 Paula Vergara |
taking photos at a theater performance Can someone tell me where I went wrong with the attached photos? I was using 1600 color film, no flash. I was sitting in the 6th row. The color seems fine, but the images are very blurry. The performers were constantly moving, so I'm sure that had something to do with the blurriness, but how can I avoid this, using film? Would I have been better off using a digital camera? I have a very basic Canon Powershot, 3MP. Thanks,
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Todd Bennett |
Paula, I am just signing into this thread to see what kind of answers you get and possibly learn something. I know one of the first questions that came to my mind is, were you using a tripod? Todd
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
shoot with shutter/apeture combo for just the lighted areas and not the entire stage.
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Kerry L. Walker |
Changing to digital won't help unless you can bump up the ISO even higher. Even then, you would need to spot meter off the performers. If you will notice, the performers are overexposed. That is because your meter is reading the overall scene and setting your exposure to an average. If you could spot meter off the performers you would get a better meter reading of the people and your camera would select (probably) a higher shutter speed which would eliminate (maybe) the blur caused by the movement of either you or the performers (or both). The problem you would have then is that the shadow areas would go completely black. Using digital would make this even worse because of its more limited latitude. My suggestion is to switch to B&W. Try using T-Max exposed at 3200 ISO. The shadows may still be tyotally black but this looks better in B&W than it does in color - in my opinion anyway.
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Kitty Cross |
Paula Todd's suggestion of a tripod is a good one. I've never used 1600 speed film but I gather there is a certain amount of grainyness associated with really fast film. That might have contrubited a bit (hard to see with my monitor) If you used a tripod, you could use a slower film (better quality) You'd need to shoot slower--hence the tripod and you might need to use a remote shutter trigger also to prevent shake. Problem is of course as you mentioned-- the movement of the performers. You were right to choose a faster film to compensate for that. Maybe split the difference and compromise a little on both ends. Tripod, 800 or 400 speed film, larger f-stop-f3.5(shorter depth of field--doesn't matter much--they were all in the same plane at infinity focus?)slower shutter speed. You should be able to shoot at 125th or 250th of a second and halt minor movement. If you can choose your film speed and your apeture to accommodate your shutter speed, your image will be sharp. I have no idea if there's a way to calculate this. I'd try running a roll of 400 speed film under low level lighting conditions (remember even basic stage lights are a pretty srtong source of light)and see how close you get. good luck. Looked like a cool gig!
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Kitty Cross |
Kerry Is there a way to take an educated guess as to the spot meter reading based on your camera's reading if your camera is using centre weighted metering instead. ("If my meter says this then the brighter light on the singer's face might be...")Or is that all it would be--a guess?
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Kerry L. Walker |
Well, you could just get out of your seat, get up on the stage, walk to one of the performers and take a meter reading off their face. Of course, this would get you thrown out of the theatre so I wouldn't recommend it. You can't use a gray card to get an incident reading either since the light is directional and from above. Since you know you are getting the picture overexposed, probably by more than the overexposure latitude of the film (probably about 3 stops), or your lab didn't do such a good job of compensating with what they had to work with, I would suggest that you underexpose by about 2 stops and bracket one stop each side of that. Considering the fact that the photos were blurry (slow shutter speed) you are going to have to increase the ISO too.
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Samuel Smith |
at this time of year I would like to thank all of you for allowing me to be a part of this. well maybe a little more latitude on humor. thanks for the new years blast kerry, and a very informative thread.
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Christopher A. Vedros |
Whenever someone has trouble with a low-light shooting situation, people always suggest to use a tripod. In some cases, you just can't. Paula said she was sitting in the 6th row of a theater. Obviously, she couldn't use a tripod. I'm not familiar with the camera Paula used, so I don't know what choices she had for metering. To meter off the performers like Kerry & Gregory suggested, it would help if you can put your camera in center-weighted or center-spot metering, and then zoom in on one of the performers. Try to fill the center meter area with a face or a light-colored shirt that is well lit. See what shutter speed your camera suggests for the largest aperture your lens has. Then switch to Manual mode and use that shutter speed. This should work as long as the lighting stays fairly constant. This won't work well if the light is constantly changing, like at a concert. A shutter speed of 1/60 should be fast enough to freeze singers and musicians on a stage that aren't moving around quickly. You might want to shoot a little faster than that if you are using a long zoom. Like Kerry said, with color print film, you can underexpose by 2 stops and still get good prints.
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Mark Feldstein |
Greetins Paula: You've gotten some worthwhile input here already, but I'm going to take a slightly different approach. First, take all your negatives from this performance, put them on a light box and look at them closely with a 6x or 8x magnifying loupe. Look at each frame and determine whether anything looks sharp. Check things like microphone booms, stands, chair legs, rivits on the upholstery, etc. I looked at these shots and I can't see anything in focus. So initially, that tells me this isn't a subject moving problem. Possibly a camera movement issue (operator error). If you DO find something sharp, and nothing in the prints is sharp, then get them all reprinted, perhaps by a different lab or minilab. And, again, if nothing is sharp on the negs, you may have a camera problem. A lens element could have gotten knocked out of whack, or there could be a problem in your focusing system, mirror or viewfinder out of alignment. I noticed the first shot in your series was markedly more out of focus than the rest. Were they closer and required different focusing? If you shoot another roll and they all turn out fine, then you've pretty much eliminated mechanical problems. If they don't, get the camera checked and maybe adjusted and lubed at a competent repair shop. It doesn't cost much. If it doesn't appear mechanical, then I'd go to the advice you've gotten here. I shoot a lot of theatrical work, set-ups, portraits, and during live performances and rehearsals. Rarely, if ever, do I need to shoot anything faster than 800 (Agfa Optima 400 pushed one stop to 800 ISO) or good ole fashioned Kodak Tri-X 400, usually exposed at ISO 250, and using a yellow filter to get rid of the tungsten light effects. Fuji Tungsten 160 is my preference for transparency stock in theaters. And sure, I use a tripod or monopod, or seat back, or the shoulder of the guy sitting in front of me (or his head if he's not moving ;>). Anything for a camera platform. With practice though, you can probably work hand held at 1/30th of a sec with a medium telephoto and without a tripod. If they're not making huge prints, I can get away with 1/15th of a sec. using a medium lens and leaning against something like a stage hand. I think Kerry meant to say that T-max b&w (which is nice stuff) comes in a 3200 IsO. It's actually T-max 400, push processed at 3200 iso and labeled 3200. A bit too grainy for me, but some like that effect. If you don't have a spot meter, try spotting something on stage that's medium gray in color, zoom in on it if possible, get a reading, and use that as an average exposure. Meanwhile, take it light.
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Paula Vergara |
Wow, you people are fabulous! I knew I came to the right place for answers. It is tough using a tripod when sitting in a theatre, so I'm not sure if I will have that option in the future. I was using a Minnolta Maxxum 4 film camera - again, 1600 speed film, but set to automatic everything, which is risky, but not having a lot of time to fiddle with apertures, not having a light meter, etc. and sitting in the dark makes for a challenging situation. I will print out all of your suggestions and take them with me on my next assignment, in addition to trying out the films suggested above. I did use the same camera after the performance at a post-concert party/reception, and all photos came out very well. I switched to Fuji Reala 100 ISO for this. I think next time I'll switch to manual mode for the performance, and see what happens. I guess you really learn the most from your mistakes!
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Kitty Cross |
Paula Depending on the application (photos of the band/performance) and what you're doing this for, you might be able to arrange a quick photo session at sound check or after dress rehearsal for theatre stuff. For example, if the band were looking for live concert shots for their promo--posters/ads/etc I'm sure they'd be more than happy to let you shoot staged shots with all the trimmings. This would give you a chance to use some of the metering suggestions and a tripod. You can use the shots you have to pre-arrange what the composition should be and save a little time. Try front row of the balcony if there is one for using tripod during the performance. Or a stepladder and a longer lens at the back of the house if this is permissable.
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Todd Bennett |
Paula, The Fuji Reala 100 ISO film is probably one of the best films I have shot.
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