Last weekend, I held my Rock and Roll Portrait Lighting Workshop at Eagles Nest Studios in New York City. We had a great group of shooters come out and I managed to keep them awake for seven hours or so while I gave away all my secrets.

To demonstrate different lighting scenarios, I did a live shoot with cool rock/pop/electronica band Cruel Black Dove. I warned them that they were going to hear everything that goes on in the mind of a photographer during a shoot but normally isn’t said out loud. Things like, “I have no idea how this is going to look but I’ll try it anyway.”

Fortunately, I was able to make a decent image or two in a very short amount of time. Everything was lit using only Nikon Speedlights.

This frame was made with two SB-900’s in a large softbox. The white walls supply the fill. I went way overboard with the post-processing, but wanted to show how much you can do to the image after the fact.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, ISO 200, 1/250, f/8)

For the next setup, I used a Honl snoot to focus the light on Anastasia (in white) and also had two VALs (Voice Activated Lightstands named Josh and Mike) holding strobes with Honl grids on them.

Thanks to Peter Preston and Mike Wren for the behind the scenes pics.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, ISO 400, 1/250, f/11)

If you want to experience the workshop yourself, I’ll be doing it again at Adorama in New York, NY on February 21, 2010. More info on the workshops@adorama site. I’ll have another live shoot with a different band so I hope you’ll join me then.

I’ve also had a few inquiries about bringing the workshop to other cities. If you are interested in helping me organize in your area, contact my workshop manager Josh Lehrer at workshops [at] davidbergman [dot] net and we’ll set it up.

| Leave a comment

It was my first time shooting Metallica and they didn’t disappoint.

At the beginning of the show, James Hetfield was lit only from below. This is traditionally called “monster lighting,” and you can see why.

(Nikon D700, 70-200, ISO 1600, 1/500 sec, f/4)

The only tricky part was that the show was in-the-round so we photographers had to chase the guys around the stage. It was in the middle of the arena but wasn’t a circle, so technically you could say it was “in-the-square.”

Luckily, there was plenty of time to shoot and the light was great. I only got hit by Lars Ulrich’s water one time.

(Nikon D3, 24-70, ISO 2500, 1/400 sec, f/4)

| Leave a comment

I’m thrilled to announce that Cruel Black Dove will be joining us in the photo studio at my Rock and Roll portrait lighting workshop next Saturday December 12.

The Brooklyn based quartet has agreed to be our guinea pig as we play around with light and shadow to create some compelling portraits.

A few workshop spots still remain. Read more and register here.

——-

| Leave a comment