Help photographing play?

Hi I've been asked by my college to photo one of the plays to show what I can do; this might clinch the deal for doing A level Art next year- now out of the glass I have which is best suited to plays... ok you can say none lol
how about the Canon 100-400mm L IS... I might be able to borrow that off a friend- if not I could always rent a lens for the day... which one you reckon- the Canon 100-300 IS? would be nice and cheap...
Also can anyone help me out with techniques- like use Av?
what aperture should I be looking for?
not flash- so what ISO... etc.
I really have no idea- have never done this before-
Also I've been asked to photograph the choir in June at a cathedral- what would be good for that? 100mm macro? or the canon 100-300mm IS even?
Or should I be looking to rent like the 70-200mm 2.8 (IS or not...) sorry if I seem obsessed with IS... but I'm sure I read it was better for this sort of thing- maybe not... lol that's how much i know!

Will be very grateful for any help- read a bit of the sticky on concert photography- will read the rest later...

Thanks

From your lens selection, the two most useful will be the 100mm F/2.8 and the 10-20.
Generally you need fast lenses for anything under stage lighting, but with wide angles you can sometimes get away with slow shutter speeds if people aren't moving. Use the 10-20 to get full-stage shots of the "freeze" at the end of the scene before the lights blackout (you gotta be quick). Use the 100mm for everything else and zoom with your feet. If you can rent a 70-200 f/2.8 IS that might help, too.

ISO 1600, Av mode with the lens wide-open. Use CW Average or evaluative metering with agressive EC adjustments (I'm talking 1 stop or more) for black or white backgrounds. Chimp and adjust often. This isn't the only way to do it, but it works for me.

Shoot RAW so you can fix exposure later within reason. Set the WB on tungsten. Shoot dress rehearsals, not performances. Don't expect really good results the first time. This is a tough environment to shoot in and it takes a lot of practice to do well.

thanks- awesome; just curious but why not shoot performances- I could go along to the dress rehearsal and take what shots I could then I would know when to shoot what etc...

Ferco wrote in post #3204585
thanks- awesome; just curious but why not shoot performances- I could go along to the dress rehearsal and take what shots I could then I would know when to shoot what etc...

At dress rehearsals you don't have to worry about getting in the audience's way and you can be close to the stage. Your shutter sound is also not a distraction to the audience... basically you don't have to worry about the audience.

Dress rehearsals are often at a more convenient time as well, perhaps in the evening on the Thursday before the opening weekend.

Ferco wrote in post #3204585
why not shoot performances...

1) It annoys the audience. When people pay good money to see a show, they deserve not to be distracted by a photographer running around and clicking away. If you have access to the tech booth or an unoccupied balcony, that may be a viable option, but not a great option.
2) Without a house full of people, you'll be free to go wherever you want to get the best angles. This is even more important when you're shooting with a prime lens and need to move forward and back to get the right field of view.

It does help to attend more than one rehearsal and learn the show if you have time.

Right- it's a college play; so there's only one or two dress rehearsals- will go to them and get the photos then if I can; that might be the best option; that way I can just stick to the glass I have just now? Or would it still be good to rent the 70-200mm 2.8 IS so I don't have to move QUITE as much and annoy the cast lol=
Don't want me nickname around campus to be 'that annoying photo guy' lol

Don't worry about annoying the cast. They should be prepared to handle minor distractions and if they're focused on their jobs they won't even notice you. They want good pictures as much as anyone and as long as you deliver the goods, they will be grateful.

Renting the 70-200 is up to you. Keep in mind that when you zoom to 200mm you'll need a faster shutter speed. For that reason it's usually better to stay reasonably close so you don't need a long lens. It's real hard to know what lenses will work best, without seeing the show and knowing the venue.

I love the 70-200 IS for this kind of stuff! At least the stage where I mostly shoot I can't really get that close. At ISO 1600 I'm usually getting between 1/100 and 1/250 which is just dandy with IS enabled.

If you are sticking with what you have... then I would use the 100 f/2.8, but make sure you have room to backup to get the whole stage when you need to

what curtis N said was good... but i strongly reccomend shooting in raw!
x

Ferco, what do you know about the size of the auditorium where you'll be shooting? In fact, since you're Edinburgh, which theatre is it?

Also, when you say "play", is it really a play? A lot of people use the term "play" when they mean "musical", and the dynamics of the two can be very different.

For plays then you probably are wanting mostly close-ups of the performers. The "big picture" of the stage is perhaps generally less important.

For musicals, with lots of people, you also need to convey the entire stage occasionally. And for that, a 70-200mm is just WAY too long unless you're in somewhere like the King's.

Take a look at http://www.stagepics.c​o.uk …emians_titanic/​index.html - these were taken from the grand circle of the King's in Edinburgh with a 24-105 (albeit on a 350D, so 1.6x crop factor).

Be very careful about using a long lens - you can always crop in PS, you can never widen...

regards,
/alan

Some good advise here allready.
I'd advise to go there once before a dress rehersal, to try some things out. That way you won't be experimenting when you have to be delivering

Well it's actually a college play in the college concert hall thing- I am going to try and get into the tech box at the back but it's like 30-40 feet away; it is a play so is this too far away for my 100mm... maybe look at the 70-200mm IS 2.8 rent it for the day for £30- not too bad...
I can get a good seat in the audience then in the interval move into the tech box... what do you reckon...? Will try and go to a dress rehearsal

100mm lens on your camera from 40 feet will give you a field of view of 9 x 6 feet. Good for small groups but probably not long enough for close-ups.

Pretty much everything Curtis said but shoot the dress rehearsal and don't bother with the actual performance, especially from way back.
If you have to shoot from that distance you would probably want to be using a 300 f2.8 IS. I'd recommend you hire the 70-200IS and shoot the dress rehearsal. You will be able to move freely around the venue without a crowd, which will let you get the best angles for shots you will have proper lighting and costumes.

I'm going to offer advice on a different level.

My advice is to use this as an opportunity to be a better photographer.

It is very simple if you ask me, and I've said it before but you must learn the "exposure triangle". The relationship between aperture, shutter, and ISO and how one impacts the other.

Shooting is really based on light, you must either use available light, create light, or combine the two.

As you have seen here flash is not what you want to do, most performances will not allow it. This is not the reason to not use it, the reason is it ruins the impact of the performance, think about it...you are trying to capture what the audience saw. They did not see it all lit up with flash. They saw creative lighting, shadows, and vivid color. You need to capture that.

Now you have to ask yourself another question...hmmmmmm...n​o flash and most performances are dark. So how do I shoot low light with no flash...well now we are back to understanding how to properly expose an image.

How do I make the camera more sensitive to light?

I can use a slow shutter speed - How slow? I don't want blurry images!

I can open the aperture way up - Now my depth of field might be off or my lens only goes to f/4.0

I can shoot with a high ISO - Where does my specific sensor ad so much noise that I can't save it in post processing?

You need to understand the limits each one of these creates and then and only then can you figure out a balance that gives you the best quality image available.

What is the perfect lens...well it is impossible to answer that question without knowing the exact size of the venue. Will you be able to walk around or must you stay in one spot? Is this spot close to the stage or in the back? What happens if I'm told one thing and then I get there and it is another?

I think you get what I'm trying to say...

I no longer ask....what lens do I need for a specific type of shooting? I might ask other questions like...I'm shooting a car race and I'm curious what shutter speed do the pros who shoot this tend to use? I'd ask this with the thought of wanting to have sharp images but be able to show motion. I would know I need a variety of glass because where I shoot from and the type of shot I want will vary.

I hope this makes sense......learn how to be a good photographer and you will be able to answer your own questions.....very quickly!

I agree on shooting the dress rehearsal, you can see in my thread of the Wade Kilgore CD that I actually had a thread in the people section where I went out the day prior to our shoot in the same conditions and did a dry run. This way I knew what lens I'd use, what to expect with the lighting and the best spot to shoot from. Since I did this I'm now happy with the results.