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Appetite for Destruction

AFD are a great Guns and Roses tribute Band who appeared as one of the acts at the Gary Bradshaw Fundraiser on Friday Feb 21st 2014.

Very authentic look and sound, definitely an act I need to see again!

The guitarist doing slash is Brad Cook, who is a great musician and band organiser. He also has a Doors Tribute Band called “The Doors of Perception”.

A full Flickr Gallery of Photos can be viewed at this link:

Flickr Photo Gallery of Appetite for Destruction at GBF

 

Further information about Appetite for Destruction can be found at their Facebook Page:

Appetite for Destruction Facebook Page

 

EQUIPMENT:

Panasonic Lumix LX7

Most shots were taken with the camera set to “Aperture Priority Mode”, with the aperture set to 1.4, and ISO of 400 to 800.

The white balance was adjusted using the Kelvin temperature scale via doing a few test shots.

The LX7 is a brilliant little compact camera that you can put into your jeans pocket and take to a gig.

It is also great as an informal portrait camera with the f1.4 giving plenty of background blur.

The F1.4 low light capabilities are great, and so much light comes into the brilliant Leica lens that you can shoot at lower ISO without any flash needed.

It is a great value camera for around $500 on the internet, and highly recommended by PBP as the ideal take anywhere compact.

Enjoy,
Passy

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How to Save Pictures from Flickr

All PBP Photos are loaded onto Flickr, and copies can be obtained from Flickr using a web browser on either a PC, Laptop, or Mobile Phone.

First we have some videos on how to Save (or Download) photos to a Computer or Laptop.

Following this there are some step by step written instructions on how to save copies of photos for PC, Samsung Galaxy, and iPad.

 

How to Save Photos – Step by Step Videos

Video about Saving Flickr Photos using a Windows PC

 

Video about How to Save a Photo using a Mac

 
 

Written Instructions

The first thing to do is get into the Flickr Photo Gallery (or “Album”) which contains the picture we want to save a copy of.

(Note that we can save pictures which are on Facebook; however the resulting quality is not as good as a Flickr Save or Download).

Next step is to mouse over and click or tap the photo we are interested in.

How to Download Flickr 1

This will take us to a large size preview of that particular photo:

How to Download Flickr 2

 

Note that the screenshots shown here are for doing this process on a PC or Laptop, using Google Chrome as the browser.

 

Mobile devices behave slightly differently.

For example on a Samsung Galaxy the process steps are :

1) Tap on the desired photo

2) Click on “View More Info about this photo”

3) Click on “View all Sizes”

4) Tap on what size you would like: Medium, Large, or Original

5) Hold down finger on the picture, until a pop up menu appears

6) Tap “Save image” on this pop up menu.

– Note there are iPad saving/download instructions near the end of this page.

 

Let’s return to the process steps for a PC or Laptop:

Here is where we have clicked on the image in Flickr, and it is now opened up on the Display Screen:

How to Download Flickr 2

On the very right hand side of this screen, half way down, there is a three dots “…” icon,(called “More Actions”), as circled in the screen capture shown above.

The next step is to click or tap on this three dots icon.

 

This should open up a dialogue box, where the “Download Option” can be clicked or tapped, as shown below:

How to Download Flickr 3

Click or tap on the “Download / All Sizes” option.

 

There will now be a pop up box, where you can click to select the required size, and then click the “Download” button.

How to Download Flickr 4

The file should then go to the “Downloads” folder on your PC or device.

 

Saving a Flickr Photo to an iPad

The following steps should make this happen.

1. Go to the all sizes page for a given photo, accessible from the “…” menu.

2. Choose a size.

3. Tap on the “Download the XXX size of this photo” link.

4. Tap and hold on the image, and then tap “Save image”. The image will be saved to your camera roll.

 
 

Subscribe

If you enjoy visiting Photos By Passy, why not get a free subscription to the website.
You can then receive notifications of new items and updates directly to your email address.

Go to the subscribe area on the left hand sidebar, (or down the bottom of the page if using a mobile phone), fill in your email address and then click the “Subscribe” button.

Enjoy,
Passy

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Size Matters Band at Beaches

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:

Size Matters 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.

 

 

 

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The Party Animals at Beaches

The Party Animals are an incredibly talented covers band; everyone in the band are brilliant players and vocalists.

They made the old songs sound better than the originals; and their drummer is a full energy force,  with the guitar players’ solos making my head spin around.

Definitely one of the best Cover Bands I have ever seen.

 

A full Flickr Gallery of Photos can be viewed at the following Link:

Flickr Photo Gallery of “The Party Animals” at Beaches

 

EQUIPMENT:
Sony Alpha-A77 Camera
Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 Lens
Yongnuo Speedlite YN-460 II

Adobe Photoshop CS5.5

This was my first ever shoot of a band using a Speedlite Flash Unit.  I was also required to do candid “party people” shots for the venue; and used a standard slip on rectangular diffuser on the flash unit, and pointed it up at 45 degrees most of the time.

The Yongnuo is a basic $50 flash from China, but has very simple controls with a 1 to 7 power dial on the back and that’s it!  Most of the time I was only using level 1 to 3 power, and in the Sony rear playback screen the shots looked fine. However when downloaded to the PC, the shots were all dull and around one f-stop lower, so next time I will go brighter.

The charge time on the Yongnuo was okay, and provided it lasts a while I reckon it is a bargain compared to the proper $500 Sony Unit for the A-77.

The tricky thing is that at ISO400, it is pitch black in the viewfinder, and so composing shots and trying to get a spot focus was entirely blind guesswork. However when the flash fired, the camera seemed to cope reasonably well with exposure and focus.

Unfortunately it appears that Sony Cameras have their own unique flash hotshoe mount. And although Yongnuo make a flash for the Sony which fits the mount, Sony cameras do not recognise the flash, and so the Sony viewfinder does not brighten up like it does when the inbulit sony flash is popped up. Found this out by watching a YouTube video. So looks like I will be shooting blind until I can afford a proper Sony brand flash. 🙁

For both the band and people shots I used auto white balance, and “S” shutter priority. Band shots were at ISO 400 to ISO 1600, and 1/60, 1/80, and 1/120 shutter speed.

People shots were ISO 400, and shutter speed 1/125 in shutter priority “S” mode.  This was my first time doing people shots of an age 30 plus crowd, and there was a lot of photoshopping needed to remove wrinkles and sunspots. The rubber stamp ran parallel to forehead wrinkles works a treat and all the ladies look at least 10 years younger?  There were also a lot of exposure adjustments to do.

The people shots had a lot of white patches on faces (is that flash reflection in their facial sweat from dancing?  How do you deal with this “snow on the face” effectively is something I need to figure out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Takin Cover at PBH Day

Takin Cover are a solid rocking covers band who play a wide variety of hit songs form the 70’s 80’s and 90’s.

Robyn and Corey share vocal duties, with Corey also playing guitar and keyboards.  The Rythm section is handled by Cam on Bass and Geoff on Drums. Paul covers Lead Guitar and backing vocals.

The following photos were taken at the Peninsula Band Host afternoon at Beaches of Mornington early in 2014.

 

A full Flickr Gallery of Photos can be viewed at the following Link:

Flickr Photo Gallery of Takin Cover at PBH Day

 

Further information about Takin Cover can be found at their Website and Facebook Page:

Takin Cover Band Website

Takin Cover Facebook Page

 

EQUIPMENT:

Panasonic Lumix LX7 low light camera.

The super little Lumix LX7 camera excelled in these near daylight conditions, and the photos required little photo-shopping before posting to the Web.