Theate Photography

RedGloves · May 15, 2008

My son is a young actor and I love taking pictures of his shows. I've been pretty sucessful before but the one now is really a challege.

I can't use flash, of course. I shot on manual last night, but the lights and all of the action caused my photos to be pretty blurry. I'm trying again tonight. What suggestions do you guys have for me.

I have a digital Cannon--can't tell you the make right now--I'm at work. I'm shooting big for portfolio pics--if I can get the quality.

You can look at a few I took last night here:

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AaOWjZy4atmL-o

The show is A Midsummer Night's Dream from Theatre Tulsa. The indian boy is my kid.

saltface · May 15, 2008

Good luck on that one. Set your ISO as high as you dare. That's really your only option.

Fiendish Astronaut · May 15, 2008

Presumably the lighting differs from scene to scene. I'd be tempted to switch to aperture priority, open your lens up wide, have a high ISO and then see where you go from there...

Good luck!

Big Mike · May 15, 2008

I'd be careful with Av or any of the auto modes. The light on your son will likely be different from the light on the stage and background...which will throw the camera's meter off. I doubt you will be able to get a spot meter reading off of his face (although, if you could, that would be great).

I think shooting in manual is the way to go. Set your exposure to properly expose his face and let the rest go dark or fall where it may.

Blurry photos are a result of your shutter speed being too slow. You will need to increase the shutter speed. To to this, first make sure that you are at the lens's max aperture, then turn up the ISO as needed.