Note to Self 2010

We had the pleasure of listening to a superb jazz trio yesterday at our friends' house.  I didn't  spend too much time shooting but felt a couple of images from the set were worthy of a post.  These two illustrate that a tight crop (in-camera, not in post-processing) can make all the difference in balance and structure.  While both work, I prefer the second because of the position of the musicians relative to one another (inverted triangle/rule of thirds).  The three also are in a more pensive state in the bottom frame, giving more of a sense of concentration.  However, the second shot deserves additional curves processing to bring out additional contrast whereas the first frame is about right.  When converting these to black and white, I realized I liked the softness of the high ISO noise with the G11 - instead of blotchy noise, it appears as fine film grain.  A slight increase in yellow split-tone provided warmth.

Canon G11, ISO 1600, 1/160@f8