Promo Work for Performing Arts Center

[londonblue007]

A few weeks ago I was asked to do some shots for the Rogers Center for the Arts at Merrimack College. Their current photography is from the original opening of the center (10 Years ago!), so they decided they needed some new stuff. Coincidentally, I was at the 10th anniversary celebration and was told of a sold out show the following night that they’d love to have pictures of. So, off I went to a sold out shot to shoot some new promo shots of the center. I’ve submitted some of the shots and they will be used in next years promo campaigns (and probably the year after, and year after...). You’ll notice in pic 3 the stage is ‘blown out’, which is a result of a contractually requirement from the performers that their faces not be seen in any photography work.


1 Interior Panorama, Just before call to places. 6 Shots.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2732/4466789277_3532d4fab6_b.jpg

2 Exterior. 13 seconds. f/16.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2726/4466801357_89ec7680a5_b.jpg

3 Interior, during the Finale. 2 seconds. f/8
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4006/4467597434_4412c1b94c_b.jpg

[narlus]

first shot is solid...is the color scheme yellow and maroon, or is the white balance off a bit?

for the 3rd, were the performers moving, or static? such a huge blownout portion of the image kills it...if there were performers moving, you could have used a longer shutter speed so that facial features were blurred, but you could tell they were people. this technique is used a lot for restaurants, malls, etc.

[londonblue007]

first shot is solid...is the color scheme yellow and maroon, or is the white balance off a bit?

for the 3rd, were the performers moving, or static? such a huge blownout portion of the image kills it...if there were performers moving, you could have used a longer shutter speed so that facial features were blurred, but you could tell they were people. this technique is used a lot for restaurants, malls, etc.

The first one, yes, the color scheme is yellow and maroon. here is a shot from a few years back I took with a different exposure (exposed for the stage, where as #1 above is exposed for the audience) :
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3228/2781212809_826b9f6569_b.jpg


For the third, The goal was to see the people in the audience and get a sense of a full crowd. I tried a few different exposures to try and get the crowd in enough light and in focus. The 2second f/8 (above) is the one that finally worked pretty well. Also have to note there was a ton of stage light and 2 spot lights. ISO1000 at f/2.8 and 1/100 was the perfect exposure for the stage, but gave me a black void for an audience, not to mention a rather shallow FOV. As I played with the exposure and aperture, I got different results, but none really illuminated the audience they way the client had requested. I also was required to run my photos by the production manager for the touring show (just on the camera screen) and did have to delete a few of the "questionable" ones. I was annoyed, but thought they sucked anyway, so no loss on my part.