Default Shooting an event...ADVICE PLEASE!!

[tevo]

Redeyejedi you have the most creative names! douchebaskets.. hahaha


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[Derrel]

@Derrel

I am not sure what you mean by that. I personally know several 'famous' people. They resent those douchbeaskets, at least the ones worth calling my friends do. I take their shot, with our other friends with their pets, at bbqs the beach surfing or whatever, but for memories that we share. I could care less about their 'celeb' status, it's all bulldung. We all bleed red, can have our hearts broken, or hurt others. It's those pic farming scatbags that are the bane of the photography world.

Yes, it is pretty obvious that you did not understand my post at all.

 

[Redeyejedi]

@Derrel

I am not sure what you mean by that. I personally know several 'famous' people. They resent those douchbeaskets, at least the ones worth calling my friends do. I take their shot, with our other friends with their pets, at bbqs the beach surfing or whatever, but for memories that we share. I could care less about their 'celeb' status, it's all bulldung. We all bleed red, can have our hearts broken, or hurt others. It's those pic farming scatbags that are the bane of the photography world.

Yes, it is pretty obvious that you did not understand my post at all.

and did you thoroughly read my first post? Clearly the word RESTAURANT appears early on, and you go about stages, yet i didn't comment on that, just accepted the advice you provided. if you'd care to elaborate, or help me to understand what you meant, i'm all eyes. if not, stop trying to high-horse and clown. We all start somewhere. and i prefer nature and wildlife photography a billion-fold over shooting people, but deer and ladybugs don't pay much. People pay.

 

[tevo]

and did you thoroughly read my first post? Clearly the word RESTAURANT appears early on, and you go about stages, yet i didn't comment on that, just accepted the advice you provided. if you'd care to elaborate, or help me to understand what you meant, i'm all eyes. if not, stop trying to high-horse and clown. We all start somewhere. and i prefer nature and wildlife photography a billion-fold over shooting people, but deer and ladybugs don't pay much. People pay.

He wasn't being rude lol and he's the former _____ of Nikon, he knows a lot. He's too valuable to not have - be nice.

 

[Redeyejedi]

i am not being mean. i am reading what advice photogs that are better than me are providing.

 

[Derrel]

@Derrel

I am not sure what you mean by that. I personally know several 'famous' people. They resent those douchbeaskets, at least the ones worth calling my friends do. I take their shot, with our other friends with their pets, at bbqs the beach surfing or whatever, but for memories that we share. I could care less about their 'celeb' status, it's all bulldung. We all bleed red, can have our hearts broken, or hurt others. It's those pic farming scatbags that are the bane of the photography world.

Yes, it is pretty obvious that you did not understand my post at all.

and did you thoroughly read my first post? Clearly the word RESTAURANT appears early on, and you go about stages, yet i didn't comment on that, just accepted the advice you provided. if you'd care to elaborate, or help me to understand what you meant, i'm all eyes. if not, stop trying to high-horse and clown. We all start somewhere. and i prefer nature and wildlife photography a billion-fold over shooting people, but deer and ladybugs don't pay much. People pay.

You have once again, completely misunderstood yet another post. Go back and try and figure out WHO my comments were directed toward. Nobody (meaning ME, just so you can figure it out) is trying to high-horse or clown YOU. My comments were referring to a TPF member who constantly warns against accidental copyright infringements, warns that the courts determine what is fair use and posts comments as if fair use does not exist,etc.etc. I'm not quite sure why you've got your panties in such a bunch, except that you have not been here LONG ENOUGH to even realize the personalities of the people here who are TRYING TO HELP YOU. Or that you have a real problem with people whose ideas differ from yours. Or that you have bad reading comprehension. YEAH, I READ YOUR FIRST POST CAREFULLY, and am familiar with shooting stage acts in restaurants and auditoriums for publication and sale. I gave you some advice I thought was appropriate to your skill level, and that has been solid advice for decades. But, apparently, you've got a bug up an orifice, and seem to be MIS-understanding my comments not just once, but twice.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Derrel.. I do think most of your jokes go over people head and tend to be interpreted as an insult. Happened to me quite a bit LOL.

 

[Derrel]

I'll spell this out for the new guy: my comments, found in Post #16, were directed at comments made by another TPF member, in posts 9 and 14. I was trying to help the new guy, the OP, focus on the photography aspects of the gig, and I was in my own way, telling him NOT TO WORRY about dire warning statements another member had directed toward him,in regard to photographing in a restaurant that the owner had asked him to photograph in. Just so he knows, I am all in favor of him photographing some celebrities at a restaurant a friend or acquaintance of his owns, at the request of the owner.

 

[Redeyejedi]

How bout we move on n stay on topic. Sorry for misunderstanding your post. Went to shoot the party and I am dialing settings and I am told no flash. So I was hmmm, this should be interesting...but to my fortune, the band's photographer was there, as his son is in the band, 28South. I began to ask him a few questions about him, the band and stuff and he basically schooled me on some GREAT information. He sat with me and gave me good advice for shooting that night in the very dark room.After some experimenting, I wound anointing in the 2900k, iso 800-2400, wide open, and 10-160 shutter action, and ec +2 to +5. I'd bracket 5 shot bursts, and stepped of raw+fine and just went fineL. After 1500 shots I do have 100-200 that I have to go through and pick the best 50-60. I can't tell you how much that guy helped, as well as some of suggestions and pointers given from you guys. thank you.Being that it was Jerry Hellers bday party, I can't post pics of him or guests, however, I may be able get some up of the band for reference purposes and to show the lighting conditions. All in all, I learned a lot, met some people, but most importantly, I had fun.On a side note, the night before, I shot a friends show at a scottish pub. That was also fun. I have tomgo through those images as well, imjust backed em up on p3000(upgraded HD to 125gb) and the puter at home.I can show some of those, but time, time time time....have to upload quite a bit of other stuff that I am behind on also, and having a full-time job a medical assistant/biller leaves me with not too much of the time. Hopefully this weekend can bang out a few gigs of pics and get em going.Again, to ALL who have shared their knowledge with me, cheers! Very much appreciated.Aaron

 

[tevo]

How bout we move on n stay on topic. Sorry for misunderstanding your post. Went to shoot the party and I am dialing settings and I am told no flash. So I was hmmm, this should be interesting...but to my fortune, the band's photographer was there, as his son is in the band, 28South. I began to ask him a few questions about him, the band and stuff and he basically schooled me on some GREAT information. He sat with me and gave me good advice for shooting that night in the very dark room.After some experimenting, I wound anointing in the 2900k, iso 800-2400, wide open, and 10-160 shutter action, and ec +2 to +5. I'd bracket 5 shot bursts, and stepped of raw+fine and just went fineL. After 1500 shots I do have 100-200 that I have to go through and pick the best 50-60. I can't tell you how much that guy helped, as well as some of suggestions and pointers given from you guys. thank you.Being that it was Jerry Hellers bday party, I can't post pics of him or guests, however, I may be able get some up of the band for reference purposes and to show the lighting conditions. All in all, I learned a lot, met some people, but most importantly, I had fun.On a side note, the night before, I shot a friends show at a scottish pub. That was also fun. I have tomgo through those images as well, imjust backed em up on p3000(upgraded HD to 125gb) and the puter at home.I can show some of those, but time, time time time....have to upload quite a bit of other stuff that I am behind on also, and having a full-time job a medical assistant/biller leaves me with not too much of the time. Hopefully this weekend can bang out a few gigs of pics and get em going.Again, to ALL who have shared their knowledge with me, cheers! Very much appreciated.Aaron

TLDNR: Night worked out after advice from TPF and band photog.

 

[mrelsewhere]

For shooting with the ambient stage lighting, crank the ISO up a bit, to at least 1,000 or 1,250,or maybe higher. Keep in mind that with stage lighting, there is often a HUGE disparity between the light on the singer/actors and the background of the stage or set...often the backgrounds are quite dark, darned near black, and the talent is lighted up pretty well with a spot light, or a fairly narrow type of flood...this causes the camera's in-built exposure metering to give suggested exposures that are often eight, ten, or even 12 stops OVER-EXPOSED for the talent, at least when using shorter focal length lenses like 28,35,50mm. So, be aware that the light meter's suggested readings will often be wayyyyyy off. If you are using a telephoto lens, like say your 105mm macro, and the subject is pretty large within the frame, then the chances of the light meter giving the right ballpark exposure go way, way up.

You need to keep in mind that it's better to get a noisy shot with good clear focus and motion stopped, than it is to come back with low-noise, but perfectly smeared, blurry,jerky,smeary shots made at ISO 200.

When shooting with the 28 or 50mm lenses from closer distances, if you are going to use an automated light metering setting, you might think about setting the exposure compensation to Minus 5.0 stops, if the subject is spot-lighted, and the stage is mostly dark....and even then, you might still be washing out the subjects. SO, maybe you'd want to go with manual metering, and set the camera at say ISO 1600, f/2.8 at 1/125 second, and if that's bright enough, stay there;;;if they switch on a brighter spot, click the shutter up to 1/200 or 1/250.

IF there is a decent line of sight, shooting from 15-25 rows back with a fast telephoto like a 105mm f/2.8 offers you the ability to maintain pretty easy focusing across the width of the stage.

Thanks for the post, Derrel. I only wish I'd read your comments yesterday afternoon!

BACKGROUND...In college I had an Olympus OM-1, but that was ten years ago...I got back into photography this August when my performer wife needed headshots for her NYC auditions. We didn't know any good photographers, so I rented a Canon 5DII (w/ 70-200 f/2.8) through the mail, and we spent a weekend taking photos. We got such great results that I fell completely in love with that camera...Until I can afford one, I bought a Canon 550D (w/ 18-55mm IS and 50mm f/1.4) to take portraits and headshots of my wife and her friends- mostly with auto settings because I don't want to miss a shot while I'm fiddling with manual settings...

LAST NIGHT...I shot her dress rehearsal- for a short opera staged in a black box theater. The space is intimate, so my basic kit worked great. The overhead lights were hot and bright, but I thought that would make for sharp pictures. I relied mostly on full auto-no flash. Did I preview my shots? Sure, but I figured the display was exaggerating and exposure could be fixed later on iPhoto... I was heartbroken when I put the pics on the computer. They were so blurry and overexposed that performers' faces were completely unrecognizable in the light. iPhoto couldn't help. Of my 500 shots, maybe 5 were keepers. Ugh.

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE...I wasn't the only one taking pictures. And I hopefully I'll get another *shot* at it tonight during tech rehearsal.

 

[Derrel]

Yeah....well, that killer over-exposure issue has been a problem with flood- and spot-lighted performers and speakers on dark stages for literally decades...sorry to hear that it happened to you. Break a leg tonight!

 

[GeneralBenson]

non taken.
i have to start somewhere, not new to shooting...

I'm not new to driving, but I'm also not ready to jump into a rally car on the WRC. That's all people are trying to say. Starting somewhere doesn't mean just diving headfirst into deep water.

 

[mrelsewhere]

Derrel, the shoot went great! I had more than 100 keepers! Light colors and levels changed often, and was harsher on some areas of the stage, so when performers moved I had to keep changing settings. But thanks to your suggested levels, I had a good starting point. Thanks again!

 

[cgipson1]

Derrel, the shoot went great! I had more than 100 keepers! Light colors and levels changed often, and was harsher on some areas of the stage, so when performers moved I had to keep changing settings. But thanks to your suggested levels, I had a good starting point. Thanks again!

Cool.. post some... love to see them!