British Steel Judas Priest Tribute Band Live Shoot
Sunday, November 28, 2010 at 8:06PM 
Damien Benz Guitar Player
Hello all. It’s been way too long between posts. This shot is one of a set of shots I took of a local band here in the Raleigh/Cary NC area. They are a Judas Priest Tribute band called British Steel. The show was at brand new venue here in town called the Southland Ballroom . Awesome place to watch bands. This was only the second show that was booked there. Still a little rough around the edges but has tremendous potential.
Now on to the shot. One of the challenges with this shoot was the lighting. It was all over the place. This was one of the few places that I’ve been to had a lot of their Par lights ungelled so you would get this awesome white light flooding the stage from above but only for a split second. Having caught a couple shots with just the white lights earlier in the show and checking them on the LCD screen, I knew there was magic to be had.
This shot is of Damien Benz, an incredible guitar player. When he plays, he plays with his whole body. Which makes for some great photo opportunities. I have to admit I love everything about this shot. Having froze the motion of the guitar and having the hair showing a lot of motion really makes the shot for me. Plus the little bit of light that made it’s way through to highlight his pick hand just makes me giggle. And you won’t find a better rock stance than those thrown by Damien.
As for the gear I used for the shoot it was pretty basic. Camera is a Nikon D90, lens was the 50mm 1.8. Sticking by my rule of never using a flash when shooting bands live, I had to up the ISO to 1600. With the D90 you get some noisy images at this ISO but not enough to ruin the shots. Only did a little noise reduction in Camera Raw. Plus a little noise in live band shots adds a little grittieness and a film grain look to the photos. Especially if you are converting some of them to Black and White. I set my exposure compensation to underexpose the image by at least 1 1/2 stops to 2 full stops to keep from blowing out the images and losing all the drama and emotion in the shots. My focusing is set to ‘continuous focus’ in order keep band members in focus which is very important for a band like this that are constantly moving. You really need to be quick on adjusting which focus point you are using as the subject will be all over you view finder.
Well that’s about it. I hope you all enjoy this photo as much as I do. And please leave a comment below. Peace.
Reader Comments (4)
I have seen at least four of these you did, Eric, and they are all fantastic. They are so perfect, it's hard to believe this was taken live at a show! The lighting and Damien's hair combined to really make this photo pop hard. Truly captures the real Damien too, I would know if was him without the caption!
Eric, I personally think you caught something beyond magic. The first thing that i noticed in this photo was the light coming through on the strings. Almost like you caught the path of energy coming from the body, to the guitar strings, then to the amp ,eventually to what your eyes whisper to your ears. Its a stunning photo Eric !
I love this shot!!! Great new look for your page too! And it looks like you're finding a nitch... Band photography. This could definitely be an album cover!!! Keep it up man!
Eric,
I agree you got an awesome shot here.
I'm an ameteur photographer in Cayce, SC, just outside Columbia. I'm wanting to get some freelance business and decided to Google "ericb photography" to see if anyone else is using the name. That's how I got here. Good luck with your endeavors and keep shooting pix!
Eric Benner