I just got back from the American Idol Tour in Richmond Virginia. I got a lot of good pictures (close to 150 with two cameras), met Julia Demato and Ricky Smith, got some real good close-ups of Kimberly Caldwell (I didn't realize how small she is, TV makes her look bigger). She was running up and down this wall like a mouse, catching whatever people would give her to sign. At one point she yelled "the pen doesn't work" so I threw her the marker out of my tool bag. Since the busses would leave at any time she had just so long to sign autographs.
Note to Kimberly C: That was so nice of you to sign as many autographs as possible. If you can use these images for promotional purposes please let me know. I would have liked to have introduced myself but you had autographs to sign. Here are some of my images of you. I hope you enjoy.
It takes a lot of work to get good images, even with moder digital cameras. You still have to make adjustments to the camera and defeat several so-called "Features" including Auto focus (a real pain) and the Auto-ISO (will ruin your day). Then you have to wait while the camera writes and the flash recharges. Sometime soon I am going to get a camera that will work properly with an external flash unit.
These images are a reduced (320X240 Pixel) version of the real image the Sony P-30 camera makes (1280X960 Pixels) 1.2 Mega pixels . They do appear blurred when compared to the full version which will not fit on most screens when viewed full. Some corrections with Photo Shop will clean these up even better (the larger images, not these).
I do have a real good image taken with the Nikon of Kimberly Caldwell, Kimberly Locke, Carmen Rasmusen, Trenyce and Julia Demato Dancing on the stage. This image is like a 1 in a 1000 shot when you consider the distance the fact that I was well into the Digital Zoom which seriously degrades the image compared to the Optical Zoom. The original image is like 2560X1920 5 Mega pixels (immense !!!). I have it here reduced to 1024X768 .78 Mega pixels Warning: 771K (very slow on dialup). Click here a new window will open please wait for the file to load. The images above are only 320X240 .0768 Mega Pixels. At a screen setting of 800X600 you can only display an image of 640X480 .307 Mega pixels in the browser window.
I have several more that I captured on the expensive 5.0 mega pixel Nikon camera but I will need to borrow the reader and process them through Photo Shop to make an attempt to White Balance the images since the Sodium Lamps produce a horrific light balance that even the $2000 Nikon cannot correct for. I couldn't use the flash since the batteries were running low and I did not have my auxiliary flash unit or I could have lit the place up like the stage.
Note to self: When I was in DC. I brought everything including audio recording equipment. I need a better way to carry this stuff.
In this image from the Fox website. I swear the camera
and surroundings make her look like Kristen Johnson [3rd Rock From the
Sun]. I mean no ill will in any way and I hope none is taken. I am just
making the point that the camera can be deceiving.
Someone remind me to turn that darn blasted Time/Date Stamp off on the
Sony Camera...
Scott
Email
Me.
Links:
My review
page.
Images
from the 2003 Simon Mall Tour.
Images
of Kimberley Locke.