ZG
Apr, 2014Views
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michaeltillman
Jan 25
Nothing tells a story with drama like a good B&W shot. Sometime color just gets in the way. It's also well lit with balance. This shot is real tight.
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
Oh, that is a great place known by many clubbing people - KaZantip Republic. The event took place for the last time in 2013 at Popovka, Crimea. After KaZantip there started Z-Games - the largest sports and music festival in the Eastern Europe. That's an amazing place and it was a great event. Sports and photography are a part of my life.Time
It was third day of the festival and I was hunting with my 7D all day long. I took a lot of pictures of sport moments and contests for crowd, but this one was taken in the evening 16.08.2014 in 20:42. While everybody was watching the final of the dirt jumping contest, I was enjoying the colorful lighting behind the crowd.Lighting
While taking a walk around the territory, I noticed the multicolored light, which was illuminating bridge support columns. It was a hard light, but interesting combination of colors made my mind to play with it. As I was not alone, my friends - my most often models, completed the scene and we began to improvise.Equipment
My main partner - Canon 7D camera and Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG lens, which helps me in low light conditions. No other equipment.Inspiration
Marvelous atmosphere, which reigned over the festival! Emotions of people who took part in the contests and who were just spectators. No one remained indifferent there, so was I. During post-processing all these emotions turned into two variants of this photo. The first one was in color and it looked perfect for me. After all the changes that I made, I decided to look at it in B&W. It was a hard choice for me, but you know my decision.Editing
I didn't have a clear idea of post-processing, when I was taking this photo. It came to me when I saw the photo on my monitor for the first time. In my childhood we had small cards with Rambo and Chuck Norris. I remember them with such kind of effect and I decided to make something like those cards. All the work was done in Lightroom, I've played with Tone Curve, Highlights and especially with Blacks, Crop a little, Post-Crop Vignetting. All these simple actions turned into this "postcard".In my camera bag
First of all, a few words about my bag. I've tried a lot of them and stopped on the compact variant which is a backpack. I like it because it is mobile. There I have Canon 7D - it's a Must Have camera for budget sport photography; a universal Canon 15-85 IS USM lens to be ready for most situations; Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG for low light photos and portraits; Canon Speedlite 430EX II flash; Additional batteries and cards; Lens hood; Charger or GoPro camera. That's my "Gentleman’s kit".Feedback
Universal advice: Always be ready to shoot, especially when you are at big events with a lot of people and emotions surrounding you. Big crew worked hard to realize it; among them are many professional decorators and gaffers. You just need to see it and use your imagination. And don’t forget that not all the interesting things happen on the “main stage”, take a look around!
