1st Live Show with 70-200 f/2.8 L and XTI

AliasPros

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STRUGGLING IN LOW LIGHT!

Here is my first show with my 70-200 f/2.8L and toss around XTI body. I realize shooting in this type of lighting environment is chalenging even with a flash (speed light 580exII) please critique them as I am lined up to do some more live shows and need all the help I can get... Tricks in low light and fast moving subjects anyone??? I wish I remembered what settings I used...

Pic #1
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Pic #2
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Pic #3
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Pic #4
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Thanks in advance...

ALIAS

(Rookie)
 
They look great. Keep up the good work.
 
If you look at pic#3 you will notice a lot of blur on the edges, I struggled with that all night... what setting help eliminate this?

ALIAS
 
If you look at pic#3 you will notice a lot of blur on the edges, I struggled with that all night... what setting help eliminate this?

ALIAS


What settings were you using, that is slow shutter using a flash, why didn't you use you 5Dmk2 ?
 
Last edited:
If you look at pic#3 you will notice a lot of blur on the edges, I struggled with that all night... what setting help eliminate this?

ALIAS

A mixture too slow of a shutter speed capturing ambient along with the exposure from the flash stopping the action.

Shooting with a flash actually creates two exposures; the ambient exposure and the flash. Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO effect the ambient exposure. Aperture and ISO effect the flash exposure.

Shutter speed has no effect on flash (to a point, I'll explain later) exposure; you can use a 5 second shutter speed or a 1/200 and the exposure from the flash will still be the same. That's because the pulse of the flash is so fast, that the shutter speed can't possibly be fast enough to eliminate it. Shutter speed will only have an effect on allowing ambient light to reach the sensor and create the exposure based off of how long the shutter is open.

The flash exposure is controlled by the aperture. To make a flash exposure darker, you can close the aperture which will let in less light for a darker shot. Either that or turning the flash power down if needed.

Aperture also kills ambient light. If you want an exposure of just the flash, you would use your fastest shutter speed (usually 1/160-1/250 depending on the flash and having any high speed sync mode turned off), close down your aperture, and turn up the power on the flash. That would kill ambient and just give you a flash exposure which would stop motion and not allow motion blur from a slow shutter speed and ambient light.

Why is the shutter speed limited when using flash? With most modern cameras, the flash fires at a precise moment in which the shutter passes over the frame causing the whole seen to be exposed. If you shutter travels too fast, then black bars will show on the frame from where the flash didn't expose. That's called max sync or x sync. You can use the high speed sync mode which causes to flash to pulse over time so as to cover the whole frame, but you lose flash power that way and it kills batteries quicker than just one pop.

So what kind of venues are you shooting at? If you end up at a show with good lighting, you won't need a flash. A lot of venues also specifically state no flash. I can comfortably shoot at 6400 ISO with my 5DII and only have to add a bit of noise reduction in post to make the image totally usable.

This is of Badfish at Ram's Head Live in Baltimore. Shot at 6400 ISO with no flash and a 70-200 f/2.8 IS, iirc. Click for the larger if you want. There was a tiny bit of NR done in post, but unfortunately not every where you shoot is going to have good lighting.
 
Gary is hilarious and on a roll today but is correct. Ive yet to see a live show photo that I really liked when the flash was used. It ends up leaving the best part of the performance on the table. The dark grittiness is what makes the live show shot work. I have only done a live show once and my photos without the flash are a bit blurred due to shooting in low light but are much better shots.
 
Village idiot you need to change your name.
 
Gary is hilarious and on a roll today but is correct. Ive yet to see a live show photo that I really liked when the flash was used. It ends up leaving the best part of the performance on the table. The dark grittiness is what makes the live show shot work. I have only done a live show once and my photos without the flash are a bit blurred due to shooting in low light but are much better shots.


Rock n Roll :D you have to have good lighting
http://gsgary.smugmug.com/Music/Arizona-The-Cutthorpe-Carnival/Image00058/595667010_6pXa5-L.jpg
http://gsgary.smugmug.com/Music/Arizona-The-Cutthorpe-Carnival/Image00019/595662303_wSwsx-L.jpg
 
wow Village Idiot, thanks for the info! I will definately apply your advise, and let you know how the next one goes...

ALIAS
 
Gary is hilarious and on a roll today but is correct. Ive yet to see a live show photo that I really liked when the flash was used. It ends up leaving the best part of the performance on the table. The dark grittiness is what makes the live show shot work. I have only done a live show once and my photos without the flash are a bit blurred due to shooting in low light but are much better shots.

True, I agree, the audience isn't experiencing the show with a bright spot light on the preformer so the flash is almost a missrepresentation of the event, however I do get paid and a clean well lit shot might look better to the undtrained eye etc... I have 2.8L that I hope will grab what I need without flash if I dial her in right, if not I will resort to the old flashers-kah-nashers!!! :D

ALIAS
 
Gary is hilarious and on a roll today but is correct. Ive yet to see a live show photo that I really liked when the flash was used. It ends up leaving the best part of the performance on the table. The dark grittiness is what makes the live show shot work. I have only done a live show once and my photos without the flash are a bit blurred due to shooting in low light but are much better shots.

True, I agree, the audience isn't experiencing the show with a bright spot light on the preformer so the flash is almost a missrepresentation of the event, however I do get paid and a clean well lit shot might look better to the undtrained eye etc... I have 2.8L that I hope will grab what I need without flash if I dial her in right, if not I will resort to the old flashers-kah-nashers!!! :D

ALIAS

It will if you use your 5D
 
I never use flash at gigs because it kills the shots, if there is no stage lighting i don't bother shooting, one from last weekend
http://gsgary.smugmug.com/photos/765944961_uetAT-L.jpg

If you're getting paid though...

I tell them it's a waste of time, i'm not prepared to sell crap

This is true. I have a local band that's interested in me doing their band photos for their press packet that also asked me what I would charge to shoot their live shows. I told them that honestly, if they don't have good enough lighting at their venue, I'm not going to be able to deliver anything worth my time or their money to them.

I don't care if they don't want me to shoot their staged shots now; one customer is not worth the others that I could potentially lose from seeing shots that just acceptable.
 

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