Photography and Photographic Practice: Rukes Music Photography
1. Unit 57: Photography and
Photographic Practice
Research of other
photographers work
2. Photographer: Rukes
• Rukes is a music photographer who
has built his whole lifestyle around
his job, his method of creating the
photography is to accompany DJ’s
to the biggest shows they play and
making his way around the entire
arena taking various photos of
different aspects from multiple
angles. The style of photographer
he is, with his creative angles and
impressive effects has given him a
huge reputation in both the music
and photography industry. He is well
respected by many artists and fans.
4. Choose an image…. Describe it
• This is a photo taken by Rukes on the
25th
of April 2013 of Steve Aoki at
Hakkasan in Las Vegas. The picture
was taken with the intent of including
the crowd, the stage and of course
the incredible light display. The
purpose of the picture would be to
show the atmosphere and advertise
both the show and the artist. Some
editing techniques have most likely
been used on this photograph to
enhance how sharp it is and to make
the crowd look more packed
together therefore making the show
look more intense.
5. Composition
• The composition of this photograph was clearly very well thought
out, The photographer obviously purposely included the entire of
the crowd to make the room look bigger and busier. The angle
the photograph was taken at creates the illusion of a 3D image
making the photo itself look action packed. The height the photo
was taken from allows the artist to be shown in the background
almost submerged by fans, making it look like the fans are
extremely close to the artist. The camera that took the photo had
a very wide lens so it seems to fit the whole room into the picture
making it look like the eyes of a member of the crowd rather than
a camera.
6. Techniques used
• The photographer uses many
different techniques and effects on
his photos, each photo conforms to
the standard rules of photography
such as the rule of thirds, making
each photo look the best it could.
Some photos use different effects for
example the coloured lights shown in
the pictures on the right give the
picture more of an energetic feel
and give the photo depth. One
photo displayed on the right uses an
effect around the edges to almost
push the picture towards the centre,
this makes the photo look more
action packed and lively. Some
photos also include effects used
whilst the picture was being taken
such as shutter speed modifications
and exposure settings. This has good
effects on the lasers and can improve
the picture by a long way.
7. Strengths & Weaknesses
• The photography of Rukes has many
strengths making him a very well
known and respected music
photographer, The angles of the
pictures are very unique and as well
as going for the generic angles he
also manages to find a whole new
range of places and shot set ups to
use throughout the show that he is
photographing. The effects he uses in
his photography make a huge
difference too taking the already
impressive looking laser lights and
turning them into a spectacular show
of electronic magic.
• The only slight faults are with the
amount of images that look the same
and certain dull, unedited images.
