Total Disaster @ The Ritz - Warren, MI

[ilantis]

No, "total disaster" isn't a band name...but rather what I came home with after shooting tonight. :( Hopefully, with a little help from the POTN community, I can flip this into my most meaningful shoot (in terms of learning from my mistakes).

This venue is close to where I work so I figured I would pop in beforehand and shoot the show. It was an all ages 6PM Sunday show, so needless to say...not many people were there and no lightshow tonight (hell, the sound engineer wasn't even at the mixing board after sound check). I had shot here at a CD release party several weeks prior and it was a totally different experience.

I knew I was screwed when I saw only 4 cans lighting the front of the stage...2 red, 1 blue, one purple. This was much less than what was at my 1st shoot (I went back through old pics and discovered that some cans weren't even physically there anymore!) What was there was aimed at the middle of the stage such that when a performer stood on the front edge, only the top of their head would illuminate.

I also had several new variables that I didn't have at the prior show: a new Sigma 30mm f/1.4, the confidence to shoot full manual, and trying Partial Metering as opposed to Center Weighted which I had been using (XTi so no Spot Metering). After struggling for the first 15 mins with full manual and not getting anything that was totally blown out or underexposed, I kicked to Shutter Priority where I mostly dwelled at the 1/125 - 1/250s range. However, even then I couldn't seem to get a result that wasn't spiking the histograms at both ends. Here are a couple of the "best" ones...staight from camera RAW to JPEG (I doubt I am going to do much PP with these...hoping for mostly a learning experience):

#1) Snapshot The Stars
http://www.ilantisstudio.com/static/ritz1.jpg

#2) What Happens In Vegas
http://www.ilantisstudio.com/static/ritz2.jpg

#3) A Kidnap In Color
http://www.ilantisstudio.com/static/ritz3.jpg

Some of the big problems I was having throughout the whole shoot:
- Finding a shutter/aperture combination that worked for the shots. Seems like if my main subject was decently exposed, someone in the background would be completely blown out or vice versa. Especially when I was shooting in Manual mode.
- Making do with the harsh gels on the lights.
- Shots with action still look pretty fuzzy. Not sure if this is due to shutter speed, my hand, or something else...thought I would have been pretty safe at 1/125th.

Questions:
- On an XTi, does Partial metering get calculated from the center of the image when the shutter fires, or is it based on where the AF point was set? The reason I ask is that I found that pointing the camera directly into a rear light, half-depressing the shutter button, and then snapping my subject had the effect of raising the light in the whole image (though in hindsight I should have been using manual focus for this). If this is an actual "technique," what is it called so I can research more? :)
- I have read people that prefer Center Weighted metering and others that use Spot or Partial metering. Should they be used for different types of shots, or do they typically get used as a set-it-and-forget-it option?

Ok, that is enough words for now. Sorry for the rather long-winded post, I figure I should post as much info about the scenario as possible. Hopefully it hasn't sounded like I am making excuses. I know that I should have been able to capture some component of the performance clearly...but I just couldn't figure out how given the skill I have. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[tomcat360]

Total Disaster, that's a good band name ;)

Anyways, it continually meters until the shot is taken, unless you exposure lock (the little button next to the AF point selector)

So if you want to expose the guy singing for example, you want to focus on him, and get like a large spot on him that is near the average brightness, then exposure lock. Now you can recompose and it won't change until you take the picture. A spot meter on the camera is great for concerts because of the large contrast in light, so you can pinpoint a spot on the person and not get meter readings off everything else.

So it is definitely not a set and forget feature, unless you are just trying to get a general idea and you manually adjust from there. Partial is as close as you are going to get to a spot meter, it's the little circle you have in your viewfinder.

Also, if you are shooting a zoom lens, you can zoom in to say, his face, then exposure lock, and zoom back out.



Good luck, I hope I didn't say anything that you already knew.

[ilantis]

Thanks for that info tomcat, I have had only read about the exposure lock while pouring through the menu and the usefulness is finally apparent after you explain it! :D And good tips for using it in the field.

Unfortunately I don't have any fast zoom lenses yet...so it is the nifty 50 and the Sigma for now. Though after yesterday, I kind of miss the reach that the 50mm was giving me before (which felt "too close" at the last show where I was essentially pinned to the front of the stage by the crowd/mosh pit). Why must I always pick the most expensive hobbies. :confused:

Also came up with another question:
When shooting the various members of bands there is a pretty good chance that I wind up changing settings to cope with a different lighting situation. Sometimes I find myself missing/passing on cool shots elsewhere because I can't, or know that I can't get settings changed in time. I know I can't be the only person this happens to, so how do you cope? Do you just focus on a certain member for awhile and move on or duke it out and try to keep up with the settings? I find myself wanting to always shoot the coolest thing going on at any given point in time...

[bacchanal]

Also came up with another question:
When shooting the various members of bands there is a pretty good chance that I wind up changing settings to cope with a different lighting situation. Sometimes I find myself missing/passing on cool shots elsewhere because I can't, or know that I can't get settings changed in time. I know I can't be the only person this happens to, so how do you cope? Do you just focus on a certain member for awhile and move on or duke it out and try to keep up with the settings? I find myself wanting to always shoot the coolest thing going on at any given point in time...

Keep your camera up and your eyes open. Like driving, it is good to constantly scan you situation (check road, speed, road, mirrors, road, etc.). It's the same with the camera, you don't want to get tunnel vision...partly because you don't want to miss shots, and partly because you don't want to get moshed into or hit with a flying beer. That said you will always miss shots due to bad angles, mic stands in the way, bad focus, wrong side of the stage...it is just the nature of the game. You just have to do your best, try to anticipate the moment and hopefully have luck on your side once in awhile.

If I'm shooting w/ a 3 song rule I usually try to plan things out ahead, especially a good idea if you're a prime shooter. For instance, I'm going to shoot at X spot with X lens at X person, then maybe change lens and/or subject, then move to a different pre determined spot....all the while looking/hoping for the unexpected opportune shot of course.

Btw, to answer part of your original question...part of the softness may be due to the strong reds. I think you lose something like 2/3 of the resolution due to only the red pixels being exposed (don't quote me on that). Also, blown color channels kill detail. Often, you can bring a lot of detail back by lowering some saturation/exposure in the reds or converting to b&w.

[ilantis]

Good tips...I was wondering if the overbearing reds were having negative consequences. When I was there the last time there were more yellows and whites. I also remember reading a post on here where someone just said that they stopped shooting if red or blues filled the stage. I will have to do some more research on that.

Hope to get out somewhere again tonight and see what I can come up with! Thanks for all the info so far and keep posting if there is more to add! :D

[johnstoy]

The red lighting is tough to deal with in post processing... often it tends to discourage the photog. from pursuing stage action photography... It usually only gets better from here...

You might instead want to focus more on your "in camera" framing of the individual captures... and thereafter trim/cropping in post processing.

DSLR's yield pretty good results, that can afford reasonable trimming and cropping within reason, without much loss of detail.

[ilantis]

You might instead want to focus more on your "in camera" framing of the individual captures... and thereafter trim/cropping in post processing.
John, do you mention this because of the framing of the shots I posted? #2 was framed that way intentionally (since there was an ugly mic stand "halving" the guy to the right so I figured, why bother) but I didn't even notice that I had cut off the main subjects in 1 + 3 at awkward spots! I wasn't even shooting around peoples' heads at this show like normal. :)

I was trying to avoid breaking the "don't center the performer in the frame" rule but it looks like I kind of botched it on another level. Are you suggesting that it have been safer to get the performer's full body in the shot and crop it off center in post?

Also, when doing crops...is it typical to try to keep the Height, Width ratios roughly proportionate to the original dimensions, or just whatever works for the scene? I have cropped some images to almost square which got rid of things I didn't want to see, but it felt kind of 'off' for whatever reason. FWIW, I am doing almost 100% digital work right now...so no prints.

As for getting discouraged from live shows as a result...I was definitely disappointed, but concerts are all that I am interesting in shooting right now. Hope you plan on putting up with my barrage of questions for some time! :D