Lighting question

[gcobb]

I shot a local band at a concert type venue Friday night. The downstage washes were very harsh at times and trying to meter on different things didn't do much for me. What does everyone do when there is just too much white lighting on the musicians?

I shoot raw, changed the exposure, temperature and tried just about everything I could.

A band emailed me and asked if I wanted to shoot them at a casino. I need a plan B.

Thanks!

[bacchanal]

I shot a local band at a concert type venue Friday night. The downstage washes were very harsh at times and trying to meter on different things didn't do much for me. What does everyone do when there is just too much white lighting on the musicians?

I shoot raw, changed the exposure, temperature and tried just about everything I could.

A band emailed me and asked if I wanted to shoot them at a casino. I need a plan B.

Thanks!

I'm no expert, but in a case like that I usually shoot in manual and use the histogram/highlight warning to adjust. Once you know the exposure for the bright white light you can switch to and from it as needed (for instance if the light is constantly changing, you could shoot in Av mode and then switch to your preset M settings when bright white shows up). Spot metering helps, but sometimes you'd still need a lot of EC to get it right in Av mode. There are probably better techiques for dealing with this, but that is what I've done.

[narlus]

blended exposures.

[DwightMcCann]

I shot a local band at a concert type venue Friday night. The downstage washes were very harsh at times and trying to meter on different things didn't do much for me. What does everyone do when there is just too much white lighting on the musicians?

I shoot raw, changed the exposure, temperature and tried just about everything I could.

A band emailed me and asked if I wanted to shoot them at a casino. I need a plan B.

Thanks!
Plan A should include bracketing!

[narlus]

dwight, sometimes the light is so severe that bracketing won't get you much. if you expose for one thing, then another's either completely blown out, or really dark. this is a problem in a couple of small places i shoot, and is esp bad for players off to the side, or when the 'main' guy moves around on stage (ie, outside the stationary can's output, and then his hands or midsection are getting the most light).

[René Damkot]

Second that. Also: Bracketing and Murpy's Law don't go together well IMO: The best expression will be the worst exposure...

Make sure the important highlights are not blown too much (about 1 1/2 stop is recoverable in ACR). Then blend exposures.

[DwightMcCann]

OK, OK, I didn't say bracketing was a cure all and I know Rene has a particular aversion to it due his own bad timing ... but like I say, find who shoots the images that you like best and do what they do. Me, I get paid whether Cobb gets what he wants or Rene misses the best expression. :lol: :lol: :lol: I get the same responses when I suggest a tripod, too!

[tipsy]

I get the same responses when I suggest a tripod, too!

And rightly so! ;)

Edit: because i almost forgot my trademark 'x'

[taygull]

I think more importantly find someone who shoots under the same conditions you do and learn from them. Just because someone gets great shots at venue A does not mean you will get great shots at venue B.

I would the brightest area in the image to be exposed properly, with that said there are times where a perfectly balanced exposure is just not possible. If this is the case and it is a must shoot then learn to work with multiple RAW exposures and do some blending.

We do this in the wedding biz all the time. There are times when it is difficult to get the detail in a white dress and get everything else exposed correctly.

[gcobb]

Is there a tutorial on blending images that you know of? I'm probably going to need to learn something about it.

I have a casino gig coming up soon too, so I'm going to have to get with the fine guys at Lensrentals.com to rent my backup.

I think more importantly find someone who shoots under the same conditions you do and learn from them. Just because someone gets great shots at venue A does not mean you will get great shots at venue B.

I would the brightest area in the image to be exposed properly, with that said there are times where a perfectly balanced exposure is just not possible. If this is the case and it is a must shoot then learn to work with multiple RAW exposures and do some blending.

We do this in the wedding biz all the time. There are times when it is difficult to get the detail in a white dress and get everything else exposed correctly.

[taygull]

I don't know of a tutorial but google layer masking.

The simplest thing to do is shoot raw and in your work flow adjust one image up and one image down. What I mean by this is expose the different things you want. Then put the two images in the same file. You can then apply a mask to the top image and basically erase the part that you want to show through from the bottom image.

There are many ways you can do these types of things.

[narlus]

rene turned me on to this one:

http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com/videos/BlendedExposures.mov

i like it because you don't have to paint.

[gcobb]

Thankyaverymuch!

[René Damkot]

Yep, that's a nice video. I use that method a lot. It also helps to use a levels adjustment on the mask, or use a quickmask to select only a part of it, and fill the rest.
I do still use the airbrush for masking, for instance with a total stage shot, if someone is recieving less light then the rest. The technique used in the video lowers the contrats (duh), which you don't allways want.

Here (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=3068431&postcount=7) is a post with how the layers might look like...
'Layer 1' has a layer mask I made with the airbrush.
'Layer 2' has a mask that was made as in the video, and then adjusted with levels, so it only shows the whitest parts. I think I also airbrushed in it, to make sure it did not affect the surroundings.
Curves layers have masks done with airbrush.

Image gets a bit of 'noisey and smokey', but in this case I don't mind. Normally I'd keep the dark parts darker.