Essence
Focus on organist to capture his essence behind the keys while creating beautiful musical compositions. Shot was done in low light using the organ's light as a ...
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Focus on organist to capture his essence behind the keys while creating beautiful musical compositions. Shot was done in low light using the organ's light as a one light portrait study.
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Aug, 2015Views
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Awards
Action Award
Top Shot Award 21
Legendary Award
Superb Composition
Top Choice
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Magnificent Capture
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at my local church in Klerksdorp, South Africa. The organist, Johan, is a multi-talented musician and regularly accompanies many singers in performances. He in his own right has played many a feature piece. I joined him while he was practicing one afternoon for the shoot.Time
The photo was taken around 3-4pm on a Saturday afternoon while he was practicing. I love taking candid or environmental portraits of people doing what they love. The true enjoyment and essence of the moment really gets conveyed better in such a setting.Lighting
Seeing that the church is a large old building with minimal windows we could play with the lighting. We first started with all the lights turned on for some test shots to get the best angles. Later on, I used my flash as secondary lighting option. When I felt we had enough to go with we started to experiment and turned off all the lights in the church and kept only the reading light on at the organ. After some adjustment and getting the angle just right the magic just happened. The light just softly illuminated the sheet music and the organist as if was just radiating the beautiful sound made by the organ.Equipment
I used my Canon EOS 700D with my 18-55mm f/3.5-6.5 IS II, tripod for stability and a bit longer exposure but still not too long to keep the image sharp with open aperture and a shutter release cable.Inspiration
I was inspired in the moment to turn off all the lights to capture the raw pure essence of the moment, between the organ and the organist, the sheet music to the keys, the keys to the melodic sound and how everything just purely worked in perfect union to create a musical moment captured in time. The low-key lighting heightening the presence of the moment.Editing
I used Adobe Lightroom to correct colour balance for pure black and white image. I felt that the essence of the moment will be better captured in black and white, colour would distract from the moment. I usually look for any signs of noise especially in images with low light and sharpness and correct them in post-processing. Luckily there was not so much editing work to be done.In my camera bag
I like to carry a mix of lenses with me, never knowing when the opportunity arises for the use of anyone of the lenses. I carry my 18-55mm f/3.5-6.5 IS II, 70-300mm f/4-5.6 III, the new 50mm f/1.8 STM and 24mm f/2.8 STM. Together with my lenses my Canon EOS 700D, Pixel Mago, memory cards, spare batteries and my different shutter releases are always in my bag.Feedback
I always believe in trying something new, experimenting and reading up on techniques if there is something you want to try. Trust in your ability and gut feeling, be on the lookout for that moment, look for that angle, light, something that no one else will see and just have fun. Photo moments are everywhere around us - we just need to go and find it.
