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Gathering of the Muses
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I was asked to cover a dance event over the weekend which was being held in aid of a local Cork charity (Edel House). I was there on both Saturday and Sunday night and was glad I had the opportunity to shoot again because Saturday night proved far more challenging than Sunday mainly because light levels were lower on Saturday night and the effects people went a little overboard with the smoke machine which made things even more difficult. On Sunday night there was less smoke and slightly better light.
I found myself shooting at ISO’s of 800-1600 even with f/2.8 lenses. There was no way I could use flash on Saturday because of the smoke (it would have been just like driving in fog with your headlights on!). I did use quite a bit of flash on Sunday and was able to push the ISO down to 400 – the result was a better quality image all around. I used just enough flash to lift the image without taking away from the drama and the colour of the set lighting.
I only just got around to processing some of Saturdays shots last night. I haven’t touched Sundays shots yet – hopefully tonight. I’ll post a few more from the event in this thread over the next day or two, but here is one of the first shots I took on Saturday night.
I deliberately left the large “empty” area at the top because I liked the way the light looked at the time, so bear that in mind if you want to comment on that aspect. Other than that, I’d be interested in peoples comments on this image. And there will be more to comment on later!
Hmmm, If I were you I woulda stuck with 1600 iso and no flash…But that’s just the way I do things.
For the image above… I would process it differently. An overall increase in curves to blacken out the background a bit more. There’s nothing wrong with framing someone in it though.
The Black wall to the left is kinda distracting compared to the blue stagelight.
Following this, reopen curves, and select green, and bring the contrast up a bit in that, to give her a better tone.
And a crop to the bottom too, above where there’s a line in the stage.
Excellent Thor :) How did you manage to get her face remotely sharp with all of that movement :). Looking forward to seeing the rest of the images.
Great movement in that shot, I really think that looks great – I tried something similar myself during the Fringe festival here in Dublin – (man its tough to do with the stage lighting ) and failed miserably .. so I’m developing an appreciation for those who can deliver in these conditions.
I agree with fajitas about the increasing the contrast and cloning the black wall – but I’d also suggest removing the wire in front of her feet and the light at the back wall if possible too. (depends on how much tinkering you like to do though)
Lorraine
Nice shot and can improve with the suggestions from Fajitas and Lorraine.
That’s some really useful feedback I got there from you guys – thanks for that. I’ll try and put some of it into practice later tonight.
Just a few additional comments at this stage to put things a little more into perspective –
i) The image hasn’t been through Photoshop at all – it’s a straight RAW conversion through DPP with some minor cropping.
ii) No flash was used to take this shot which was taken at 1/80s at f/2.8 at an ISO of 1000
iii) I agree about the lack of contrast – this was caused by a combination of smoke from the smoke machine and shooting into the stage lights which caused a degree of flare.
iv) Now that you’ve mentioned it, the black section on the left, which didn’t bother me at all earlier on, is now a major annoyance for me!!!
v) I’m not so sure about cropping out the cable at the bottom – I think it might take away too much “space”. Cloning it out may be a better option.Ali wrote:
How did you manage to get her face remotely sharp with all of that movement
Timing!!! She made quite a few turns before I took this shot and you know how dancers turn their heads when turning like that – they basically keep them still while thier body turns and then quickly flick them around to complete the turn. This prevents them from getting dizzy and falling over! It was simply a matter of timing the shot with her movements. That makes it sound rather simple, which it wasn’t! But with a bit of practice, you get the hang of it and can predict what a dancer is going to do next.
I have to admit, I love doing this type of photography and don’t really do anywhere near as much as I would like :(
Hats off to you Thorsten,its an incredibly hard subject matter to capture,i was at the Frames last nite in Vicar street and was laughing my head at all these people beside me thinking that their little pop up flash was going to illuminate the whole stage!
Anyways i mix slow sync flash and no flash with high ISO(1600) -the Cannons are great here as noise is not a big deal(cant comment on Nikons,sorry) but i find that prime lens work a treat providing you are fairly close to the front or have a pass.
Ben 8)
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