Musician Press Kit Gallery (56k warning)

[FrankieTDouglas]

I was recently asked to shoot the photos for a musician's press kit. He has a really great style, sort of an indie rock vibe. That's a general overview, though fans of the genre could probably pinpoint a specific subgenre for it. Anyway, check him out at http://myspace.com/thedivisiondeep His name is Brandt Cooley, and is the singer, guitarist, bassist, and drummer on his cd. Talented guy.

I've spent the last two days photographing him for stuff to end up in his press kit. I thought I'd post a sample on here while I'm in the editing phase, to get an idea what you may think of any certain shots, or any comments you could add that could help the finalized results. We went into it with about eight shot ideas, plus added some extra spontaneous stuff here and there.

Technical details, I'm photographing him with a Nikon d70s, and using two lenses: the Nikon DX 18-70, and the Nikon 50mm 1.8. Any Polaroids come from the old black square models (one-step flash). Not sure of the actual model name. Anything with a light kit is with two lowel tota lights.

 

[Clix Pix]

Excellent work! LOVE that last one -- it is just really outstanding! As you said in the other thread where you'd also posted it, this image so perfectly captures the mood of the house in which you were shooting.

I think you havea good future ahead of you as a professional photographer....

 

[Pistol Pete]

nice shots man...

I am obessed with polaroids...

anyways i really want a light kit now. Thanks a lot

 

[cookie1105]

I really like them. A quite edgy look. Congratulations on a nice shoot.
Some technical comments for you to think about:

#1 - His glasses cut through his left eye. It looks to me as if the model is looking above the camera not into it. I would liked to have seen more of the iris.

#2 - Maybe try and darken the LHS of the picture with a bit of burn

#3 - I really like this shot. But the orange t-shirt draws attention away from the face for me. Maybe try to crop a little higher and desaturate the t-shirt.

#4 - cool

#5 - The pipe is coming out of his head. Maybe you wanted this look, but I would try and clone it out. worth a try??

#6 - In the picture you chopped off his head and the polaroid doesn't have the same background as the picture.

#7 - nice.

#8 - WOW. I love this pic. wicked composition. How did you get this effect? high iso + blur??

I hope I wasn't too harsh.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

I really like them. A quite edgy look. Congratulations on a nice shoot.
Some technical comments for you to think about:

Thanks for the comments. And not at all too harsh!

#1 - His glasses cut through his left eye. It looks to me as if the model is looking above the camera not into it. I would liked to have seen more of the iris.

Cool. We have about a half dozen variations on this one. I'll go back through and look for this feature, and see if it'll still match the composition themes in this one.

#2 - Maybe try and darken the LHS of the picture with a bit of burn

Yep, we had sun coming in from the side right there. I noticed before I shot, and noticed it afterwards, but in a rush for time that location worked best. It'll receive more post-work.

#3 - I really like this shot. But the orange t-shirt draws attention away from the face for me. Maybe try to crop a little higher and desaturate the t-shirt.

Does the fact that his face looks narrower inside the glasses seem to distract you? Because of his prescription, nearly every shot has that in it. But this shot is one of the more obvious.

#4 - cool

#5 - The pipe is coming out of his head. Maybe you wanted this look, but I would try and clone it out. worth a try??

That's the stuff I completely miss. I framed him and four letters of "reserved." The pipe running along the wall is something I never even noticed. I guess that's probably not a good trait!

#6 - In the picture you chopped off his head and the polaroid doesn't have the same background as the picture.

It's an either/or shot. I knew those two things but accepted it based on the foreground aspect.

#7 - nice.

#8 - WOW. I love this pic. wicked composition. How did you get this effect? high iso + blur??

1600 ISO, 10 second shutter, hoping the angle would look okay afterwards (couldn't see anything in the viewfinder... we had to snap some flashes just to see what the interior really looked like), and trying to keep my hands still as possible while holding the camera. I fixed the variables in the raw conversion, but didn't do any post after that point.

Thanks for the critique!

 

[cookie1105]

Does the fact that his face looks narrower inside the glasses seem to distract you? Because of his prescription, nearly every shot has that in it. But this shot is one of the more obvious.

There is not a lot you can do about it (maybe take his glasses off ). IMO it actually adds something to the pic

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Andy, I may sound like a broken record here (no pun intended); but you really have a great eye! time for you to make some serious cash with that talent of yours! Bravo on the latest images you shared.