Exercise 11: Standing Back

For this exercise I used mainly a 100-400 with occasional use of the G10 compact on zoom. I have used images from three different situations: an outdoor music concert, a visit to London and a friend's wedding.
These first images were taken during a beer and music festival weekend at Hartington Hall Youth Hostel in Derbyshire this July. I was keen to take some pictures of the two bands that were playing. The 100 - 400 was ideal for this as I could stand well back and not be intrusive and still isolate individual band members. The concerts were in the evening, however, so
fading light was somewhat of a problem in that shutter speeds were very slow, even at wide apertures. I had to use high ISO settings of 1600 and 3200 so noise was also a problem. I anticipated this and had already decided to do a black and white conversion in order to try and recreate the grainy film effect of music club photography. Despite being a non smoker smoke drifting up would have enhanced this effect.



In order to compensate for slow shutter speeds I used a monopod which I felt would be less noticeable than a tripod.
























Here the guitaist and vocalist loses himself in his music.












The drummer in both bands was the most difficult to get acceptable pictures of. They seem to move a great deal and many shots were too blurred to be of use.










I like the positioning of this guitarist in the second band.












Again the drummer was difficult to get acceptable images of.













I cropped this image to highlight the use of the harmonica.











In this picture the young (and talented) guitarist and lead vocalist is giving his all.












During the concert I took pictures of the audience enjoying the music and was fascinated by their different reactions to it. I decided not to covert these to black and white and have selected images with least noise. I like this picture of the couple swinging to the 'cool tunes' of the first band who played fairly laid back jazz.








This person appeared to be more interested in the beer aspect of the evening!











I think that this lady may have been more interested in me than the band - something I am alsways conscious of in this type of photography.











A look of concentration here as she enjoys the music.













I like this photograph of the man enjoying his pipe and conversation with friends. This shot highlights one of the problems of using long lenses in that occasionally people, or bits of them, get in the way of the shot you would like.








This man is really concentrating on the music.












Towards the end of July we had a day in London. I used the Canon G10 to take this picture on full zoom from across the road. This enabled me to get a shot that wasn't looking upwards and also free of pedestrians and onlookers.









Another Canon G10 shot on full zoom enabling me to get a picture of these policeman outside the Houses of Parliament that perhaps wouldn't have otherwise been possible.









A shot with the Canon G10 at mid zoom to take these street musicians.











Towards the end of August we went to the wedding of the daughter of some close friends. I was asked if I would take the informal photographs at the reception in their garden. For some of the shots I used the 100-400 lens. I found this very useful for isolating individuals from the crowd without being obtrusive.


































































I love the picture of this bridesmaid who appears to be a world of her own.






































Using telephoto lenses is useful as it is possible to stand well back and not be noticed. They also make it easier to isloate individuals and can render a busy background pleasantly out of focus. Some of the problems I have mentioned above. Other people can get in the way of the shot and low light brings with it the challenge of slow shutter speeds. high ISOs and associated increased noise levels.