Music Photography Blog

by Adam Elmakias

Backstage Portrait - Jenna of Tonight Alive

Backstage Portraits, again

I have to learn at some point. That is why I do this. I am a slow learner, I have identified this. I am okay with it. It takes me a lot longer to learn and reach goals than I think it does for most – but I tend to stray from comparing because nothing productive ever comes from it. I like to do this and I really enjoy shooting like this, so I do. My goal for this was to get it mostly right in camera, and do mostly uniform editing. So not a lot of spot editing. There isn’t really any dodge/burn in these. The only spot editing I did in some was to remove the backgrounds when I was able.

I try to keep my set up mobile/compact/easy to assemble as this ensures I can always make the shoot happen. However, when it does happen, my background is usually pretty shit as I just use a reflector. So in the future, I will change that. I am going to find a better solution so that I can get it all right in camera and not have to spend hours cutting people out and changing their background haha. I don’t like doing tedious boring work.

These were all done backstage, easy setup – takes about 10 minutes to build, all contained within a Think Tank Production Manager 40. I shot everything with a Sigma 50 ART lens and lit ’em with my favorite Profoto B1. I bounced with a reflector for fill.

Backstage Portrait - Awsten Knight of Waterparks by Adam Elmakias
Backstage Portrait – Awsten Knight of Waterparks
Backstage Portrait - Awsten Knight of Waterparks by Adam Elmakias
Backstage Portrait – Awsten Knight of Waterparks
Backstage Portrait - Awsten Knight of Waterparks by Adam Elmakias
Backstage Portrait – Awsten Knight of Waterparks
Awsten Knights of Waterparks by Adam Elmakias
I didn’t get much time to shoot live that night, but I like this image
Backstage Portrait - Gabe Barham of Sleeping With Sirens by Adam Elmakias
Backstage Portrait – Gabe Barham of Sleeping With Sirens
Backstage Portrait - Nick Martin of Sleeping With Sirens by Adam Elmakias
Backstage Portrait – Nick Martin of Sleeping With Sirens
Backstage Portrait - Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens by Adam Elmakias
Backstage Portrait – Kellin Quinn of Sleeping With Sirens
Backstage Portrait - Williard
Backstage Portrait – Williard
Backstage Portrait - Matt Best of Tonight Alive by Adam Elmakias
Backstage Portrait – Matt Best of Tonight Alive
Backstage Portrait - Matt Best of Tonight Alive
Backstage Portrait – Matt Best of Tonight Alive
Backstage Portrait - Jenna McDougall of Tonight Alive by Adam Elmakias
Backstage Portrait – Jenna McDougall of Tonight Alive
Backstage Portrait - Jenna McDougall of Tonight Alive by Adam Elmakias
Backstage Portrait – Jenna McDougall of Tonight Alive