Drum Gear Photography

Though this is my kit, I must confess, I refer to this quality pic often, and can make a woodshed session in my own head. In time I have taken so many images of this view and this one came out the best. Some too far and some way too close...
By the way, does anyone else’s “mind” play on a kit with drum images shown from atop I.e. cockpit or birds eye?
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Black dots on a Vistalite set with no resonant heads on the high toms. Good gawd that has to be some vinatge tone. Would love to hear these in action by someone who knows how to work this setup hard.
 
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I'm way too shaky for binoculars. Even just looking at birds and stuff. I need the tripod.
Image stabilization is your friend.

12-x-36-is-iii-binocular-3q-d.jpg
 
I do have a good view of Orion. So I should be able to spot the Pleiades, it's higher up. The winter sky is more interesting than the summer sky IMO. It's also hot tub weather. Orion is not visible now for me. I'll be a-looking for the Pleiades near years end, thanks Brian.

Envious of your sky view.
Can you see the comet? I just found out about it so haven't seen it yet. It's in the NW sky after sunset and NE just before sunrise. Supposedly this week is the best time to see it. Look below the big dipper just after sun down.
 
Image stabilization is your friend.

12-x-36-is-iii-binocular-3q-d.jpg
Lol, I have homemade image stabilization, a rifle with a bipod and scope!

Seriously if I need to look far away in the day that's what I do.

Those look like some very nice binoculars.
 
The comet is too low here, only 5 degrees above the horizon. I would have to be at the ocean to see it.
 
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Taken with a Canon VIXIA HF10 Camcorder (that's right a camcorder) using the "snapshot" function, using available light (LED's in kicks and behind rack bars, 3 track lights approximately 11' above and shining on a light colored wall above black backdrop, minimal twilight entering through windows 11' up and in front of the kit and an RGB LED under the riser). It took a number of shots to get the fog to enter and stay in the center under the riser. No photoshop used other than to adjust contrast/brightness.

I've just been doing some looking at fairly inexpensive cameras and one that caught my eye for its price, reviews and supposed quality was technically labelled as a camcorder first and foremost. Which does make me curious about the quality of the photo function - but yours looks great - I guess I shouldn't worry about something like that ? There isn't much of a difference to the quality at all?
 
I've just been doing some looking at fairly inexpensive cameras and one that caught my eye for its price, reviews and supposed quality was technically labelled as a camcorder first and foremost. Which does make me curious about the quality of the photo function - but yours looks great - I guess I shouldn't worry about something like that ? There isn't much of a difference to the quality at all?

Oh, there's definitely a difference in the quality of the pics, resolution wise, comparing this camcorder to the DSLR that I own, but it was inaccessible when we took these photos which was a spur of the moment thing. All we had was the camcorder at the time.
If you blow these pics up, they are much more pixilated than had I used my "good" camera. That being said, both camera's of mine are certainly out of date, and weren't even the best at the time they were new. I would guess that even a new inexpensive camcorder these days is better than my old DSLR.
However, I was happy with the results considering it was a spur of the moment thing that only took a few hours to set up and shoot.
 
Black dots on a Vistalite set with no resonant heads on the high toms. Good gawd that has to be some vinatge tone. Would love to hear these in action by someone who knows how to work this setup hard.
Thanks Copeland, there’s no reso heads on any of the toms except the bass and 16x16 ft.

Response to your last sentence, that would be me.
At first when I wanted to dig into them, I have to admit there was nuance to get used to, config placement, drum feel, etc... and it felt awkward.
Now I have no trouble with adjusting to these unfortunately, would cost a lot to mike up. I have a Shure Mv88 with video kit but hardly hook it up while playing. I need to look into production a little more honestly.
 
Oh, there's definitely a difference in the quality of the pics, resolution wise, comparing this camcorder to the DSLR that I own, but it was inaccessible when we took these photos which was a spur of the moment thing. All we had was the camcorder at the time.
If you blow these pics up, they are much more pixilated than had I used my "good" camera. That being said, both camera's of mine are certainly out of date, and weren't even the best at the time they were new. I would guess that even a new inexpensive camcorder these days is better than my old DSLR.
However, I was happy with the results considering it was a spur of the moment thing that only took a few hours to set up and shoot.

Ahhhhh, alright, that's kind of what I was thinking - with the pixelated quality. The one I looked at seemed very reasonably priced and I suppose the advantage is that I'd absolutely get great use out of both functions as a drummer and amateur photography enthusiast, and really for just over £100 I can't see how I'd lose. But I'm still going to check out other DSLR's and following @Bo Eder 's earlier advice, a decent off camera flash too. Not sure which route I'll go down atm but we'll see!

Many thanks for your input :)
 
Ahhhhh, alright, that's kind of what I was thinking - with the pixelated quality. The one I looked at seemed very reasonably priced and I suppose the advantage is that I'd absolutely get great use out of both functions as a drummer and amateur photography enthusiast, and really for just over £100 I can't see how I'd lose. But I'm still going to check out other DSLR's and following @Bo Eder 's earlier advice, a decent off camera flash too. Not sure which route I'll go down atm but we'll see!

Many thanks for your input :)
If you want to learn how to use an off-camera flash, and especially how to do it on a budget, go check out www.strobist.com. That guy is the king of how to do it well without breaking the bank.
 
Ahhhhh, alright, that's kind of what I was thinking - with the pixelated quality. The one I looked at seemed very reasonably priced and I suppose the advantage is that I'd absolutely get great use out of both functions as a drummer and amateur photography enthusiast, and really for just over £100 I can't see how I'd lose. But I'm still going to check out other DSLR's and following @Bo Eder 's earlier advice, a decent off camera flash too. Not sure which route I'll go down atm but we'll see!

Many thanks for your input :)

No problem. Like Bo Eder said, off-camera flash, or off-camera continuous lighting (or even bouncing an on-camera flash) is key to good photos.
I certainly can't claim to be any sort of expert in photography whatsoever. My ex GF is the one who talked me into that photo-shoot of my drums and she was a professional photographer. I put the photo up (somewhat reluctantly) to show that lighting and composition are more important than expensive equipment. Similar to how a good drummer can make a cheap drum set sound good, a good photographer can take good photos with a cheap camera. Obviously a high-end or even a prosumer camera will net even better results.

If you plan to do video as well as stills, I would recommend a continuous lighting setup as opposed to strobes since it can be used for both.
 
If you want to learn how to use an off-camera flash, and especially how to do it on a budget, go check out www.strobist.com. That guy is the king of how to do it well without breaking the bank.

Thanks so much dude, I'll go have a look at this now. ?

Similar to how a good drummer can make a cheap drum set sound good, a good photographer can take good photos with a cheap camera. Obviously a high-end or even a prosumer camera will net even better results.

This crossed my mind when I put this thread up, when talking about expensive equipment. I've always been more of a "make do with what I have/can afford", and similarly a conversation with my biggest inspiration who told me "it's the person" rather than the equipment - something I've always known I suppose but not realised until recently. Passion, time and effort will yield much better results than trying to fast track by throwing lots of money at something!

I'll share some links when I'm narrowing down a purchase, for any extra opinions!
 
Thanks so much dude, I'll go have a look at this now. ?



This crossed my mind when I put this thread up, when talking about expensive equipment. I've always been more of a "make do with what I have/can afford", and similarly a conversation with my biggest inspiration who told me "it's the person" rather than the equipment - something I've always known I suppose but not realised until recently. Passion, time and effort will yield much better results than trying to fast track by throwing lots of money at something!

I'll share some links when I'm narrowing down a purchase, for any extra opinions!
Hell, if I could figure a way to trigger my strobes with an iPhone, I’d sell all my camera gear!
 
Hell, if I could figure a way to trigger my strobes with an iPhone, I’d sell all my camera gear!

Hahaha, I'm sure it's only years away... ? For real though I've been making do with the best phone camera photos I can, but it's WAY more exciting getting something proper, the high res non-pixelated uploads are what I'm needing.
 
Hell, if I could figure a way to trigger my strobes with an iPhone, I’d sell all my camera gear!

I don't have the latest iphone, so I don't know if this has been corrected or if there is a fix without an app, but barrel distortion is one thing that drives me crazy about iphone photos. Maybe there is a trick or hack I'm not aware of, but I struggle with that so I still prefer a descent camera. That's not to say that I haven't gotten good photos from my iphone, though.
 
And that's why I keep using my old Canon Rebel XTi. :ROFLMAO:
That is, when I can. I'm no photog so it's rarely with me.
I’ve been doing pro photography on the side for 20 years now. My life has been strobes and top of the line Canons, but I’ve since downsized to a single 5D3 and a little SL1 as my backup. It’s just ironic I always have my iPhone with me. The barrel distortion doesn’t bug me so much, it would be funny if someone came up with a way to trigger strobes. No one has been that lucky yet.
 
My daughter took a picture of our Beagle dog Blue with a I phone 4 old I phone. Best picture ever. I took one of my daughter years ago that won a contest and made it into a photo book with a junk camera. If you can't capture a good picture today with this new technology you might want to regroup.
 
I’ve been doing pro photography on the side for 20 years now. My life has been strobes and top of the line Canons, but I’ve since downsized to a single 5D3 and a little SL1 as my backup. It’s just ironic I always have my iPhone with me. The barrel distortion doesn’t bug me so much, it would be funny if someone came up with a way to trigger strobes. No one has been that lucky yet.

I've never done pro photography, but have been around and dabbled in it since my ex did it for a living. I left the good photos up to her for the most part. And I agree, my phone is always with me so it's the go-to for capturing that moment.

Does this not work?
 
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