I make no claims to be anything other than learning stage photography technique, and am at a fairly basic level. I am posting some notes here on what I try to think about when doing so in the hope that others will correct me, make additions and turn this into a useful thread.
So here goes - my thoughts on photographing stage musicals.
Preparation
* Try to get a recording of the show. Not the MGM musical version, the stage version. MGM - and other movie musicals - generally mess around with the music to fit the demands of film. Why learn the music?
- When does the music end? Directors often have a final picture for an instant, immediately followed by a crash blackout. If you're not ready for the moment, you've missed it.
- Are there "moments" in the music? Humorous bits that'll get a reaction from someone? Dramatic moments, again you're looking for the reaction.
* Get the libretto - this is the book that has the script. This lets you know what happens when, when the important moments in the show occur, what's going to happen in the dialogue, when people are going to react
* Equipment - what are you going to take along? Make sure you've got lots of memory cards, spare batteries for the camera (and flash?) Do you want to take a monopod? Do you want more than one lens (can you afford the time to change lens?) Should you take a laptop, to burn your pictures to CD to leave with the group, if they want to use any for publicity? Can you plug it in, or do you need to make sure it's fully charged?
On stage
* Okay, there are three main groups of people on stage in a stage musical:
- Principals. They are the named characters, who sing and/or speak solo.
- Chorus. Generally a numerically large group of people, they sing at the same time as everyone else.
- Dancers. Well, you know what they are.
How you shoot them varies by group.
- Principals should be the best singers and/or actors. Most (not all) acting comes from the face. So concentrate on that. Get in fairly close, those faces tell the story of the show. Of course, the entire body is often very important, depending on the show - don't forget that while concentrating on the faces.
"The art of acting is in reacting". What a person speaking says is important, but don't forget that the person to whom they are speaking will react. Those reactions will often be bigger and more visual than the dialogue that provokes the reaction.
Singing (this applies to the chorus too). When people are singing, they should have their mouths wide open, their heads ever so slightly tilted back, their shoulders open. It's very easy to take unflattering photos of people in such a pose. If at all possible, try to get above the performers; that way they'll be looking at you, their necks will be slightly stretched and hence no double chin, and you won't be taking photos up their nostrils.
- The chorus can be great fun! Don't just take wide shots of the picture they make - get right in there and take pictures of the individuals in the chorus. They can give great reaction shots, and often are doing things they shouldn't. Be merciless - take pictures of the guy who, unaccustomed to wearing tights, constantly adjusts his crotch. Take pictures of the woman who spends most of her time adjusting her ill-fitting rented dress to show less (or more!) ofher cleavage. That kind of thing makes for a great laugh when people look back on the show, and community theatre in particular is all about fun.
Of course, you should still take wide shots of the picture they make too!
- Dancers. Dance probably started out as a way for people to demonstrate to each other their strength and fitness - the males showing that they could provide food and the women that they could bear children. Dance is still about physical attractiveness, about appearance and sexuality. You are doing a dis-service to dancers if you don't show this.
I understand that many of you are photographing school productions, and realise that there are difficulties here. But you are not "prying" with your lens - you're not taking pictures in the dressing room. You are reflecting what people are doing in a public auditorium.
So, what do dancers bring to a show? Graceful movement, elegant body lines, attractive costumes and - possibly most importantly - a smile that can stop a clock at a hundred paces. You can't capture the movement, but the body positions, the appearance and that smile are the things that will get you thanks from the dancers.
Also, you can also imply the movement through things like catching the top of a leap, or from using a low shutter speed and getting motion blur.
Lifts are often very exciting things for dancers to be doing. Try to get those moments when the girl is being held in the air by her partner. And if you can avoid the man grimacing, so much the better!
Final thoughts
* If you can get more than one night night photographing, why not try one concentrating on the people who generate reactions, then the next night focusing on the reactions?
* Megapixels are your friend. Most people will be delighted to have 5x7 prints, and would be happy enough if that came from a 1000x1500 crop of your image. They are not camera geeks and won't care if the picture is slightly soft. Better that than missing someone's outstretched arm, or cutting a face in half as the actor moves quickly.
* If you're allowed a flash, it can help in those moments when the director has got really "interesting" lighting and you are trying to take the principals. Set it to something like -2EV, you can get some fill light to improve the colours on the principals while still getting the background from the existing light.
* Shooting RAW+JPG allows you to give "rushes" to the comapny to use for publicity photos that night, then you can go home and postprocess at your leisure. It's amazing how much detail can be pulled out of the RAW images, even when the lighting designer has been playing games...
All comments welcomed.
regards,
/alan
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. My philosophy is that I am trying to capture the color and overall lighting that the director and/or lighting director set up; they are doing their part to add to the show, just as the musicians and actors are.
