Auditorium Lighting
I have my first indoor shooting coming up and getting sa little nervous about the lighting. Use to shooting outdoors.
Have a friends dance competition coming up and they liked my photos I've taken, so they want to give me a chance. The showcase is in a college auditorium on a stage. Still finding out about the lighting, if it will be dimmed or using all the stage lights, or even changing lights like a show (hope not).
Originally I was going to go wiht just a flash, cause I thought it was going to be a dance studio, which would have okay lighting. Now that i am in a auditorium wondering what i should expect and any ideas for getting good shots? Mainly looking for good exposure and proper colors?
Do you think I should rent strobes? and if so, where should they be placed, back of the auditorium or in the rafters witht he stage lighting?
thanks.
Have a friends dance competition coming up and they liked my photos I've taken, so they want to give me a chance. The showcase is in a college auditorium on a stage. Still finding out about the lighting, if it will be dimmed or using all the stage lights, or even changing lights like a show (hope not).
Originally I was going to go wiht just a flash, cause I thought it was going to be a dance studio, which would have okay lighting. Now that i am in a auditorium wondering what i should expect and any ideas for getting good shots? Mainly looking for good exposure and proper colors?
Do you think I should rent strobes? and if so, where should they be placed, back of the auditorium or in the rafters witht he stage lighting?
thanks.
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If nothing else, it was suggested in these forums (sorry, can't remember who) to use "Tungston" WB for theatrical lighting and I have found that to be mostly true. Shoot RAW so you have some adjustability later.
The camera histogram may not be much use so learn how to gauge the scene zoomed in on an average component part of the scene and then lock in those settings in manual mode. When you zoom out that should keep the tones close to normal unless the stage lighting changes dramatically. If you see a dramatic lighting reducion or increase, either use FEC or (preferably) adjust with aperture or ISO. Try to keep a consistant shutter speed fast enough to stop whatever motion exists. 1/125 is often enough but sometimes you may need faster.
If you decide to use flash, do try to filter the flash to a similar WB to the ambient, otherwise keep the flash at least -2 below ambient lest you see too much mixed WB.
Moderator of the Cameras and Accessories forums
But a dance competition sounds like something that would have a decent amount of light. I have never used flash in our auditorium.
But when it comes to events int he conventional theater setting, I am forced to up my ISO upto 1600, F2.8 and Shutter to abotu 80...
This makes it harder for me to get action shots, but you get some decent shots
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Do not use flash, this could seriously throw a dancer (or performer of anykind )off and cause really bad serious injury or even in the worse case sceanerio..........death....to me even than death would be permanent paralysis .............normally there is an announcement just before or as I used to do it right after all house lights are dimmed (not out but to what some call places for backstage.....and then I would give the not flash no video lights...no t-pods or mono pods.....blah blah...blah now let the show begin..................... I was the bad guy as far as the audience was concerned....I was the Performance Facilities Manager for 5yrs at Wichita State U.....the performers liked me being there as I took care of them....
If they do allow the use of flash they are setting themselves up for a disaster of monstrous proportions....all it takes is for one performer to take a fall from the flash let alone a header off the stage......Rant Done......I think
If the lighting designer does his/her job correctly there should be a series of lights coming from infront of the stage above the audience (port lights) and also there should be lots of down lights (directly above the stage) and also side lighting (trees holding 3-4 lights from almost floor level to above 6' off floor) and yes the lighting should be changing....depending on the mood of the piece and also the action (story) with in the piece.......I have worked shows that the lights came on and sent off that was it....then the next piece has lights that came on very strong....dimmed a little.....then dimmed to total black then a spot appeared with one performer then others began to appear........it all depends on the designer and how much he/she is getting paid also......the more mullah the more fantastic the lights will be or if there is an ego prob the designer just might try to make the show his or hers (they usualy don't get rehired and sometimes don't get paid either)...........
The dance shows and operas I have shot (mostly from backstage or the sound board and lighting board....twice from the ports, which I do not recommend...very bad angle).....I set my WB to awb and just fix in post....I have 2 dance shots on the 2nd page of my portfolio if U care to gander at'em......
GOOD LUCK
EDIT: Shooting with a 30D....your high ISO noise is supposed to be really low until somewhere around 1600 and that may be where you want to shoot and you may find that manual focusing could be faster than auto focus in this situation........
Sorry for the above rant but I still try to protect performers from injury even tho I am out of that line of work (for now..........)
I've been questioning them from the beginning about using a flash or strobes. They said people take pictures all the time. but not sure they are usually on a stage. I know if I were dancing anywhere I would not want a flash going off.
The pictures i've seen form past events, were in a well lit ballroom (well there was light, would not say "well" lit! lol).
So, I've changed my mind about going that direction of using any flash. Kind of info i was looking for.
Little worried aboutthe 1600 ISO. I'll be uising a F2.8, but I need a fast shutter, at least 250 for the faster dances.
They're actually hiring to come out a photograph the event, so I willl be able to walk around and get shots form all over.
They'll be up on a stage, so I prefer to be more eye level, the looking up from the front of the stage shoots are okay, but probably not what they're looking for.
I'll take any more recommendations on camera setup and good angles? I guess I'm hoping someone has some magic answer, but from all your replies, its not looking good.
Good shoots. Just went and looked at them. I feel little better about 1600ISO, and you used a F4.5, with a 2.8, I should be able to double the speed form 1/45, if my photo knowledge is correct. Hopefully with a little more lighting I'll be able to push the shutter to 125, or maybe 250 (I wish). Going to be though!
Where did you take the shot with the 'blue background' from?
Should I try to shoot from the baskstge area? guess it depends on what they have setup.
Any more ideas on post processing? I have noise ninja, and a few photoshop tricks.
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If the lighting is dark and moody, you're not going to be able to rely on shutter speed to stop the motion the way you'd like. What's worked best for me in those situations is to concentrate on shooting the dancers when they are moving the least. For example, when a dancer hits the top of his or her leap, he/she is neither moving up nor down for a split second at that point. Still in a dynamic dance move, but holding still ever so briefly for the camera. If you can find these moments, your pictures will be fine. Also, even though the overall stage may be dark, some parts of the stage may be brighter. So you can grab a bit more light when the dancers move into those parts of the stage.
Do you have a fast 50mm lens? If they let you get close enough, you could get some good shots at least of groups of dancers with a 50 1.4.
If you want to get creative and you have a tripod, you can experiment with some slow shutter speed shots. Motion blur shots could be a beautiful addition to all the frozen motion shots you'll be getting.
Then you would have a correct custom white balance, and that will save you lots of time in editing.
Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
Lots of good info here that I must agree with:
No Flashes or strobes!!! I'm sure that the people hiring you to take these photos want to see the lighting design from the show, not a flash. You will capture much more of the mood of the dance pieces by trying to capture the lighting along with it. Try to keep the original "artistic integrity" of the pieces.
Also, I've seen plenty of dancers fall and trip simply due to stage lighting. Once you add a flash, there's certain disaster.
I tend to find that the most interesting shots are from a front angle or at about a 45° from the stage, at eye level or a little bit above that. Does the theatre have side boxes in the house?
About shutter speeds, I wouldn't recommend going below 1/100. You never know when they're going to be moving... Those wirey dancers are very fast and unpredictable. I've also had a few shots ruined by a dancer that was breathing heavily while I was trying to use a slower speed.
Here are a few of my dance shots:
I shot THIS PHOTO from the fly rail on stage at about 16' up. I thought it was a rather interesting angle. Here's another random shot from the same spot.
HERE is a gallery of shots from a dance show that I did the lighting design for in college. These were taken by professional photographer from the house during a dress rehearsal. He was a little below eye level with them.
HERE is a gallery of photos taken by me with a P&S from the light booth about 100' away from the stage. I also did the lighting for this show, so I was running the lights at the same time. I'm very talented, I know...JK.
That's just my two cents. Hope something was helpful.
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Thse 2 shots were taken from approx 100+ feet away from the back of the concert hall from the sound booth.....I was the sound engineer for that festival....as well as being there in my actual Managers Position also......
Getting alot of good answers and help, thank you so much.
I did hear from the coordinator of the event, and she says that the lights will be on for all the dances and no changing or mood lighting. So, it will probably be fairly bright. This is a competition not really a show. They picked the audtitorium of a local college, because the ballroom was not large enough to hold all the people. So, hopefully it will work out better for me wiht the lighting!
Pilznr, great shots, that one from the fly rail was very interesting. Was that shot at a normal stage lighting? Really good shot. Plus looks like you got it at 800 ISO and 1/500 at 4.5.
Halite and ccpickre, no don't have a 50 1.4, although I can probably rent one from the local store. Which will give a try. A 1.4 would definitely help, allow me to lower the ISO or step up the shutter.
Pathfinder, I will have access. I rthink I have been using my expodisc wrong. are you suppose to shoot it jpg? I usually set mine on AWB and Raw and take the shot, shooting back at the direction you'll be shooting from?
Think I'll be taking a drive to this auditorium this weekend, to scope it out, and take some test shots.
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It was normal theatrical lighting. It was a rather bright light cue, which is how I got it at 1/500. I'm planning on taking more pictures tonight at Princeton Univ's Dance Thesis Performances. They will also be from the fly rail, since that's what I'm really there to be doing. I'll post a few tonight.
I generally use my 100mm macro lens for shots from the fly rail. I use that because the only other lens I have is the canon 18-55 kit lens. I'm probably going to be buying a 28-135mm IS f/3.5 in the near future.
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Or you could just borrow a Nikon D300
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I do have Noise Ninja. Probably going to give it a good workout!
Sounds like it going to be bright enough, that i maybe able to drop to ISO 800.
Pilznr - Great shots. I see you got away wiht ISO 800. Did you use any post processing?
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Good luck with the shoot. I've recently been shooting high school theatre with my Canon 40D, 70-200 f/2.8 IS, on a monopod, moving from center to 45 degrees left and right. This is the same setup I use on the sideline for football and soccer under the lights. I shot a lot of these with ISO at 3200 and I'm very pleased with the results. The production in the link above had very low, very subtle lighting to match the mood of the storyline.
In this production, the action was faster and the lights were brighter. I used basically the same setup as above but occasionally with a lower ISO. I shot it all in aperture priority with the lens wide open.
Good luck!
But if I'm guessing the right light, you'll probably have enough light to shoot 800 with no problems.
GOOD LUCK
Yeah, the 1.4 DOF might be a challenge, going to stick with my 2.8, I should be alright.
Definitely will shoot RAW, thats was the first setting on the camera i changed when i got it a year ago! lol
Thanks to all.
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