Music Season 2010 Photographs

[bilahari]

I am back home in Singapore and have started uploading the photos I took on my trip:
http://picasaweb.google.com/10942542847 ... directlink

My photography skills (or lack thereof) are on par with my ability to distinguish between PK and PV, so no teasing!!

[Enna_Solven]

bilahari, you need this lens:

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-70-200mm-Le ... B000I1X3W8

or

http://www.amazon.com/Canon-100-400mm-f ... B00007GQLS

or spend more money for front-row tickets

Do you use exposure lock? Thanks for the pictures.

[mahavishnu]

I think front row seats would be cheaper
Those are some expensive lenses!

[bilahari]

Those lenses are more than half my monthly salary!

Er...what is exposure lock?

[vasanthakokilam]

Borrowing mahavishnu's terminology, those MA culture vultures play spoil sport too. For those free concerts, the mid section of front row seats are usually taken by the more agile and better prepared people. Now, say, I get a seat in the side rows. The concert finishes and by the time I drag myself to the front to take a picture, these C-Vs close the darn curtain

Here is one such example. I think it is Savitha Narasimhan behind the curtain... not that it would have been a great shot since it was with my iPhone but hey.. give me a chance...

[mahavishnu]

VK, I was sitting almost exactly at the spot where you took your picture from during the Savita Narasimhan concert! But I was making a dash for the canteen (the other side door) to grab a keerai vadai before confronting the queue for the evening concert.

On the topic of iPhones; mine did not give me any clear pictures of the stage at all, even from up close. They always came out too bright/overexposed.

[vasanthakokilam]

Ah.. I missed the keerai vadai too During the concert, I was quite a few rows back and to the right. I was still recovering from her wonderful 'Idudano thillai thalam' then it dawned on me that I should take a picture and made a dash to the front. The C-Vs beat me to it.

Yeah, the iPhone camera can not deal with that bright light. My iPhone 4 has this High Dynamic Range feature which helps a little bit but not much. Here is an HDR enhanced picture of K. Dharini (Vocal), Sudha R.S. Iyer (Violin), K.H. Vineeth (Mrudangam)

[kamavardhani]

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/music/article1023361.ece

Picked up this free booklet yesterday at MA during the Sadas. Nice effort by our forumite "Carnatica" Ramanathan and his group! Congrats

[Enna_Solven]

Those lenses are more than half my monthly salary!

Er...what is exposure lock?

None of the cameras can handle a scene that has a vast dynamic range: extremely bright parts and parts that are dark/in shadow. This is is stark comparison to the human eye which can resolve details in shadow and bright portions quite comfrtably. So, when we pick up a camera and shoot we expect to get what we see but we don't.

If the camera metered (estimated the exposure time/aperture) on the central portion, the dark areas will be completely dark. Or if it metered multiple points on the scene (matrix metering) the central bright portion may be blown out.

High dynamic range is the ultimate goal of Canon/Nikon. VK: Jobs' famous devices are tweaking the photo after the fact. Anyway phone cameras are only that, not real cameras.

With an SLR camera, to get a better shot of the stage, you can zoom in (assuming you have a good zoom lens) and check the exposure (shutter time/aperture); then pull back, recompose and shoot the scene as you want while keeping previously metered exposure. SLR's have a dedicated/custom button for exposure lock. In this case, the peripheral areas will be in dark but your prime area will be properly exposed.

A point about flash. Even with a proper SLR and a big beefy external flash (canon 550 EX) the flash range will be 20-30 feet. So, typically it is useful to highlight the bald heads of the people sitting before you. You are better off not using the flash and going for higher ISO. I saw that you shot at 800. 1600 would give you a better shot without shake in these situations, but your camera is limited to 800. See this review here:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsd850is/

and here:
http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/canon ... 50-review/

Two examples of controlling exposure on prime target against dark/bright backgrounds, vendaikkai in my backyard





I shoot with SLR only. I shoot in raw mode which gives me the added control of changing exposure after the fact (+/- 2 stops). I used to be passionate about photography but it has taken a back seat compared to music now.

[vasanthakokilam]

Good information, E_S.

>VK: Jobs' famous devices are tweaking the photo after the fact. Anyway phone
>cameras are only that, not real cameras.

Right. From what I understand, the High Dynamic Range feature ( which turns off the flash btw ) takes three pictures in quick succession at different exposure levels and then the software puts them together algorithmically for the HDR picture.. It also saves the non HDR version. It works wonders in some specific and narrow cases like shooting outside from inside on a bright day, restoring the blue sky in nature shots etc. It is just a bit of added help in an otherwise non real-camera. More importantly, as with most Apple devices, even a child or tech-phobic people can learn to use these high tech features in a couple of seconds.

[Enna_Solven]

I think front row seats would be cheaper
Those are some expensive lenses!

Sorry, I was teasing bilahari in spite of his request. These will be justified only for professional use. Probaly the photos takes by Akiro Io (in gamakam's blog) are taken with this kind of SLR + lens setup. My most expensive lens is in the few hundreds.

[Enna_Solven]

Good information, E_S.

>VK: Jobs' famous devices are tweaking the photo after the fact. Anyway phone
>cameras are only that, not real cameras.

Right. From what I understand, the High Dynamic Range feature ( which turns off the flash btw ) takes three pictures in quick succession at different exposure levels and then the software puts them together algorithmically for the HDR picture..

In that case, I take back the swipe at Jobs. Another distinct feature of Iphone. Apple is probably ahead of the point-and-shoot cameras in this respect. (I have not kept up with P&S camera development). I have known about that concept and I have done it myself manually in outdoor photography. SLRs have that multiple exposure (+/0/-) feature.

[mahavishnu]

From the new issue of the Onion:

You (just thawed out of a glacier and transported to your local RadioShack): Hello, Steve Jobs. What do you have for me today?

Steve Jobs: Well, we're selling our new $600 iBreak and our new $200 You Don't Need This.

You: I'll take both of them! You know, Steve, if you make these Apple products any cheaper, people are going to start thinking they grow on trees.

Steve Jobs: Ha ha ha ha ha ha! That was really funny, because apples grow on trees.