Rock 'n' Roll is Here to Stay

The 2007 Fortune Battle of the Corporate Bands had their Western Regionals July 7th on the Sunset Strip at the Key Club. Six bands competed and 2 finalists were chosen. 4 Inch Studs from MBH Architects and High Definition from NBC Universal are the 2 bands that will play at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland October 5th and 6th for the final competion. I work at NBC and seeing a Vice President pounding the drums is wild. This is an annual fund raising event and all the bands were great but I have to say the best 2 bands did win. Many thanks to Steve Dobo for doing a great job putting this together and making it rock. The sound, lighting and crowd were all terrific.

Now for my tech notes. I used a Canon 5d set to 3200 ISO and f-stops ranged from 2.8 to 4 and shutter speeds around a 50th (some as low as a 30th). I shot in short bursts. This cuts down the shake from any camera movement. I’m sure a stabilized lens would help some, but since the guys are moving some blur would still occur. I used A Tamron 28-75 2.8 and a Canon 70-200 f4. I cleaned them up a bit with Imagenomic Noiseware on the landscape setting. You'd never see the grain on these small pics for the web but it helps if you want to sharpen them up for larger prints. Run the Noiseware first then sharpen in PhotoShop with High Pass. (Copy to a new layer then - Filter - Other - High Pass - 8 - Layer blend mode to Softlight and back it of a little.) I haven't sharpened these yet. You can find 2 of the shots at the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame's website and I've posted a gallery on my website of High Definition. See ya in Cleveland!

Shooting Ducks…

…or should I say shooting Peacocks? This was a fun little project. Awards are handed out by Promax each year for the very best in television promotion and NBC had many nominees. At the last minute they asked for a photo of each nominee so they couuld project each winner at the show. Well since I work in the promotion department and I work cheap (read nothing) I got the job. Some people were out of town others were camera shy and some were up for multiple awards, so what started out as 30 photos was whittled down to just 9. (Whew, close one!)


I scouted NBC for peacock backgrounds and just to play it safe I did a trial shoot with my friend Calvin. The indoor shots were done with one flash and a shoot through umbrella. Outside I used fill flash and in both cases I used a white reflector to bounce some light in. I’m an avid reader of the “Strobist” and picked up the small stand that David suggests. I differ in that I really like the Stroboframe Flash Mount Adapter and I already had a Canon Speedlite Transmitter to trigger the flash. I also prefer a shoot through umbrella so I can place it closer to my subject. I lowered a projection screen and used it for a background for a couple of shots. "Bill the Promo Guy" wanted to remain anonymous so I just fired a light on the background leaving him silhouetted. The "Radio" type was comped in using PhotoShop. It really had "Must See TV" there. I painted out the old and used arc in warp text. I used motion blur around a couple just to kick it up a little. The old Peacock in the the monitor is comped in as well.


This is out of my comfort zone of usual Landscape Photography. I keep trying to widen my horizons. I feel that controlling artificial lights helps me to see the many nuances of natural light. Many thanks to all involved. I had lotso fun and continue to learn. You can see all the pix here at craigwolf.com.

Tech Notes: Canon 5d, Canon 580EX Flash, Canon Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2, Bogen/Manfrotto 3373 - 5 Section Light Stand with Retractable Legs,Bogen/Manfrotto Swivel Umbrella Adapter, Stroboframe Flash Mount Adapter, Westcott Umbrella - Collapsible, Optical White Satin - 43" (This all fits in a small gym bag and is very light and portable.)