Photo Help - Auditorium w/ horrible lighting

[SuperSpark]

Hi. I'm a yearbook photographer at my school. Everytime an assembly or school play comes around I have to go take photos of it. The problem is the auditorium has HORRIBLE lighting! The only time I can get a shot with decent lighting is by lowering the shutter speed, but considering that these are mostly performances where NOBODY keeps still, most of the photos come out with crippling amounts of motion blur.

How do I get good, crisp photos in such bad lighting?

 

[JimmyO]

Let me google that for you

 

[mdtusz]

As much as I sometimes love JimmyO's responses, the other 50% just makes me want to hit him. That said, LMGTFY is pretty great.

You're basically going to need either:

a) A fast lens, f/1.4 would be ideal, anything f/2.8 and under should suffice though
b) Strobes
c) High iso. I don't know what body you have, but unless you have a mid range and up (50D and D90 being the bottom bracket I'd say), you will have problems with noise.

I shot my old high school play with a 50mm f/1.8 and 55-200 f/4.5-5.6 (not mine don't panic anyone) at around ISO 1000 and came out with these.

There's a lot more lighting during a play than you would expect. I shot those both with the 55-200 and they came out fine (in my opinion). Work with what you have and you will probably be surprised with your results.

 

[PerfectlyFlawed]

Let me google that for you

Jimmy ..

Dont be so ferocious with the Noobies..lol :lmao:

 

[Live_free]

Let me google that for you

Jimmy ..

Dont be so ferocious with the Noobies..lol :lmao:

Can you use that whip for anything else baby?

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Let me google that for you

Jimmy ..

Dont be so ferocious with the Noobies..lol :lmao:

Can you use that whip for anything else baby?

facepalm.

 

[kkamin]

Let me google that for you

What's wrong with you?

 

[mdtusz]

Shame on all of you Help out the OP instead of JUUUUST bickering. If you include it with a valid response, I'm all for a little Jimmybashing.

 

[Live_free]

Jimmy ..

Dont be so ferocious with the Noobies..lol :lmao:

Can you use that whip for anything else baby?

facepalm.

its like peeing in an ocean of piss..

 

[IgsEMT]

A pair of strobes, if you're school is willing to take the bill for it, would be nice. But with those you'll need remote trigger/receiver and actually knowing HOW to use them.
If those are out of the Qs, then pair of flash units again with remote capabilities placed or or very near the stage would also help.
And faster lens. I'm putting that at the end, so-to-speak b/c I'm not a big fan of shooting wide open b/c of shallow dof and lack of experience MOST ppl have shooting wide open. I don't know your skills and not going to comment on them, but keep in mind your dof when you're shooting wide open and how close you will be to your subjects. When worked in lab/studio, I've seen plenty GORGEOUS composition and well lit frames with horrible mis-focus.
good luck
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