Ambient Light Live Music Photography from North West England, Manchester and Liverpool

In news and documentary work the most "honest" approach to lighting is to make use of the existing (natural) light present at the location. This shows things as they really are (within the limitations of recording images on film).
One problem is that existing stage lighting can be often unsuitable. The contrast ratio can be too extreme or there can be mixed sources of light (daylight, incandescent light and fluorescent light all at the same location) or, the light level can be too low for a quality image. Live music images can suffer from both underexposure and a high contrast ratio. However, these qualities can be combined by a talented photographer to create pure live magic.
There's also a further consideration. People are used to seeing traditional images enhanced by good lighting. Without it, it can appear to many viewers that "the picture's dark," or "the picture isn't too good."
This is not unlike the situation photojournalism faced a few decades ago when existing light still photography was first used in publications such as Life magazine. Since people were used to seeing flash-on-the-camera photos, natural light photography seemed unnatural—even though it accurately showed the actual conditions being photographed. (Flash was necessary in the early days of photojournalism because of the relatively slow speed of film and lenses.)
Check the images out on this page and see what you enjoy.


Click here to view a contact sheet of images from the gig	Depon Eye Ambient photography uses only the lighting available. No electronic flash is used to add light into the subject.


Click here to view a contact sheet of images from the gig	Flawed Here a slow shutter speed has caught a twister to fill the image with light.


Click here to view a contact sheet of images from the gig	Remote


Click here to view a contact sheet of images from the gig	Toss the Feathers Toss the Feathers feature traditional Irish Celtic music. Use of only ambient light here has provided a great feel to this image.


Click here to view a contact sheet of images from the gig	Shaq The Dancer


Click here to view a contact sheet of images from the gig	For Tomorrows A great mix of stage fog machine, yellow back lighting and pork pie hat has really made this shot.


Click here to view a contact sheet of images from the gig	Maupa A full face on shot at low shutter speed with the musician caught just with the stage shot lights and the rear stage blinder bar.


Click here to view a contact sheet of images from the gig	Siffy Jazz Sax An alternative treatment for Jazz. Here only available light has been used to capture the ambience of the sax performance.

We cover live bands and musicians around North West England.
For our photography we use the most appropriate methods available. Ambient lighting where appropriate, added or full flash if needed, Monochrome or Colour (or both).

Have you a band that needs some great live or portrait images? If so contact us here and we will be happy to do what we can for you.

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