Quick help needed for cast photos tonight!

[tirediron]

...It's so hard to get them sharp. I had a lot of shots with just 2 people on stage and I didn't know which one to focus on.

Pick one; doesn't matter which one, just pick one. Shoot 2-3 frames and then focus on the other and repeat. This is also why I've attended a half-dozen performances. I have my shot list with the scenes, and as I go through them at each perfromance, I ensure that I'm shooting different people each time.

Glad it worked out!

 

[The_Traveler]

These look typical of decent as-its-running shots.
Good for you.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I'd think about the framing - some have subjects close to the bottom and more than enough space above the heads. Some that have one or two people might have been better framed vertically since the space to each side doesn't have anything of interest. I found it takes a lot of practice to get good at being able to see everything in the viewfinder and frame shots at events where things can change and happen quickly.

As far as the newspaper not sharing photos, they're a business, they have to pay their photographers so cannot give away their work for free. Probably if tickets are being sold etc. there's a budget, so it would be up to whoever is putting on the play to arrange to buy photos or license usage from the paper or the photographer.

 

[charchri4]

Thank YOU! I couldn't agree more and kind of stumbled on that about 1/3rd of the way through the show. I realized if I put the focus dot on the eye closest to me I cut them off at the knees. So then I remembered page 3 of the into to photography book and started to focus and reframe when they were reasonably still. And now I see why people like BBF so much.

But let me ask you this. When I was going through them last night for some reason when I followed the rule of 1/3rds trimming them down they didn't look right. A couple shots it seemed OK
_IMG1156 by Jim Stainer, on Flickr

but most of the scenes it just looked off that way. Is this a genre where the rule of 3rds doesn't apply to?

Yeah I was not surprised about the paper and he was only there for 5 minutes anyway.

 

[Designer]

But let me ask you this. When I was going through them last night for some reason when I followed the rule of 1/3rds trimming them down they didn't look right. A couple shots it seemed OK
but most of the scenes it just looked off that way. Is this a genre where the rule of 3rds doesn't apply to?

I doubt it. I've never heard of any particular genre being more or less enhanced by a particular "rule" of composition. Maybe some shots just need a different crop/aspect ratio/compositional tool.

 

[KmH]

I did a quick & dirty edit.
I made a massive adjustment to the white balance: -49 on the Temperature, -15 on the Tint.
The lighting was probably Tungsten/Incandescent and your camera white balance was probably set to Sunlight.
Understanding White Balance

I cropped some off of both sides using the ROT guides on my Crop tool.
I added a bit of Clarity, and while I was adding a bit of Sharpening (Amount +25, Radius 1.0, Detail 25, Masking 0) I also reduced the Luminance and Color noise that are on the same ACR panel.
I added a thin black border around the photograph.
If I were to do more I would desaturate the sclera (whites) in her eyes and work on the color of her lips

 

[vintagesnaps]

Using the concept of thirds can be a way (but not the only way) to get balance in a composition. With this one what I'd think about is the use of space - the actor with a cut off suitcase looks rather crowded into the bottom of the frame. And you've got basically a couple of large shapes - green door/rectangle and gold bed/square to the right that seem to take up a lot of space in the photo without really adding much to the picture.

To me this part of the photo is what the photo is about - the performer. But this much of a crop may not be workable with the ISO and lighting you were working with. You might need to make some copies and try various crops.





Next time if you can, go early and figure out what vantage points you'll have and see how the background will look from where you'll be standing. If I've been in a tight place I've sometimes leaned or scrunched down to adjust my vantage point at least a little if need be.

 

[tirediron]

I did a quick & dirty edit.
I made a massive adjustment to the white balance: -49 on the Temperature, -15 on the Tint.
The lighting was probably Tungsten/Incandescent and your camera white balance was probably set to Sunlight.
Understanding White Balance

I cropped some off of both sides using the ROT guides on my Crop tool.
I added a bit of Clarity, and while I was adding a bit of Sharpening (Amount +25, Radius 1.0, Detail 25, Masking 0) I also reduced the Luminance and Color noise that are on the same ACR panel.
I added a thin black border around the photograph.
If I were to do more I would desaturate the sclera (whites) in her eyes and work on the color of her lips

To be honest Keith, I don't really see this as an improvement in this case. While I grant your correction likely renders a much more colour-accurate image, it's not what the audience would have seen and I think that the colours imparted by the stage lighting are an important part of the image. I think that the yellows/organges could have been dialled back a bit, but to correct to natural skin tone isn't, IMO, approriate for images like this.

 

[KmH]

I agree.
The edit was made to demonstrate and raise awareness of white balance, which looked to be off in most of the photos.

 

[tirediron]

Gotcha!

 

[vintagesnaps]

Maybe if you can, ask someone at the theater (electrician, maintenance staff, etc.) what type lights are in the building. I was shooting in an arena thinking it might be fluorescent and found out it was mercury vapor. Which was messing up my pictures! lol

 

[charchri4]

Wow thank you! The building is vintage 1980 but I'll ask what the lights are. The sound set up is state of the art but I think the lights are pretty old.

Keith I see what you are saying and I suspect if there was a happy medium between the 2 it would be the way to go. I went through a bunch more of them last night and added them to the folder but they are all about the same temp as the one you played with. They are all pretty yellow now that I look at them again. The large group shots are a bit better.

I'll have to look again but I think the camera is set on natural. Would there have been a better choice?
I don't know enough about light room to even be dangerous and am a bit color blind to boot so tend to leave things alone in both areas.

For crop I feel like when the actor is square to you the rule of 3rds doesn't work. Like this shot
_IMG1211-Edit by Jim Stainer, on Flickr
She is looking off camera but her shoulders are straight on and it just looks funny to move her over in the frame.

Same with the group shots extra space doesn't really add anything to the shot. But yeah there was no reason at all to cut this guys legs off!
_IMG1685 by Jim Stainer, on Flickr

Soo much to learn and be aware of!

 

[vintagesnaps]

Yes there is... lol

She's centered but with some pattern to the background to one side that seems to help it be more interesting. It might work sometimes for a subject to be centered, just not always ideal.

I'd just straighten and crop the last one a little. Notice the posts and see if you can get those parallel to the sides of the picture. There's a good bit of pattern/shape to the background, and the grouping of actors doesn't seem exactly centered if you look at actors to the left with arms outstretched, again to the far right, etc. I think it seems fine as is if you straighten it a little.

Takes time and yeah, plenty to learn, keep at it.

 

[charchri4]

Oh my I never noticed that pic was not centered!

Yep the camera is in natural. The other options are bright, portrait, landscape, vibrant, radiant, muted, bleach bypass, reversal film, monochrome and cross processing. I'm a little fuzzy on what they all do or if I am to have it on bright to make the photos brighter in a dim room or if I would use it in bright conditions. So what setting should I have used for low light like this?