"Band/Artist Shot"

Ok, I took about 1.5gig of pics tonight. I'm guessing I had the white balance off, even though I do have a white card I shoot and chose that image as my custom white blance. I used my Sigma 70-200m f/2.8 as well as my Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 most of the night. I included the setting in this pic. I also did use a monopod.

I really think I should be able to get a sharper pic?

I'd love some advice and help understanding what caused the "red look"?

All the pics looked like this.

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I'd say the WB is off quite a bit. I also see you are shooting at 1/50, f2.8. 1/50 is quite slow for that focal length - 175mm. Rule of thumb is 1/focal length - at least...It could very easily be camera shake of subject shake you are seeing. I assume the subject was moving.

I took a quick shot at a correction with photoshop CS2
. If you want it taken down let me know... I'm no expert at photoshop, that's for sure.

I don't know what causes the red (I'm sure someone will tell you) but I do know that shooting raw makes these corrections a lot easier.

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The problem if I shoot any fast shutter speed is they just won't come out, right? I'm shooting AV mode at f2.8 and letting the camera pic the shutter speed. If I shoot TV and pick a shutter speed around 200 then they will be well underexposed?

What about the metering? I'm going to read that today to see if I can get a better grip on it. I would assume the best way is to meter the subject and not the "average"? I'm not sure of which setting is which so I'll read that today.

The lighting was very low but not so low that I should be able to come out with some decent shots. I was using a monopod to help with the camera shake.

What I'm trying to do is not use flash so as to not bother the artist; I will be shooting in low light like this on a regular basis.

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The first thing I would do would be to set my ISO to 3200 and use the fastest lens you have at your disposal.

If possible get up closer rather than use the longer zoom - either the 24-70mm or the 85mm would be much better options I think.

Also look for chances when there is more light than others - usually the lighting changes and if you can get a shot a the moment there is more light you will get better results.

The red look is caused by the lighting. There are several things I have found that help with the redness - shoot raw and adjust the white balance when post processing; apply some lens filters post processing - greens and blues can significantly cut the red - use the channel mixer to cut back on the red channel, also for some shots turn them to black and white and play around with the contrasts, brightness and saturation levels. It's through trial and error I have found these solutions - some work better than others depending on the shot. If anyone else has some suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Here are three quick tries for fixing the red:
This one I went into the colour mixer and knocked the red back to about 85% and then went to autolevels.

I think I like the B/W the best.

I'm using PS Elements for now, what would I do to convert a pic to black and white? Once I get more comfortable with the gear I'll try and learn raw. I've only had my stuff about a month and really am just starting out.

Thanks!

Also, how do I get my ISO to 3200. I am shooting in AV Mode and don't seem to be able to go above 1600?

I use PS elements 4 as well as CS2 you can get some really nice B & W effects with Elements 4 - take a look at the creative portfolio on my website they were all post processed with Elements - PS2 does give you more control though. My advice is to spend a bit of time experimenting with the different settings and see what works for you.

To get to ISO 3200 you need to set the custom function (8 I think) to allow you to access it. Check your manual if in doubt.

Also you don't need to "learn RAW" I find you get much clearer results shooting RAW and adjusting the white balance in the post processing can help with cutting out the reds to some degree and getting more natural skin tones.

Red photos always mean B&W for me Friend of mine had the same thing happen to him cept it was caused by the only lighting in the place was two red lamps aimed at the band.

The Elements 2.0 software that came with the 20D is still upgradeable (for $300) to CS2.

And as mentioned, ISO 3200 is a custom function that will show H when enabled.

The crazy thing is I've seen the H before, maybe it TV mode. I've tried to get to it in AV Mode and had no luck????