Lemuria, Hunters & JEFF the Brotherhood at Cafe 9 05.23.13

I know I've complained before about the light at Cafe 9. It's hard to shoot under, but that's part of the challenge and the fun of what I do. This night was a mixture of experimentation and some unexpected luck.

Adam did all the hard work on the write up, so head on over to Surviving the Golden Age to check that out.

I decided to set my own custom white balance to fight the harsh light of the venue. This isn't normally an option at a concert because the stage lights will change color throughout the night, but at Cafe 9, the light is the same throughout the show. For the past two shows I've shot at Cafe 9, I've spent a lot of time in post production in an attempt to color correct. A lot of times, I desaturated the color, but I haven't been happy with that result. 

Luckily, Adam was wearing a white t shirt, so I was able to set him under the stage light and zoom in on his shirt. I took a picture then told the camera that this is what is supposed to be white. It automatically corrects the color while I'm shooting, which saved me a huge hunk of time as I processed the images. The whites and skin tones are pretty accurate and I don't mind the reds and greens so much.

Lemuria

It's funny, I've shot two other concerts here and hadn't noticed this nifty little corner of the stage until this moment.

Hunters

There's nothing you can do when the band decides that they don't want the light on during their show. This is the moment where guitarist Derek Watson asked for the last of the house lights to be turned off. So much for that custom white balance I had set. The band brought along a white spot light that they set up by the drummer. While it gave the drummer and bassist amazing light, it barely lit the front of the stage. Fortunately, I can still shoot in the dark. Isabel Almeida is very animated on stage. She kicks and contorts her body, which made for some fun pictures.

JEFF the Brotherhood

I switched up my angles to be able to get pictures of Jake and Jamin Orrall. They brought along their own light set up, which was enough for me to finally drop my ISO and get some decent shots. They also turned on a fog machine, which caused me to lose just as many shots. The fog seemed to hang in the air forever.

It was much easier night of shooting with the additional light, but I feel like I have a good plan of attack for the next concert I shoot at Cafe 9.

As always, I leave you with shoes.