Photographing BEAT: Belew, Vai, Levin & Carey
I had the distinct pleasure to see one of the best displays of musicianship put on by the band BEAT. Adrian Belew, Steve Vai, Tony Levin & Danny Carey are currently touring with their “creative reinterpretation” of the three iconic 80s KING CRIMSON albums – Discipline (1981), Beat (1982), and Three of a Perfect Pair (1984).
All of these musicians on their own are considered world-class, so putting them together on stage was simply a real treat to see. The group went beyond faithfully reproduced the originals – each pouring their unique musicianship into the music resulting in an outstanding listening experience.
I was fortunate to secure a photo pass for the concert (many thanks to A.J. Chippero at the Strategic Liaison) so I was able to shoot with my Nikon D850 and Sony A7r-iv. I opted for using the two camera bodies outfitted with different lenses so I wouldn’t have to take time to swap lenses during the show. The D850 had a 70-200mm while the Sony had a 24-70mm. Both performed exquisitely.
I was very pleased that I didn’t run into any problems with the Sony A7r-iv mirrorless like I had with Ace Frehley or Martin Barre in the past.
The lighting at the Hampton Beach Casino was absolutely superb. Dynamic and colorful, the lighting made for some very interesting effects on the musicians. All except for Steve Vai. His positioning on the far left of the stage left him outside the reach of the lights resulting in images that I felt were frankly just more plain.
Steve’s hat also introduces some issues. Its wide brim casts the top part of his face in shadow so his images all needed some adjustments to bring out his eyes. Not a big deal, but something that always happens when someone wears a hat with a big brim. In the studio, I always play with the direction of the of strobes to ensure the face is lit, unless, of course, the shadows on the face are intentionally desired.
I experimented with Adobe Photoshop’s AI-based denoise feature with both the Nikon and Sony images since I had such wonderful results with it previously. I found that since the ISO’s were fairly low (around 1000 for the most part), the denoise step didn’t appreciably change the Nikon images while I thought it made a difference with the Sony images. Not entirely sure why this would be the case.
Photoshop’s AI-Based Denoise Had More Effect on Sony versus Nikon Images
Tony Levin loves taking pictures during his tours and posts them on his Road Diary. At the end of the show, Steve Vai grabbed his camera and took a shot of Tony. I took a shot of Tony and Steve at the same time, although I can’t see myself in Steve’s picture.
Outstanding photography as always, Elliot. 👏
Thank you Susan!