Andrew Lewis  

Fiddling Around by Andrew Lewis

March 2025 - Fiddling Around

About the Image(s)

I stopped at Vermillionville in Lafayette, Louisiana. On Saturday afternoons they have a Cajun music jam session. This was a wonderful event! In talking with the performers afterwards, there's a reason they were so good. There were hall of fame members and Grammy winners playing in that circle. I was enthralled. I wandered around the room and tried different angles and tried to catch all of the performers.
I titled this image "Fiddling around". I liked the performers in sync with the way they held their fiddles and bows. I added a sepia treatment to the monochrome image to give it the vintage feel. I didn't do a ton to the exposure, but made adjustments to the warm up the tones and accentuate some of the blacks in the frame. I shot it with a Nikon D850, NIkon 70-200mm f/2.8 FL/ED lens, zoomed to 145 mm. Exposure was 1/320 sec @ f/4, ISO 8000. I did use the AI denoise feature in Camera Raw.
I hope spring is coming for everyone and we can get out there and shoot the colors of everything starting to bloom!

This round’s discussion is now closed!
4 comments posted

Harley Rubens   Harley Rubens
Interesting story. I like the tonal quality and the capture of their synchronicity. The light must have been low for you to need an 8000 ISO. I think this effected the focus especially with the noise correction. At this angle, the front 2 players and last players seem out of focus. Problem is I think it would be most important to have the front player in focus but he is facing away from the camera.
This looks like the space was limited. I played the violin in another life, and the musician's hand positions would impart their considerable skill from my perspective. Hope to get outdoor photos also.   Posted: 03/10/2025 11:49:27
Bruce Michelotti   Bruce Michelotti
Nice capture Andrew. I like how you have caught them with their bow's up--it gives me a sense of place for each musician. Your sepia treatment works well especially given the tight quarters and bare wooden walls. This gives a "Hoedown" feel to me. I think the fact that your focus point is the center woman and the end folks are somewhat soft is plus to your shot. It draws my eye to the center, yet I bounce back and forth to each end. Well seen and I'm sure the music was top notch.   Posted: 03/22/2025 18:22:20
Lane B Lewis   Lane B Lewis
What a treat to find these fiddlers! Your image tells a story and I think your sepia treatment is ok. However, I feel the image would have been stronger if the two people in the front right were in focus and you had eliminated the lady in the back right. It appears space was tight and would have been a good place for a super wide lens. I still see a lot of noise even though you said you ran in thru noise reduction software.   Posted: 03/23/2025 13:28:19
Bunny Laden   Bunny Laden
Hi Andrew,
I like the sepia treatment. I always enjoy image of musicians. I agree with Lane that the image would be stronger if all the players were in focus and the woman on the right wasn't cut in half.

One workshop I attended suggested f/16 (or higher) for story telling when the area of interest spans from front to back, as this one does. It will keep everything in focus.   Posted: 03/24/2025 16:29:52