Auditorium Shooting?

[jknopp]

Hi All,
I have a gig shooting my friend's piano recital. It will be in the auditorium of a high school. The auditorium will be dark (except the stage, of course). I will be able to freely go about the whole auditorium taking pictures- without flash. How can I get a good closeup shot of the subject without the picture being grainy/noisy? What do you settings would you recommend for the best picture? :scratch::banghead:
I'm using:
Canon Rebel T3i
Canon EF-S 18mm-55mm IS
Canon EF-S 55mm-250mm

 

[matthewo]

Full frame camera and Wide Aperture telephoto Lens like a 70-200.

But seriously sense you dont have that, ungrainy pictures are going to be hard because you will rely on High iso if you cannot use a flash

If you do more of these shoots I would recommend a fast prime 50 or 85mm 1.8 or 1.4 it will really help in situations where you cannot use flash

Im reality this is going to depend on the lighting, if its got good stage lights correctly uses, you may get good photo with the equipment you have. If lighting isnt good you may be asking more then Your equipment can handle.

As you probably know ability to shoot in low light is what seperates the $1000 worth of camera gear frok $10,000 gear

Setting for what you have, would be lowest aperature possible, shutter speed as low as you can still stop motion and keep a Sharp Picture. Start around 1/60 th. Then iso as you feel you can get away with. Shoot RAW and use lumanence or noise reduction in post to get rid of iso noise

 

[John27]

I would STRONGLY suggest ordering a 50mm f/1.8. A hundred bucks will get you one, you'll use it all the time, and it'll bring in MUCH more light than those other lenses. No, that won't net you a 'closeup', but shoot from the stage, and crop it in, you'll get a much better shot than a telefoto with a higher f-stop and getting all sorts of grain.

 

[thetrue]

If the stage is lot and you meter properly, you should be able to get a good shot from a few rows out with that 55-250, IMHO. I have a t3i and have no problems with noise up to ISO 3200. 6400 I find there is a little in dark areas and at 12800 there's noticeable noise in even slightly darker areas.

 

[kathyt]

I shoot 3 dance recitals a year and I just bump up my ISO and I usually use my prime lenses so that I can open them up pretty wide. Would it be possible for you to rent or borrow a lens for this event? A 50mm 1.4 would be really nice and a cheap rental or a splurge would be the 70-200mm 2.8L. I had the dress rehearsal last night for a recital this weekend, and I used my 135mm 2.0L (my favorite lens) and my 85mm 1.2L for the whole thing. The images turned out amazing! I had my ISO around 3200 the whole night. Good luck.

 

[jknopp]

If the stage is lot and you meter properly, you should be able to get a good shot from a few rows out with that 55-250, IMHO. I have a t3i and have no problems with noise up to ISO 3200. 6400 I find there is a little in dark areas and at 12800 there's noticeable noise in even slightly darker areas.

Doesn't the T3i only go up to ISO 6400? Mine does, at least.

 

[thetrue]

Just noticed that you're in NJ, when is the recital? Check out Philadelphia Lens Library if you're in the Philly area, he has all kinds of canon lenses, even the 70-200 2.8 L for I believe 65/3 days or the 85 1.8 for the same rate. Definitely worth checking out!!

 

[thetrue]

If the stage is lot and you meter properly, you should be able to get a good shot from a few rows out with that 55-250, IMHO. I have a t3i and have no problems with noise up to ISO 3200. 6400 I find there is a little in dark areas and at 12800 there's noticeable noise in even slightly darker areas.

Doesn't the T3i only go up to ISO 6400? Mine does, at least.

No, go in the menu, go to the star tab (far right), click custom functions, hit the right arrow button to go to #2, which is ISO Expansion. Change that to "on" then when you choose your ISO setting you'll see an "H" next to 6400. That will be 12800

 

[tevo]

As a few others have said, you will definitely need faster glass for such low light conditions. A 50mm 1.8 is a very good choice, it is cheap, sharp and won't require you to be too close. I would shoot in Mup mode with as slow a shutter as you can manage, maybe 1/60 at the lowest. Leave your aperture wide open and then adjust the ISO to meter. This way, your ISO will be as low as possible, therefore as little noise as possible. 1/60 shutter will blur motion, so you may need to adjust accordingly. Also, shoot Raw (.NEF), as you can gain +2 or 3 stops exposure in post processing.

 

[thetrue]

Good point about shooting in RAW tevo, I totally forgot about that.

 

[texkam]

Unfortunately this is a bad situation on two accounts. First, my experience with HS auditorium lighting is it most likely will be impossible to shoot at a low ISO, especially with the lenses you have. Been there, tried to do it with those exact same lenses. An 85mm 1.8 will help, but you better be dead on with your focus at 1.8. A 135mm 2.0 will give you the reach you'll probably need. Now for your second problem, you don't want to be firing off pictures during a piano recital. Not cool. You'd be surprised at just how loud, annoying and distracting your clicking shutter will be to both the performer and audience. You should use a sound blimp* out of courtesy and respect. You should also limit your movement during the performance as well. This is a piano recital not a rock concert. Now for a possible solution. What I have successfully done is arranged to shoot pics during rehearsal/warmup or even after the show. I have literally been able to walk out on stage during warm ups and sound checks. There is a good chance the HS music director would jump at the idea of asking his/her performers to sit in for some pics after the show, for it would certainly put his/her kids more at ease during the performance.

*Sound Blimps

Here's some pics shot before and after performance to give you an idea of what you might be able to achieve. As you can see, you are going to have to deal with grain. Note, these angles and close ups would be impossible during the actual performance. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[texkam]

Shoot in manual. Set your ISO as high as you can stand it grainwise, then spend the evening choosing your aperture/shutter speed tradeoffs as appropriate for the shot.

 

[KmH]

Unless they will allow you onstage during the performance, you won't be getting any closeups with your 250 mm. However, you can crop photos post process to make closeups.

 

[jknopp]

UPDATE: I'm renting a Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 lens for the event. what settings should be used for the best pictures possible?

 

[John27]

UPDATE: I'm renting a Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 lens for the event. what settings should be used for the best pictures possible?

Just FYI, that 28 f/1.8 won't allow you to get as much of a close up as a longer lens. It will get the whole stage though if you need it! The 'zoom factor' on your crop body will put you close to about what the naked eye sees from the same spot.

Settings vary. There is no "This is the precise setting for an auditorium". But, I would probably keep the aperture at 1.8 the entire night, not let the shutter speed get below about 1/50 (You do have some wiggle room with a 28mm lens for shutter speed, since you are so zoomed 'out'), and then bump the ISO as needed. Shoot in RAW so you can add light if necesary.

One word of caution, watch your focus carefully! At f/1.8 you won't have much depth of field, you'll only have a small window of things in focus, so you'll need to be careful and make sure to focus on your subject carefully. Zoom in on the image in your camera and check for sharpness as often as possible.

Good luck!