Size Matters are a great Melbourne covers band with vocals brilliantly handled by Deb and Steve.
They play a wide range of songs, and this gig was their first one with well known rock photographer Gary Bradshaw back on drums after a bout with cancer which he has beaten!
Gary has a huge drumkit, which took up at least half the stage, and the rest of the band were crammed in along a straight line at the front edge of the stage. Big Kit, nice big beats in the engine room!
A full Flickr Gallery of Photos can be viewed at the following Link:
Flickr Photo Gallery of Size Matters at Beaches
Further information about Size Matter Band can be found at their Facebook Page:
EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha A-77
Tamron 24-70mm F2.8 for band shots
Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 for people pics
Yongnuo Speedlight YN460-II
Adobe Photoshop CS5.5 (Quite a bit of photoshopping was done).
I had a lot of problems with the lighting for band shots and had to shoot them at ISO 1600 even with the Flash in use.
They turned out quite grainy on PC, but look reasonable on mobile phone on Facebook.
I accidentally left the ISO at 1600 and shutter 1/80 second for the two “party girls” pictures in the gallery shown previously, but it kind of worked out okay, because the background scenery was not all darkened up and black. So I may try shooting some party people pics at ISO 800 and 1/125th next time.
The Yongnuo flash is starting to irritate me because I have a very dark viewfinder for composing party people shots, because the Sony camera does not recognise a flash is attached, and so does not do the usual screen brightening function. As a result I am shooting these shots more or less blind. Time to start a savings plan for a proper Sony flash, but will make do with the Yongnuo for the next couple of months or so.
Another issue I do not have a solution for yet is the white patches on people problem:
My party people photos with flash get white patches on people’s noses, chins, foreheads, and cheekbones. Need to find a way to overcome this because it is very difficult photoshopping it out.