School Auditorium Photo Criticism

I shoot our local music program's events, selling the prints to raise money for the kids. Totally volunteer basis; not for profit. Nonetheless, I want to do the best I can with the horrific auditorium lighting. The other tricky part is trying to get a shot of very single kid so all the parents get an image. Here are some examples of what I've done using a Canon 70-200 L 2.8 IS. (This is the first time I've ever posted for criticism, so I'm a bit scared, but this is all about learning.) The last two were particularly disturbing. I did what I could in LR, but- blah. I'm sorry if this is too many.Thanks in advance for your tips and advice!

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …03324950@N03/12​020056735/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …03324950@N03/11​967136846/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …03324950@N03/12​021025926/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …03324950@N03/11​441585193/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …03324950@N03/11​440001064/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …03324950@N03/11​440148054/

By the way, I had to use the watermarks because people steal these from flickr.

Given the poor room lighting in a very big space...an auditorium....I think your photos were not bad at all. There's some shadow....but working in this environment it's a hard task.

Thank you. It is hard.

The drummer is a fantastic photo...

Thanks!

The group shots have something funny going on in the highlights. Its like a slightly pink smear in the highlights on their faces, did you do anything in post to bring the highlights back down?

gonzogolf wrote in post #16741530
The group shots have something funny going on in the highlights. Its like a slightly pink smear in the highlights on their faces, did you do anything in post to bring the highlights back down?

THAT was the biggest issue I had. I was so frustrated. I worked with those shots in LR for days, and I could not bring down the highlights. I tried everything I could think of. There must be a way. Any help on that would be a huge favor. Thanks!

I'm going to be shooting Guys and Dolls in the same auditorium, so any tips are very welcome!

It seems to me that the highlights were blown out in the first place, in more than one channel if not all of them. Did you use the Recovery slider?

glasllyn wrote in post #16741557
THAT was the biggest issue I had. I was so frustrated. I worked with those shots in LR for days, and I could not bring down the highlights. I tried everything I could think of. There must be a way. Any help on that would be a huge favor. Thanks!

The only way to do it, is to not overepose the hightlights to begin with. Once the image clips, meaning the highlights are overexposed to the point that no data exists within that white, you cant fill in. Lightroom will try, but you see what you get. Do you have the blinkies enabled on your LCD? Do you use the histogram to check exposure? Both of those things will alert you to clipping, the blinkies will show you exactly where. You have to learn when its okay to have some blinkie, occasionally its more important to save a middle tone than a highlight, but its a useful tool. But back to the issue at heart, avoid clipping in shots like this, you can always lift a shadow a bit, or tweak a middle tone, but once a highlight is gone, its gone.

Alveric wrote in post #16741566
It seems to me that the highlights were blown out in the first place, in more than one channel if not all of them. Did you use the Recovery slider?

I guess I'm not familiar enough with LR. I don't know what you're referring to. Is that in LR 5? The contrast in there is brutal. I didn't know what better settings I could have used.

Sorry, just googled it: that'd be the Highlights slider in version 5 (I'm still using version 3.3).

Alveric wrote in post #16741581
Sorry, just googled it: that'd be the Highlights slider in version 5 (I'm still using version 3.3).

Yes, that's what I used, but to no good end.

gonzogolf wrote in post #16741571
Do you have the blinkies enabled on your LCD? Do you use the histogram to check exposure? Both of those things will alert you to clipping, the blinkies will show you exactly where. You have to learn when its okay to have some blinkie, occasionally its more important to save a middle tone than a highlight, but its a useful tool. But back to the issue at heart, avoid clipping in shots like this, you can always lift a shadow a bit, or tweak a middle tone, but once a highlight is gone, its gone.

I do not use that, and I'm dumb for ignoring the histogram. There's so much to learn.