 Michele King |
Photographing Entertainers I am an amateur photgrapher wantng to get into it as a serious business. I have just been asked to take photos in a local hall of various perforning artists once a month. I have a canon Elan 7n film camera,3.5-5.6 28-135 mm lens, 420 EX flash and a tripod. I don't know yet what type of lighting they have in the hall, I'm pretty sure it is flourescent, and I don't know if the lights will be on or off with other lighting available. I would like if anyone has any hints or tips on what type of set up I should use and te film they would recommend for taking photos of this type. I'm assuming they probaby won't want flashes going off so will have to use a tripod - which is awkward - or hand held. Any help is appreciated! Thanks! Michele
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robert G. Fately |
Michele, I would imagine that the lighting will be different from one event to the next - and of course that's the key component to photographing the talent. A darkened stage with a large group can't be treated the same as a single performer with a spotlight directed on him or her. The point is - you should first check with the local hall to see what kind of lighting will be used prior to each event. Your understanding of color balance is good, though you might well find that a mixture of light sources will be used that will make any single filter realtively useless - at least you can do a lot of color correction in post production (scan the negative, fix it in Photoshop). The bigger issue might be your lens - 135MM is not all that long, but of course whether it will be sufficient to capture the details of the subject(s) depends on your location in the hall - if you'll be more than 20-30 feet away from the stage you might have to enlarge quite a bit from the original shot to get a decent composition of the performer raather than a small blur in the midst of a large dark stage. Which brings me to film - you may need to use relatively fast film (another reason to go the day before and se if they can give you a "dry run" of what the lighting will be like - bring your light meter along to get a sense of what speed film you will need at a minimum. Knowing the reciprocal rule - 1/focal length should be the slowest shutter speed you use handheld - means that with your 135MM lens you should not go below 1/125th of a second, and even that might be too slow if the subject is moving quickly (a juggler, say). So, let's add it up: you'll need pretty fast film, meaning that with it's attendant grain you may want a longer telephoto lens (to avoid too much enlargement) which itself should be as fast as possible (not only to allow for faster shutter speeds, but also to have a narrower depth of field to keep potentially distracting backgrounds out of focus). As for a support of some type, perhaps a monopod will suit your needs - it will be more portable than a tripod (and less likely to get in the ay) and even though it doesn't provide that same rock-solid support it can be of great help just holding the camera in the generally correct position - it can be quite fatiguing to hold the SLR to your eye for 30-60 minutes waiting for that perfect moment, and a monopod serves well as a way to hold that weight. Most important, though, is that you get to see what the place will look like BEFORE you go there to actually take pictures - you want to be as prepared as possible.
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Justin G. |
As for film, I would say Kodaks Portra 400VC depending on the lighting. The concert pics in my gallery were taken with 400VC. They look a tad soft, yes, because I only had my 50mm f/1.8 and I was shooting at f/2 so yeah they are soft but don't worry not the film. The beautiful thing about those pics is that I got to the concert with only the 50mm and some 400VC I happened to have in my pocket. Due to low light at f/2 I had to push the film to 800 and later realised that I underexposed each shot +1 stop ON TOP of pushing to 800. Developed normally at the pro lab and the turned out decently. I printed a 4x6 but haven't tried any larger yet to check for graininess. The scanned file is pretty grainy but it was scanned at like 10x15 or something like that. Kodak also has a Portra 800 but I've never used it so no testimonies there. Ask whether it's alright to use a flash or not during the performances but be ready for a no. Other's may be able to recommend some Fuji films but I've just never used them. Don't get too hooked on Kodak film's though because rumor has it they are stopping their film production and going 100% digital. BIG BIG mistake in my opinion, but the majority of filmers like Fuji better. I've read a lot better reviews. Have fun.
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Michele King |
Thanks so much for the great advice. I found out this morning that they turn off the house lights and use white spotlights as stage lighting. I had been thinking I would probably need 800ISO film and I also already have some Kodak Portra 400VC film. I will probably try a couple of different kinds and see how they turn out. I have also been thinking about getting a monopod. Thanks again! Michele
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