College concerts

[jesshen]

First of all I'm just a mom who loves photography, not a pro (or anywhere close). My college daughter is a music major and we attend choral group performances as well as faculty performances as it is a part of her life. Since it is classical music noisy camera equipment is usually frowned on and definitely no flash allowed. Tripod is also tough because they really don't want any obvious picture-taking. So I usually try to sit discreetly in my seat and get in a few shots to record the event and hopefully learn from each batch of mistakes.

I mostly shoot with 350D and Tamron 28-75mm f.2.8 lens. I do have an 85mm 1.8 but found it difficult to use the one focal length sitting in one place, since sometimes I wanted to get larger group shots as well as closer-up. And I also have a Canon 70-300mm f.4-5.6 IS but it is not as fast an aperture.

In looking over my photos, I am mostly in P mode and evaluative metering. I think this is a large part of my problem, as the meter is confused with large groups of people wearing black, black grand pianos, dark hall and yellow lighting on stage so that the blacks are washed out, and the faces overexposed, but yet the shutter speed is slow and I'm not freezing action or getting good focus. I am thinking that if I bump up my ISO to 1600 and go to Manual, it will really help-- the only problem is that I am not sure what settings for exposure what would be good (or how to use the camera's meter correctly to determine anything). What would be some typical exposure settings on manual, for classical concert settings like this?

I think I also have a lot of trouble with metering-- because although I think I am metering on skin, maybe they are too far away and the skin areas are too small (I can't always get a good seat near the front). Or maybe it's because it's evaluative metering. If I put it into the Partial Metering mode it might help, but of course I could only use that in P, Av, or Tv.

I would appreciate any advice or help.

Thanks,
Jessica

[René Damkot]

Since it's classical music, I assume lighting is constant? (although it might vary from one spot to the next, the lights won't go on and off)?

Then manual would be your best bet.


Just set the camera to partial metering, and meter a face (or as much of it as you can). Set the exposure so the meter shows somewhere around 0 to +1. (Depending on skintone and how much of the metering area is filled with the face. I'm assuming Caucasian here, since you mention "overexposed faces").

Or, if you are too far to properly meter skintone, meter the black clothing, and get the exposure meter to about -1 or -2. Then:

Take a shot. Review it on the display. Watch the histogram and (mostly) watch for "blinkies" (overexposure warning; your manual will tell you how to set that).
If there are people wearing white, make sure that you *just* don't get blinkies on (big parts) of that.



Shoot RAW.
Set tungsten white balance.
Set your display to a lower brightness, otherwise you'll probably be fooled if you try to judge exposure from it (which is a bad idea anyways).


Two things to keep in mind;


Your 70-300mm f.4-5.6 will change aperture as you zoom. So you'll have to adjust shutterspeed to compensate.
Not all places on stage will be equally lit, so you'll have to adjust shutterspeed to compensate for that too..


I'd aim for a shutterspeed of 1/125 at least, faster with the 70-300.
ISO 1600 will probably be needed.

[jesshen]

Thanks very much Rene, this is very useful advice. I will put it into practice this weekend as we are attending some concerts at my daughter's university. And yes it is constant lighting on the stage, though of course different from point to point.

I've always used my Tamron 28-75 because of the f.2.8, but I would prefer more focal length and flexibility of the 70-300 if the aperture is not a hindrance. From what you say, it is a possibility... I'll try it with both lenses.

I really appreciate your help!

Jessica

[René Damkot]

Very much depends on the amount of light...
I've been able to shoot at 1/250s; f/4; ISO 1600 at times, but not too often...

A monopod (or some other for of stabilisation, like a bean bag or simply supporting your arms on a bench) might help steady the camera enough to make 1/125s usable at 300mm, but don't expect miracles ;)