The performing arts

This is a cracking idea that hasn't quite come off. Sometimes, the problem with emptying too much technique is found in more basic areas. Here, I think that the shutter speed is too slow - although I appreciate the impressionistic treatment that it gives. The issue for me is the background (the blue squares) conflicting with the action. A little more thought and this would be a winner. Well done.

I think that this has all the elements of an excellent performance image. It's well exposed and well anticipated and more than that, it's visually intriguing. I love the yellow against the monochrome background and the patterns made by the lights and the reflections and their shapes are excellent. Really well done.

This is an excellent image in that I can 'feel' the music and the rhythm. I like how the photographer has gotten underneath the action and in doing so, excluded a good deal of extraneous detail. That said, I'd be tempted to have gone even lower: there are a couple of boys' heads that are not entirely clear behind the main actors and that deeper positioning might have excluded them further. Good effort though.

There are some really really good ideas in this image. I love the framing of the guitarist through the dancer's cape and I additionally like the warmth of the image. That said, although there's a bit of leeway with focus at a live event, shooting this at 1/20 of a second will always result in something that, even if moving moderately, will be too blurred. It's a good idea that encapsulates speed and movement but that would rely on the guitarist to be sharp as a contrast so I'd have been tempted to raise the ISO and shoot perhaps at a slightly faster shutter speed.

One of the most important things about making photographs of the world is to frame what you see in a way that makes the most sense. This is a nice image and the photographer has clearly seen an opportunity to make an image that combines the activity on the stage and the three hats in the audience - essentially the interaction of foreground and background. So how much better would this have been if the camera was placed perhaps a foot or two to the left? That way, the hats better 'lead us into' the musicians on stage and additionally would obscure the extraneous details at either side. I KNOW that moving at concerts can be tricky - but that's sometimes what it takes. Well done for seeing the image though.

I think for me that the crucial element in this frame is the woman on the left and her gesture. Smashing.

I think that this is an excellent frame and one that was always going to be tricky given the space that it's shot in. Constantly scanning for an extra inch of plain wall/background is always a good idea (although moving around I understand was likely problematic) and this very nearly comes off - I might have been tempted to frame out the last glass on there right to crop a little less blank space - but well done.

This is a very strong frame and despite the background distracting somewhat, I think it works very well. We have to choose the 'right' moment to press the shutter and I like the saxophonist moving forward but the accordionist's stare is a little distracting. Good delineation between the figures mean that this is an easy photograph to 'read'. A slightly lower viewpoint might have lessened the intrusive background, but overall a really nice effort.

This is really nicely done and uses the mirror to bisect the frame and make a simple scene (albeit with a decent capture of the gesture) doubly (sorry...) good. It's very, very dark however. Gone are the days of Tri-X pushed three stops in a soup that made the negative impossibly thin or Tungsten 320T colour film pushed similarly so that the grain was golf-ball like. Modern cameras have such latitude that there's no excuse for lack of ISO. Mind your exposure too - the shadows are almost non-existent... but well done for an engaging frame.

This is a really good idea hasn't quite come off - but for all that, I like its bravery. The issue I think is the distance between the reflection and the audience and sometimes, there's little we can do but shoot and hope, Here, it hasn't worked - but the idea is solid and can be used again. Well seen.

Stage photography is tricky: mixed lighting, (usually) an enormously restrictive position, limited angles and only some scenes that are able to be shot. With all this restrictions, this effort is a cracker, not because the exposure is bang-on (it's not) nor the focus (ditto) but it does what good performance imagery does, which is to give a sense of what's going on on stage. Well done.

I'm unsure what exactly is happening here (although I can see a boom arm and I presume video camera as the caption suggests part of a commercial) but I really like it. I'm generally not a fan of grainy, rather poorly exposed (where are the shadow details?) images but this has energy and shape in spades and in terms of 'feel' it really rather works. Inevitably based on the dancer moving out of frame, the leap is dynamic and its movement, infectious. Well done.

This is a well executed and exposed frame. The fire-eater has made a good shape and the flame is well delineated from him. The problem of course is the crowd that interferes with the composition and grabs far too much attention. I can see that the image is shot wide open so as to throw the focus of the background out a little but perhaps a lower angle might have meant that we engage more with the action. Still, a nice effort.

I really like the brave framing of this - the dynamic use of the pillar to separate the figures is well chosen. That it has a graffitied face on it is just a bonus. The graphic bisection allows the viewer to simultaneous view both sides of the image and then peruse each. It's just a bit of bad luck that there are fairy lights behind the banjo player which are a bit distracting - but this is an excellent effort.

This is a really interesting image in that the subject is framed within a small quadrant and the painted lines of the wall lead us to him. It's very well seen and I imagine that there was a tussle between the exposure on the musician and the patch of very strong sunlight coming from the right in front of him. My only niggle is the inclusion of the window at the top of the frame (above the lamp) that I find slightly detracting. Without that, the shape feel 'cleaner' - but that's to take nothing away from this great image. well done.

Excellent. Minimal and graphic. I think the framing of the guitarist against the stage lighting has worked pretty well and the (light) shapes that surround the figure are both well-defined and bisected by the microphone stand which itself adds balance to the image. I think it's the silhouette of the goatee beard that seals it. Well done and well seen.

There's an enormous simplicity to this but what elevates the image from an albeit strong one, is the flutter and shape of the handkerchief. It's often the smallest details that are significant. The subject itself is well balanced: the smile infectious and the figure doesn't clash at all with the background. I think that this is lovely.