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Category: Indoor/Low-Light Photography

Photography Question 

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Shooting Stage Scenes Without Flash


I had offered to take some photos for a local comedy club, but the proprietor was insistent I do not use flash. I have a Canon EOS 350D. The stage is very well-lit, but the room is pitch black otherwise. I put the camera in no-flash mode only, and because the comics are moving around a lot, the pictures come out overly saturated and worst of all, blurred. What am I doing wrong? I tried other settings where the ISO is higher (1600), but still the same problem. Please help!!


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September 23, 2006

 
- Gregory LaGrange

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Gregory LaGrange's Gallery 		  Expose for just the spot lights, if it's actually well lit. Using just auto will take into account the dark areas outside the spot light. So use exposure compensation with auto-exposure, or use manual and set for just the spot light.


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September 23, 2006

 

Erin Tyler 		  I just got done photographing a school play. Set your metering to spot or partial (sorry, I forget the word), and set your ISO at 800 or 1600. I had my camera set on either Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority, mainly on Shutter Priority. Trying to adjust it manually was too hard w/the ever-changing lights I had to work with. Just watch your aperture, if the lighting is too low, you won't have a big Depth of Field.
I also have a very fast lens... the 50mm f/1.4. Something else that may help: Convert your color photos to B&W, since that tends to make even slightly blurry photos look better (and the noise or the grain looks like it belongs there, too). HTH!


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September 24, 2006

 
- Dennis Flanagan

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Dennis Flanagan's Gallery 		  I am sure the proprieter will let you go on stage before the performance. Either get someone to assist, get an 18% gray card, or simply use the palm on your hand in front of the camera to get a meter reading under the same lighting conditions the performers will be working under. Then set your camera to manual so that you keep this reading.


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September 24, 2006

 

Greg S. McMillan 		 
 
 
Hi Nadia. You didn't mention what file type you were shooting, but I would guess it would be jpeg. I shot some Elvis Tribute Artists recently and was faced with the same challenge regarding lighting. After a few trial shots and checking the histgram for exposure, I settled with ISO 800, shutter priority mode at 1/100th and zero Exposure compensation. I let the aperture set itself and wasn't too concerned about depth of field because of the dark backdrop.
I shot in RAW and tried the latest version of Adobe Lightroom to process my shoot with very pleasing results, even with the amount of noise I get from my Rebel (300D). I realize that there is a lot more work involved when shooting RAW, but had I shot jpegs, my shoot would not have been successful.

Good Luck,
Greg McMillan


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September 26, 2006

 

Ralph L. Nuerenberg 		  I had a similar problem in that I take photos at indoor equestrian events with high performance gaming horses. Artifical light is impractical. Making my way thru several options I have gotten good success with an f1.2 fast lens (reinforcing a previous commentor). For this type of photo, I can avoid grain by using a lowerer ISO (below 800), have a high shutter speed for clarity, and good exposure to avoid dark photos and reasonable white balance capabilities.


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September 27, 2006

 
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