won’t think of you as a professional because you have smaller cameras and lenses??” The answer is unequivocally “NO!”
What I find is that people respond to the way I work, my body language and the way I approach capturing an image vs how big my gear is. I choose the proper tool for the job and am respected as a pro for for my finished work and that the files or prints I give to my clients meet all their needs.
Share your thoughts and comments here….
