[Micahb]

Just got back from taking some pictures of my friends band playing live.
I had a very hard time with this. Took two hundred and fifty something pictures, and liked/half liked the ones up here. Bleh. Oh well. I think I learned a lot for next time.
All comments and critique are welcome and encouraged.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/micahbe...7605870931016/

[Rainer.]

Try some slow-sync flash.


Here are the ones I thought stand out:








The first one is definitely the standout of the entire set. I just with it were a tad brighter.

The second, the noise kills the shot a tad, but the composition and colors are spot on.

The third, I like the backlighting, I think it was a shot that it might have been better to have a tad bit more exposure, were you using a tripod?

[Micahb]

Wow - I am surprised by the quick response at 1:45 my time!

Originally Posted by Rainer.

[1]Try some slow-sync flash.

[2]The first one is definitely the standout of the entire set. I just with it were a tad brighter.

[3]The second, the noise kills the shot a tad, but the composition and colors are spot on.

[4]The third, I like the backlighting, I think it was a shot that it might have been better to have a tad bit more exposure, were you using a tripod?

1) What is that?
2) Yeah, I really really like that one. I just lightened it a bit, and it does look better, but the monitor I'm on is crap, so it is hard to tell what things really look like. I will have to wait for tomorrow to do final touches on brightness and stuff.
3) Gah! I know. I was having a really hard time getting good shots of the bass player, drummer, and Tim (the second guitarist), so I was shooting most of them with 3200 ISO to get good light.
How can I remove some of the grain? I tried the built in noise remover with Photoshop (I am using CS3), but either it sucks or I don't know how to use it. Are there any good inexpensive plugins, or can you give me a brief tutorial on house to use the built in one?
3) No to the tripod. Don't own one.

[Rainer.]

1) It's when the flash fires, but the exposure time is longer than the flash, it shows and freezes motion simultaneously, often hidden as "night mode" in some cameras.
http://digital-photography-school.co...-flash-images/

2) I learned that with my monitor I need to make everything a tad brighter than I think. It's a struggle, for sure.

3) I'm not too experienced with noise removal, but shooting at 3200, it'll be tough, because it's so pronounced.

4) Get one.

[ApparentlyNothing]

Originally Posted by Micahb

3) Gah! I know. I was having a really hard time getting good shots of the bass player, drummer, and Tim (the second guitarist), so I was shooting most of them with 3200 ISO to get good light.
How can I remove some of the grain? I tried the built in noise remover with Photoshop (I am using CS3), but either it sucks or I don't know how to use it. Are there any good inexpensive plugins, or can you give me a brief tutorial on house to use the built in one?

Noise Ninja - http://www.picturecode.com/
Noiseware - http://www.imagenomic.com/nwpg.aspx

I ran your photo through Noise Ninja on auto and here's the result. Probably could have gotten a better result if I tweaked it a little instead of putting it on auto profiling, but it gives you an idea of what it can do. I like NN for the fact that you can download profiles for your camera model that do really well at getting rid of noise at all ISO speeds without giving it that slightly fake, "perfect" look that just auto profiling can do sometimes. Using the built in noise removal in PS is tough, because usually it's a give and take of noise vs. sharpness. A lot of times I feel like I lose too much sharpness or don't get rid of enough noise. But, maybe I don't know how to use it very well either

I don't have Noiseware though, so I can't give a comparison, but it's one of the other options people tend to go for.

Although, a better investment might be to just get faster lenses.

[Micahb]

Thanks for the help - I am going to get one of those programs next pay cheque.

What do you mean by faster lenses?

[Rainer.]

Bigger apertures, means more useful in low light.