Java Five - The Art of Vocal Swing @ No Black Tie

[djspinnet]

(Yea I know, I keep going missing and then popping up here out of nowhere and going missing the popping up out of nowhere again )

Anyways... I've been a big fan of Java Five ever since my friend went to their performance at last year's Penang Int'l Jazz Fest and gloated all about it... so I told myself I have to get their album or go to their performance or else. As it would turn out to be, they had a performance on 1st October in No Black Tie in KL. Made a reservation... and guess what? As things would turn out to be again......................... I had the front most table!* ;D

Anyways, I enjoyed myself immensely... they were amazing, amazing. They're this acapella swing jazz band that mimick instruments sounds so naturally with their voices. Their performance was just way tight and cohesive. And their antics on stage... hilarious! ;D

Enjoy the pics. They're in B&W because they're *best* in B&W. Flickr photoset here.

[Adrian Wong]

Wow.. I must say that those are pretty good B&W shots... Very nice play of light and shadows.

They really allowed photography by the guests?

[djspinnet]

Thanks Adrian

As to photography being allowed, of course! they're not that draconian. In fact, the band approached me later to ask if I could send them some photos, which I happily obliged. Most indie and even mainstream bands/singers/performers don't mind their photos taken, its free publicity for them when fans take photos of their performance and post it round the net.

'Sides, it'll be a pity for me to sit right in front and have no photos. I was at the perfect position!

[Adrian Wong]

Ahhh.. That's true! I hope they continue to do so even after they make it big.

Hmm.. If you don't mind me asking, how did you do it? As in.. capture such blends of light and shadow??

I mean, some may say it's easy, but I have never been able to come close to something like this yet.

[djspinnet]

Aah, actually, it's something called chiaroscuro, meaning light-dark, and it's dependent on the light source and angle. So happened that No Black Tie set up their lighting for this gig using the chiaroscuro model, so that was my advantage. To top it off, the dudes were wearing black and white. Even better. So all I did was to pop my 50mm (closer crop tends to evoke their emotions better than wideangles - I can't capture the entire band in one frame but that's a tradeoff I'd take any day), set the aperture at f/1.8-f3.5 to taste and shoot. And the fact I was sitting right in front kinda helped too I'll say I did nothing, it was really the lighting setup that was what made everything like this. The key to photography and understanding photography is actually to understand light.

About chiaroscuro lighting = click here

One of the more famous modern practitioners of chiaroscuro is Annie Leibovitz. Go pick up her book and sit down in Borders for an afternoon. I've been doing that for the last few weeks and learnt more about photography from the classics and masters than I've learnt in the years I've been doing it

As for the post-processing to B&W, I just Gradient Mapped it to B&W. That's all. Ocassionally a burn and dodge on this odd photo or two to taste.

[Adrian Wong]

Oh, so it depends a lot on the light setup... Okay, must go read up on it.

Haha.. That's the problem. I still cannot figure out light yet. I'm still stuck on even lighting for the subject!!

[djspinnet]

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

Oh, so it depends a lot on the light setup... Okay, must go read up on it.

Haha.. That's the problem. I still cannot figure out light yet. I'm still stuck on even lighting for the subject!!

Ah, actually, you can find uneven lighting everywhere. It doesn't have to follow a certain model per se, like pin light, hard light, frontal illumination etc... what you should know is how to use the available light to your advantage and not try to compensate using strobes, fill-in flash etc. You should be able to identify the kind of lighting, move it around, move subjects around etc. Even if it's a hard, direct pinlight, light will always diffract somewhere else. And you can always use that to create backlight on your subject or partially hidden in shadows etc. It takes a little bit of creativity to make do with lack of light than trying to compensate to create even lighting.

The other very important thing to know is your subject itself. I am a jazz fanatic and know what to expect in jazz music and what I want to convey. If I don't know what to expect, observe and ask.

Hey, if you want, you can borrow a book from me, The Mind's Eye by Henri Cartier-Bresson. He's got some nice insights about philosophy of photography that you might find useful. What I mentioned earlier about knowing your subject is one of the thing HCB stresses upon alot. Just gimme a buzz and I can drop by your place or vice versa.

[Adrian Wong]

Hmm.. I suppose I'm really quite rigid in my thoughts. I must learn to see beyond the box. Otherwise, I will have this problem of looking at light and how it reflects in the actual photo.

[djspinnet]

You'll learn

Just need to spend a Saturday afternoon at Borders The Curve 1st floor, Art & Photography section (cos the one in the curve has a lot of unshrink-wrapped books) and read up on the masters and see their works.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by djspinnet

You'll learn

Just need to spend a Saturday afternoon at Borders The Curve 1st floor, Art & Photography section (cos the one in the curve has a lot of unshrink-wrapped books) and read up on the masters and see their works.

Hehehe.. I've seen many really good photos here but I still can't quite get the grasp of it.