'Rock star'

Camera: Canon 5D, Lens: Canon 50 f1.4, Shooting mode: Aperture Priority, Aperture: f1.4, Shutter-speed: 1/200, Exposure Compensation: -2/3, ISO: 1600, Picture style: Monochrome with a Sepia Tone.

This really was a great night. My friend Jen and her band played at a local club. I don't know what brought this event on, but it clearly turned-out to be a bunch of 40 year-olds pulling-off the 'full-on' Rock Star thing. The 200 other '40-something' audience members ate it up. Jen rocked the house.

I was going for the classic rock photo, grainy, black-and-white, photo-journalistic look. I didn't want to use flash - I just don't like 'the look'. The venue was dark. I put on my 50 f1.4 set ISO to 1600 (I try and avoid using 3200 if at all possible). I started shooting at around f2.2 (because this lens gets pretty sharp @ f2.2 and smaller apertures), but this wasn't giving me fast enough shutter-speeds to freeze Jen, so I eventually dialed-down the aperture to f1.4 to get the necessary shutter-speed to freeze the subject. Here are the details:

• 50mm f1.4 lens: The 50mm gives a very 'journalistic', 'as you eyes see it' point of view. It's also my lens with the most light gathering capacity (f1.4.)
• Shooting mode of Av: I wanted to specify the aperture and let the camera figure out the shutter-speed.
• f1.4 aperture: I ended up shooting wide-open @ f1.4. I really don't like to shoot this lens wide-open because it's not razor sharp, but it worked out fine and the image has been printed at 30" x 20" and looks gorgeous.
  
• Exposure compensation of -2/3: The meter wanted to make the scene much brighter than it was, so I dialed in -2/3 EC.
• ISO 1600: I needed to use a very high ISO so the sensor was as sensitive to light as possible. (I avoid ISO 3200 unless absolutely necessary.)
• Shutter speed of 1/200: This was selected by the camera and was about the minimum shutter speed to freeze the action.
• Picture style: Monochrome with a Sepia tone.
  

Jen purchased this picture and it is hanging 30" x 20" in her 'band room' in a big, thick black frame and a 5" wide mat. Rock star.