These types of events are fun, challenging, and frustrating all at the same time. The light range was tremendous. Sometimes the stage was barely lit at all and other times a blinding white spot light was employed. I was constantly scrambling to adjust my settings. I have shot photographs in this venue several times before (all of the Jimmy Bratcher shots were shot here), but in previous events the lighting has been very consistent. The upside is that when the brighter lights were employed I was able to up my ISO to 800 for slightly less noise. I hate noise in my photographs, but I have not figured out a way to shoot at higher ISOs in this setting, so I have to rely on noise reduction software to assist in the post processing phase.
My new lens performed very well. I wish it had been longer for certain shots, but that is my only complaint, and I was well aware of the range limitations when I purchased it. I had often heard people describe the results from this lens as "creamy" and I never understood what them meant until I began using it. The color quality from this lens is far superior to the Canon kit lens I was using.
The white spotlight posed the most problems for me. It was very difficult to keep from blowing the highlights. The white light was also very unnatural, however. This shot of the Velveteen rabbit and other nursery room toys illustrates that. This is actually how that looked. In my opinion they should have used some kind of filter to soften the effect or give it a slightly yellow cast. I was able to change some of those shots in post by playing with the white balance and forcing it to something that looked more natural.
I need to consider using my flash more in events like this. I usually don't because I don't want the flash to distract the audience and the performers. I think I am overly sensitive to this, however. Towards the end of the performance I realized many others were using their flash and I had not noticed myself. There is a difference between the flash on a point and shoot, however, and the flash from my 430EX which is much more powerful. I also don't like the results from using a flash for this type of performace because it lights up too much of the background. The angel shot above is a great illustration. In this shot (taken without a flash) the background becomes almost completely black which hides the instruments, microphone standes and other distractions.
In this shot of the dancers I used a flash which lit the entire scene evenly so the background distractions were lit just as much as the dancers themselves. There was very little stage light used during this scene with the dancers, so without the flash I would not have gotten the shot, but the end result is not one I like with all the distracting items visible.
I keep shooting...I keep learning. Nine months ago my photographs would have been much worse. There is an art to learning when to use natural/ambient light and when to use the flash. I can see that with more experience, I am better able to make decisions on when I should use each.
Here are a few of the shots I liked best.
8 comments:
Shooting plays can be VERY hard at times, especially when first starting. But it's a great opportunity to learn more about the metering modes that your camera is capable of.
Often, the camera is thrown off because of all the black in the scene and therefore tries to measure out the whole scene, so with the different metering modes, you can more or less tell it to ignore the areas that are dark.
It would be nice if the rebel had actual spot metering, in which case you could meter directly off of the actor who's lit up and then shoot. A good way of getting around it is by using a longer lens (I shoot plays with my 70-200 accompanied by a prime lens) and zooming in to where the subject takes up most of the frame, locking the exposure, and then zooming back out and recomposing.
Shots look pretty good. Keep it up man!
Oh! And using flash during plays or any other theatre events is considered a big no-no. This was at your church, so it's more tolerable, but in a lot of places, you would get reprimanded or even kicked out for using flash during the play. Especially if your using the high powered flashes typically found attached to an slr.
Thanks for the comments, Korrupt. I use partial metering, which does pretty well. It may not be true spot, but it does allow me to put the center point on the brightest part of the scene and get a fairly accurate reading. If that bright spot is relatively small, however, then the rest of the scene will be very dark. There is an art involved in properly metering a scene, especially when it is constantly changing. 9 months ago, I would not have even dared to try. Now I am getting pretty good at it, but I still get a lot of first shots with blown highlights. I adjust for the next few shots until I get what I want.
You are right on about the flash. I would have never considered using it if I had not seen so many other people using it already. I try to be a very unobtrusive photographer. I feel that if I am constantly moving around near the stage, using my flash, standing up, etc. then I become a very large distraction. My current lens selection requires me to be very close to get my photographs. One day I hope to have a 70-200 F/2.8L. Then I can sit more in the back and move around more without attracting attention.
Thanks for stopping by, Korrupt. =)
Thanks for your comment on my page.
I have added some new photos.
you might like to take a look.
Thanks again.
-Dave
Gostei muito desse post e seu blog é muito interessante, vou passar por aqui sempre =) Depois dá uma passada lá no meu site, que é sobre o CresceNet, espero que goste. O endereço dele é http://www.provedorcrescenet.com . Um abraço.
chris, good to see you posting again! I hadn't checked your blog in a while. Funny thing is b/c I am considering picking up this lens to replace my kit. I was going back and forth and thought this would be a good lens to pick up. You have convinced me. Excellent work and the pics are looking great
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