Theatre Shoot

sppepper

sppepper

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Steven
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Hi there

I have been 'lurking' in these forums for quite a bit and reading/learning what people have written.

As part of our camera club I have been invited to shoot some pictures of a show at a local theatre. The lighting is going to be very challenging to say the least i am sure.

Does anyone have any tips for this scenario? :thinking:
 
Thanks John

I have the 50mm f/1.4 so should be ok with that. And the potential to borrow a 70-200 f/2.8 perhaps (i'll have to ask VERY nicely though lol).

Thanks for the links. I'll have a good read through them too. :thumbs:
 
I was trying to think up someway I could convince my OH I needed the 70-200 f/2.8 IS but it wasn't to be. I found with the nifty, for a lot of the shots I took, I was on stage in amongst the props to get in close enough. As it was a dress rehearsal, and the cast had got used to the idea over about a dozen previous rehearsals that was ok, but you might find the 70-200 a better bet.
 
also on a 40d you can push the iso a lot harder and the AF should cope quite well, if at any point you find it struggling to focus switch to the center point, again use AF assist on a speedlight if required
 
the pros who do theatre dont use flash just high iso and/or tripod
 
Eddie1 said:
the pros who do theatre dont use flash just high iso and/or tripod
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I doubt i'll be using a tripod during the show as the subject will be moving anyway. I'll certainly be pushing the ISO high, i am sure. Now i just need to be brave/cheeky enough or just ask extremely nicely for the 70-200 beast! lol.:D
 
I managed to build up the bravery to ask to borrow the lens. The good news is he said yes. Now I just have to work the light as best i can. :runaway:
 
Good luck Steven... I'm sure you'll be fine... I used a monopod with a QR plate on a ballhead a couple of times when the light was so low, that even at ISO1600 I was limited to 1/15... but the cast were standing still and not moving for that scene so I got away with it. If you have a monopod handy it'll help..
 
:plusone: for the monopod, I shoot the shows for a company in Glasgow. I would never get away with a tripod its normally pitch black where I'm standing and someone would trip.

I'm lucky enough to have the 70-200 2.8 and a 5dmk2 to use as the ISO is normally quite high.

However unless its a really energetic show, slower shutter speeds will maybe be ok for a lot of it as they will be standing about.
 
Well, last night's event was quite a bit more difficult than i thought it was going to be. I think i would have struggled so much more had i not borrowed the 70-200L f/2.8 USM IS even though i did have my 50mm f/1.4.

We had the choice of sitting in one of the boxes near the stage and at the back of the stalls. So i did both, half and half.

I have to say, i preferred to be at the back of the stalls because the view point was less restricted. There was a blue stage light shining on our box so the audience could see us with our cameras... a theatre full of old dodderers moaning about the fact there were photographers there in the first place did not go down well, and so made me feel a bit uncomfortable being 'on show' in the box.

I shot 336 images and have had a quick rifle through them this morning to sort the good from the bad and i have whittled it down to 167 to go through more.

I mainly had to shoot 800ISO with the 40D, whilst a fellow photographer was getting away with 1600 on his 5DMk1. - aaah... the power of full frame! :lol:

I did manage 500ISO at one point which was a billy bonus. I think the best method i came up with, because there was a lot of action/moving about from the dancing girls, was to use shutter priority and start with 100th/125th second to freeze motion mostly, which seemed to work out great. Obviously because of the extreme low lighting the camera was choosing the widest aperture, which was fine because i was quite far away looking head onto the stage for the second half so DOF wasnt much of an issue.

For the parts without the dancing girls i was getting away with 1/15th second (thanks to the IS) and 500ISO.

I am yet to process any of the RAW files but will hopefully be able to post something here soon if anyone is interested? :shrug:
 
But did you enjoy it despite the moaning ??... Sounds good Steven, good job on the loan of the lens too... I don't think the 50 would have cut it from the positions you were in... I was able to get on the stage with mine...

Post em up, I'd like to see them... see how others manage this sort of thing...
 
jgs001 said:
But did you enjoy it despite the moaning ??... Sounds good Steven, good job on the loan of the lens too... I don't think the 50 would have cut it from the positions you were in... I was able to get on the stage with mine...

Post em up, I'd like to see them... see how others manage this sort of thing...
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Oh yes. I certainly enjoyed the challenge. I just hope i have some decent 'keepers' to show for my efforts. :)
 
I was shooting the local Amateurs the other night. Very challenging in the low light and different coloured lighting. I would ask if you can sit front and centre as that will get you closer to the action. Try to take and use the fastest lenses you have or can borrow and shoot very high iso. Typically iso 1600 although that will depend on the theatre. Also ask the company what points in the production will be most dramatic or important. You will probably get better emotion shown at that point by the performer.

I used the 85mm F1.8 a lot the other night at around F2 and found it very good for this type of work. Most lenses I used were shot 1/3 or 2/3 stops off wide open. Here's one of mine 5D MK2, F3.2, 1/20, 70-200mm F2.8 IS
IMG_04991.jpg
 
wookie6262 said:
Also ask the company what points in the production will be most dramatic or important. You will probably get better emotion shown at that point by the performer.
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One of the problems I've found is that quite often the most dramatic points of a play or production involve those moments that really give the story away. So sometimes my best shots get rejected for front of house pictures because they say too much. Which is very frustrating.
 
sppepper said:
I have to say, i preferred to be at the back of the stalls because the view point was less restricted. There was a blue stage light shining on our box so the audience could see us with our cameras... a theatre full of old dodderers moaning about the fact there were photographers there in the first place did not go down well, and so made me feel a bit uncomfortable being 'on show' in the box.
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Not surprised you felt uncomfortable! I'd have been pretty grumpy too about photographers at a production I'd paid money to see (and I'm not yet an old dodderer. :))
 
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