Theatre Photography pls. critique

[Rory]

I've been playing with Photoshop for a fair few years now, and have been improving my amateur photos in any way that I can. I now find myself in a position where I am taking all of the PR shots and show archive photos for the theatre that I work at. I am the sound designer primarily, but have a hand at the majority of media design including website, tv commercials, projections design, print design etc., so I'm pretty well involved. 2 years ago, I suggested that we invest in a FujiFilm s7000, as I was familiar with that unit, and with the operation of the FujiFilm cameras. It has been good enough for what I've done in that time, and anything that wasn't good enough I fixed in photoshop. As I have been asking more of that camera, I have started to become frustrated by it's limitations, noticeable JPEG compression, poor reaction times, and not-so-great operation in limited light situations, which I come across a lot in theatre... Recently my Dad graciously donated his Canon EOS 300D to me (he upgraded to a 20D!) and now I have a new toy to learn, which is great. Here are some pictures that I took about a year ago with the S7000 as PR shots for Jekyll & Hyde. My favourite is the portrait of just J&H, the other shot is very obviously contrived (the curtain was photoshopped in to make the background more interesting), but I am still pleased with it. I shot this against a black drape, mainly to disguise the wall we were against, if I remember rightly we used a single 6" fresnel, aimed right at them, with diffusion and silk to soften the light... told you I worked in theatre!

Hints and tips?? Thanks in anticipation.

[Vetteography]

I like them both!

[just pictures]

Nice lighting,nice work!

[theflyingkiwi]

I like them both also. the first one, one has to look a little deeper to see that what's reflected is not what it should be :)

the only problem I have is on the 2nd one, it had taken me longer to figure out that there is a face attached to the guy. It could be the hair, but I think it is just to dark.

but what makes the photos really good is the way lighting.

[Petergull]

Great shots! Look forward to seeing more with the 300D...

[Rory]

Thanks, I'll post some more when I take them... I may be asking for help taking headshots too. I've not been pleased with my results thus far. I'm hoping the 300D will help there too

[Matatazela]

Great atmosphere, composition and a hint of tension... Goot pics!

[PhotosGuy]

Nice work, but they seem excessivly yellow on my monitor. Try Custom WB, or maybe claibrate your monitor?
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=54281
http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html

[Chazs]

Great shots. My only comment is also on the color; seems a little greenish. Here's a little fix with a cooling filter through photoshop.

[MAD DOG]

Love them. Well done

[Rory]

Here's a little fix with a cooling filter through photoshop.

Thanks, I can definitely see the difference, and in comparison my originals look very yellow/greenish. I remember adjusting the levels in Photoshop, but not playing with the colour too much... Is this likely to have been a white balance issue?

[RbrtPtikLeoSeny]

Looks like white balance to me. Shooting RAW is usually very helpful with that as I have recently discovered. :) Too bad RAW takes up so much darn memory.:evil: