This was the first time I’ve seen Nico Vega, but I know that they’re a favorite amongst photographers, and after seeing them, I can see why. I love bands that are super passionate during their performance, and Nico Vega definitely was.
Shooting Notes
SubT has a small stage with a small light set-up that leads to areas of spotty colored light. It’s possible to shoot there by cranking the ISO and favoring primes, but it’s never the most pleasing light.
However, I ran into Tyler of Darkroom Demons, and he pointed out the 580EX that they set-up on stage to supplement the stage lighting. That led to us trying to coordinate flashes to virtually blanket the stage with light (which ended up not working out due to me firing with RadioPoppers, and Reeves using Canon’s system), but I did end up using some lights of my own, which I never do. I think I was spoiled by this experience though – I might have to try this set-up whenever I’m shooting at Beat Kitchen and SubT.
What I ended up with for this set was a 550EX upper stage right, and a 550EX stage left, both on light stands. Each was set to somewhere around 1/16 or 1/32 power and were fired by the ST-E2 and RadioPopper Transmitter. I later added a third light down stage right, as I need some front light, but that wasn’t until the next set.
I used the 24-70mm mainly for this set for flexibility.
