Performances

[Bryant]

My school has this thing called "open mic night" tonight and both of my photo teachers are at a photo conference so I'm the next one in line to take our pictures that are to be put up on our website.

I am wondering how I go about shooting these since I've never shot in darkness. I have the ability to get up right at their feet if I'd like and there are plenty of gelled lights to add contrast etc. I feel like I can go without flash, they said so, and use the lights to my advantage. Can I use iso100 because of the lights, or will i have to sneak up to 800?

Here's an image from our last one taken by one of my teachers.

Also, which lens would you suggest for my 40D? I was leaning towards the L just for quality, the f/4, and very close up shots, but the drawback would the fairly long starting length. I have the 28-135 which would give me enough room, but not the same f/stop.

Thanks so much

 

[William Petruzzo]

Live performances often look brighter than they do to your camera. You will almost definitely have to take your iso up. If you don't want to use a flash, I would suggest using the fastest lens you possibly can--probably the 50mm 1.8 or 1.4, and shoot around 800iso, unless you can sneak it down to 400. Unless the performance is especially well lit, that will probably just barely have you fast enough to stop motion.

shooting at f/4 probably won't be fast enough, unless you're also using a flash. Of course, then again, It's hard to say what it's going to be like since lighting at live performances can vary dramatically.