Show your band promo shots

[mambo4]

Ours were shot by a pro, tho I personally wasn't crazy about some of the results. It seems There's a big "lo-fi" trend in photography these days...but I'm too old to know whats hip.]
example:
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[mambo4]

...

 

[lucas vigor]

With our now retired drummer.

And more recently with our new, much better drummer.

Epic. Best so far!

 

[CauliColin]

i dont know how to post pics, but here is one from a previous band. this is before we broke up then reformed as ass lazer

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Congratulations, you have won the internets.

 

[Jason P Bass]

I have a question for those who've posted in this thread. I'd really like to know how many of you are satisfied with your promo photos. I look in this thread and I see poorly-lit, out of focus (not purposely so), terribly composed shots. (Obviously, not all of the photos here are like that) How many of you would be willing to pay for a photo session from a professional photographer?

Thanks....

Good question. A couple of thoughts in response:

1) This thread, like MANY threads in "Band Management", has completely different parameters for cover bands and original bands.

A cover band is typically run to make a profit, and the promo shots need to convince a bar owner to hire you for 1 gig (to get started). Makes sense to do your own photos to keep costs down, and the intended audience is very narrow and not going to be critical of your clothes, lighting, brick wall, etc.

An original band is almost always a money pit, and the promo shots need to convince the whole world that you are the coolest mofos on Earth. Makes sense to shell out money for a pro photographer (another couple hundred bucks is a drop in the bucket), and the intended audience is the whole world and they are going to criticize which way you part your hair.

Of course, there are exceptions to these categories, but comparing promo shots from a typical cover band and a typical original band, you'll see there's a different set of parameters for success.

2) (In my originals band) we're "satisfied" with the promo shots, but as somebody else mentioned, we plan on doing at least 2 photo shoots per year. In these nearly-post-apocalyptic modern times (WUT UP Fukushima?) we need to have FRESH content for our website and facebook on a regular basis. Even if we get the PERFECT promo photo, we're gonna get new ones in a few months anyway, so there isn't that much pressure to get perfect shots.

3) We've used semi-pro and pro photographers and paid between $150-$400 for the photo shoots. Some of the pros were extreme wack jobs and the results were on par with the semi-pros. The pros have a studio (don't really care) with real lights (nice) but you can get very nice pictures with a semi-pro, quality camera, and good outdoor lighting.

 

[bwest9]

 

[Jason P Bass]

can we please just start another thread for pranks / funny promo photos?

I agree that they are very funny, but please let's separate the jokes from the real info.

 

[bwest9]

You callin' my Ghey Biker Troupe a joke?

can we please just start another thread for pranks / funny promo photos?

I agree that they are very funny, but please let's separate the jokes from the real info.

 

[themacinator]

As the OP here there does seem to be a few who are not sticking with the intent of this thread.

 

[Pacman]

BTW Jon, one of your photos was singled out by my drummer as the sort he would like to get for us, the background, lighting and so on:

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Wow - thanks! Although I could do that shot so much better now. This was the very first band I shot...

 

[Pacman]

can we please just start another thread for pranks / funny promo photos?

I agree that they are very funny, but please let's separate the jokes from the real info.

I actually think it says something that sometimes it's hard to tell....

 

[lucas vigor]

It's not so hard to figure out. Half these band photos are unintentionally funny.

We musicians tend to take ourselves so damn seriously!

I remember walking by a record store long ago (remember those?)...and there was a huge poster for the West Side rap group...(you know, the one with Ice Cube in it) and all three of the chaps were trying so hard to look so hard, you know? Quite silly, really. They had the same frowns on their face that I usually have when I walk into work Monday morning...and all I could think was "why are you guys so angry?" You are making a lot of money now, starring in B movies, obviously got more girls then you need...so why the frowns? Cheer up!

 

[chaseman]

This is from a while back, with some lovely poses

 

[lucas vigor]

Do you see what I mean?



Silly.

 

[jive1]

And more recently with our new, much better drummer.

Gotta say, from a photogeek standpoint, this is a great shot. I'd love to know how the photographer set up for this one.

Even if it were photoshopped, it's still great work. Photographer earned their keep on that one.

 

[Jon Moody]

Monkey - I was quite obviously not talking about yours! Just out of curiosity (and if you don't mind) what did you pay him?

Oh, I know. I had the chance to have a coworker take the photos for me (who happened to have a camera available), but wanted to stress that I went with someone that does this for real, or who is passionate about it. I didn't want someone that was of the "I have a camera so I'm a photographer" mentality.

The first session I paid $250. The second session (which was about a year later) I paid $300 (as his prices went up). In both cases, I got a CD that had around 20 pics (that are magazine quality in terms of size and resolution).

 

[bwest9]

We were left alone in a room with a tank of helium, balloons, a bong, and some midgets, and this is what we managed to come up with:

 

[Jon Moody]

Ours were shot by a pro, tho I personally wasn't crazy about some of the results. It seems There's a big "lo-fi" trend in photography these days...but I'm too old to know whats hip.]

Some of my favorite iPhone apps my wife says "they take a perfectly good digital camera and make it look like an old piece of crap!"

 

[VincentGrim]

I have a question for those who've posted in this thread. I'd really like to know how many of you are satisfied with your promo photos. I look in this thread and I see poorly-lit, out of focus (not purposely so), terribly composed shots. (Obviously, not all of the photos here are like that) How many of you would be willing to pay for a photo session from a professional photographer?

Pacman. I am 100% certain that the shots I put up are in this category you describe. This doesn't offend me in the least, as it has some truth to it, but in there defense the original intention of the photos was not to be promotional ((if we were taking pictures for that purpose we would NOT have used an Itouch)). That being said, in response to your question we would certainly pay for professional photography if we had the money and the right photographer came along.

 

[TBird1958]

Gotta say, from a photogeek standpoint, this is a great shot. I'd love to know how the photographer set up for this one.

Even if it were photoshopped, it's still great work. Photographer earned their keep on that one.

Thank you for the nice comments
Our photog was a Seattle local named Rob Butler, he shoots a lot of the burlesque and hot rod events here as well as some bands, this was our second shoot with him. The pic isn't shopped, we're standing on a lowboy truck trailer in the industrial part of Seattle. He lit us with several large portable lights run by a small generator! Like most we aren't that comfortable about promo shots but part of a good pro's job is to have promo and Rob is patient, he made us feel comfortable and he took about 300 shots and of those about 5 were keepers - plenty!