Shot in theater/no flash used/low light

[mypoppy31]

I never did like using the flash. Maybe I'll eventually buy a Canon Speedlite and see how I might like that, but so far, I'm pretty happy not using the flash.

On this shot, I was sitting all the way in the very back of the theater, I would guess about 100 feet or so from the stage. I was trying a new lens that was only a f/3.5, but it had Optical Stabilization, which gave me a 2 or 3 stop shutter speed advantage.

I took a whole mess of shots on this night, knowing that with this 3.5 lens, that luck
had to be on my side or else!..

I used shutter priority mode, 1/100 shutter speed, 5.6 aperture, ISO 1600, and at 134mm. The lens was a Sigma 18-200 3.5 OS. Camera is a Canon Rebel XT.
I'm not a professional, so for me, I liked what I saw when I got home and downloaded my memory card onto the computer.

Let me know what you think!.

[busy91]

That is a great zoom you got there. I'm looking into a 18-200 zoom lens. I'm impressed.

[<AkulA>]

Nice shot, although a bit noisy. Did you brighten it in post? You might try and shoot at a wider aperture, so you don't have to brighten it afterwords!

[sethmo]

I too am wanting to get an 18-200mm Sigma. Want to ditch my kit lens and Sigma 70-300mm for one. Hope you dont mind, ran your photo through a quick Noiseware filter to remove some of the noise. Noiseware(plugin or standalone) is a must have for any xxxD owner who has to shoot at ISO1600 :)
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f39/sethmo38/People/noiseware.jpg

[<AkulA>]

Oh! Much cleaner - kinda softens the skin too - not like they really needed it tho, lol.

[johnstoy]

Nice moment captured... How about a crop right across the hips, to eliminate the partial legs and the dark head.

Sort of a panorama type of image.

[Curtis N]

It's properly exposed and you caught a great expression. That's 90% of theatre photography right there!

No need to explain why you didn't use flash. Theatre isn't the place for it.

[Rock Photo Star]

unless you plan on triggering strobes around the stage, not sure how you would be shooting flash from a hundred feet away.

[René Damkot]

Very nice image for the circumstances. still okay disregarding circumstances ;)

[cdifoto]

It's properly exposed and you caught a great expression. That's 90% of theatre photography right there!

What's the other 10 per cent? :) :p

[Curtis N]

What's the other 10 per cent? :) :pCleavage.

[cdifoto]

Cleavage.

Damn I need to get into theatre photography too.

[<AkulA>]

What, theres no cleavage in porn?!

[alan_potter]

I would have said "legs", but each to his own ;)

regards,
/alan

[Buddy Thomason]

I'm surprised you got away with 1/100 shutter speed. A lot of your other shots must have been blurred. This one, however, is very nice! Noise reduction is a must in low ambient light shots.

[skanter]

I'm surprised you got away with 1/100 shutter speed. A lot of your other shots must have been blurred. This one, however, is very nice! Noise reduction is a must in low ambient light shots.

He used the Sigma 18-200 OS (that's Optical Stabilization). I've shot with this lens at 200mm (320mm) and gotten sharp results at 1/15th! It's a terrific lens, and ideal for indoors without flash, as well as outdoors at low shutter speeds enabling shooting at f8 most of the time -- where the lens is sharpest.

[Buddy Thomason]

Yes, makes sense. Sorry, I missed that in the original post (It was past my bedtime!). I use the Canon 70-200mm L f2.8 IS (Image Stabalization), the 300mm L f2.8 IS and the 500mm L f4.0 IS - all incredible lenses. I understands Sigma also makes excellent lenses. I do a lot of product photography using the Canon TSE 90mm tilt/shift lens and love it but I'm looking for second lens to better handle close detail views and am considering Sigma's relatively new 70mm macro which is getting rave reviews.

Back to the original post - mypoppy31, that's a terrific capture!

[skanter]

Yes, makes sense. Sorry, I missed that in the original post (It was past my bedtime!). I use the Canon 70-200mm L f2.8 IS (Image Stabalization), the 300mm L f2.8 IS and the 500mm L f4.0 IS - all incredible lenses. I understands Sigma also makes excellent lenses. I do a lot of product photography using the Canon TSE 90mm tilt/shift lens and love it but I'm looking for second lens to better handle close detail views and am considering Sigma's relatively new 70mm macro which is getting rave reviews.

Back to the original post - mypoppy31, that's a terrific capture!

While the Sigma 18-200mm OS is not on par with L lenses, its the combination of range, good quality and price that make it exceptional.