My turn...HELP!!! Auditorium...low light

Boy am I in trouble tomorrow night! The paper just called and wants me to shoot two chorus programs at the school auditorium...something I have never done. I know the lighting will be bad, the kids performing are 5th and 6th graders (each seperate programs). I doubt I can use flash...so any tips...it's not my normal sports shoot.
At least I get to finish the night at a basketball game :)

JS

What lenses do you have for starters?

Liz

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Originally Posted by JSPhoto

Boy am I in trouble tomorrow night! The paper just called and wants me to shoot two chorus programs at the school auditorium...something I have never done. I know the lighting will be bad, the kids performing are 5th and 6th graders (each seperate programs). I doubt I can use flash...so any tips...it's not my normal sports shoot.
At least I get to finish the night at a basketball game :)

JS

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Originally Posted by Liz

What lenses do you have for starters?

Liz

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I'll probably go with the Canon 70-200mm USM IS, the other choice is the Canon 28-300 USM IS f3.5-5.6....wish the latter was a straight 2.8 but it would wiegh a ton :)
I'll be using the MKII Nbody.

JS

What about bracketing the shots.

I gues I could, I haven't done it before, and I hadn't thought about it either. Which is one reason I posted here, knowing I wouldn't think of something...Thanks Peter!
I was thinking of doing it in RAW, which would leave me some room for error. Since it is supposed to be a choral thing there shouldn't be much moving around...but then they are kids :)

JS

Try bracketing before hand and then look at the RAW images of each of the bracketing and settings you used, this will help decide if bracketing will help in this situation. RAW is good but sometimes other things are better. I just thought that it seemed to be most pro photographers (not all and not everyone here either), seem to bracket photos especially in specific event type photography. I know using the histogram as a visual aid is recommended as well.

Yeah, I think though that I get a bit complacent since I shoot the same things at the same the same locations all the time :), then get an odd job like this one that kind of throws my usual shooting out of whack :rolleyes:
Now where did I put that darn manual?

JS

WIDE OPEN ., HIGH ISO, RAW+JPEG, TRIPOD..... cross your fingers!

I had to shoot a similiar sceen last wednesday.... the only thing that saved the day was opening up the shadows in CS2 ;)

This may be obvious, but can you go to the auditorium in advance and test things out; the bracketing, lenses, ISO? Can you get someone to go with you to be a model on the stage? That's all I can think of to add.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.

Paul

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Originally Posted by paulnj

WIDE OPEN ., HIGH ISO, RAW+JPEG, TRIPOD..... cross your fingers!

I had to shoot a similiar sceen last wednesday.... the only thing that saved the day was opening up the shadows in CS2 ;)

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Thanks Paul. A bit different than shooting birds eh? This is going to be really odd for me, and I know the folks at the school will expect the staff photog, I hope no one faints when I walk in :)

JS

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Originally Posted by photophorous

This may be obvious, but can you go to the auditorium in advance and test things out; the bracketing, lenses, ISO? Can you get someone to go with you to be a model on the stage? That's all I can think of to add.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.

Paul

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Hey Paul...uh ho...two Pauls! :)

I'd like to go early but they didn't give enough warning...typical since they knew this LAST week! I guess they figured the staffer would do it, not me, but it will be me as he's off tomorrow night....cool, I get three jobs in 2 1/2 hours! As for a model, nope, no luck there either, and I don't know anyone at that school. The other schools there I know people, the one next door and the one across the street...go figure.

JS

I was invited to a thank you dinner for volunteers(I am a unpaid hawk migration volunteer, though I charge to document it). I got a call 2 hours before arriving "BRING YOUR CAMERA TOO".

I get there and blast a few images here and there of people( and my images projected 12 feet wide on a screen.... cool). OUT OF NOWHERE I hear the speaker say" OK everyone, our photographer Paul is going to climb this ladder and get a group image"

OMG!!! There I am in a dark building at night with a 1D/28-70 F2.8 and a 550EX. I needed 80 feet of focus, so even ISO 3200 wasn't giving me fast enough without flash!!! FLASH AS MAIN , ISO 800, F8, 1/20TH :)

This is just a quick "adjust shadows 25" resized tiny at low res of a soon to be recycled image to show you what I mean. The original is very dark for the back half due to light fall off!

SHADOWS OPEN and ORIGINAL JPEG(no raw conversions here)

The EDITED images are quite nice at full res considering the gear ;)

Yup, they got you eh! Ouch! Looks like you came out OK though. I think I'll sneak through this OK, I'll probably try a couple shots with each lens and see what I get. It is one time I wish I had a 1.4 or 1.8 wide angle lens though....hmmm, maybe I'll rent one tomorrow from Roberts downtown.

JS

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Originally Posted by paulnj

I was invited to a thank you dinner for volunteers(I am a unpaid hawk migration volunteer, though I charge to document it). I got a call 2 hours before arriving "BRING YOUR CAMERA TOO".

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Usually when someone says that to me on short notice, I tend to "forget" my camera or an important accessory (battery, memory card) at home. I had to do that with my Fraternity a couple of times because they couldn't pay me and, despite knowing about events weeks (or months) in advance, they wouldn't think to have anyone document it until the night before. And this was after I told them that I would refuse to do any photography for them unless I had two weeks notice.

I suppose its different when you're a paying member of an organization that wants you to work the event as well as photograph it.

Are you sure you're not a staff photographer yet, JS? It sure sounds like it.

masdog, I noticed you have an Epson Stylus Photo R1800 printer. What paper have you found works best for portraiture shots, sizes 6 x 4, 8 x 10, A3/+.

Since this is going to be in an auditorium, I'm guessing there is going to be stage lights on the participants. The WB might be horrible, but you should be able to get adequate light to shoot somewhere between ISO 800 and ISO 1600. Using a flash shouldn't be a problem either, but you should definitely check with the event director to make sure its ok.

Peter,

I haven't tried printing those sizes yet. I just got the printer just over a week ago, and I haven't finished playing with it yet. I was mainly printing 11x14 sized images since that is what my school's athletic department wants.

I've been using Epson's Heavyweight Matte Paper since I'm not a big fan of glossy. I like the paper, but until I get my laptop screen calibrated (another $100 some bucks that I don't have just yet), I can't be sure that my prints match what is on my screen.

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Originally Posted by masdog

Are you sure you're not a staff photographer yet, JS? It sure sounds like it.

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LOL, Well you never know...the other guy is looking elsewhere, maybe they are going to use this to see if I can do more than "just" sports :eek: and with the way they have been working me since August you never know what they are up to.

JS

You are about at a similar stage that I am with as well. I have been using some glossy paper from Mediastreet.com with surprising results, but I would like to try the Matte paper as well. I have read the Lustre paper is good as well, hence why I am asking. The Epson specialty paper isn't cheap here in Australia. Neither are the inks but I have been surprised about how little ink (apparently) the printer uses so far, have printed about 5 A4 size prints with glossy. Will be interesting to see the different thoughts we both have of the printer.

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Originally Posted by JSPhoto

Yup, they got you eh! Ouch! Looks like you came out OK though. I think I'll sneak through this OK, I'll probably try a couple shots with each lens and see what I get. It is one time I wish I had a 1.4 or 1.8 wide angle lens though....hmmm, maybe I'll rent one tomorrow from Roberts downtown.

JS

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I love my 50mm f1.4. I'd love to have an 85mm f1.4 as well.

Renting a faster lens may be the way to go...

Yeah, I'd just buy a 50mm but certain people need to pay me first....waiting on around a grand they owe.....and waiting...... :confused: I'll probably get both checks Saturday after the bank closes :(

JS

You're press, they should let you use flash. But if they don't, relax, auditoriums are not bad. And they're singing, so slow shutter speeds will work, unlike sports. You will be fine with the IS. My only concern would be white balance, as some auditoriums have terrible quality of light. My suggestion is leave it on auto white balance and do any cleanup in post. If they have 60hz lamps nothing you can do will guarantee the right colors anyways.

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Originally Posted by Sebastian

You're press, they should let you use flash. But if they don't, relax, auditoriums are not bad. And they're singing, so slow shutter speeds will work, unlike sports. You will be fine with the IS. My only concern would be white balance, as some auditoriums have terrible quality of light. My suggestion is leave it on auto white balance and do any cleanup in post. If they have 60hz lamps nothing you can do will guarantee the right colors anyways.

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Thanks Sebastian....my hope is that since it is a newer school the lighting will be descent. And a thought just occured to see of the staff shooter has shot there and whether he will give me any settings he used...I doubt it though, he thinks I'm after his job.

JS

You should be fine especially since it's a newer school. Don't bother getting his settings, just go and treat it like any other situation. I have comfortably shot inside dim auditoriums with 1/50 and up speeds at ISO 400 and up. The IS helps you stay steady, but won't stop any subject blur.