Gregory Hancock “Anthology”

I’ve shot at the Gregory HancockDance Theatre multiple times with the Indianapolis based Photo Venture CameraClub.  Gregory Hancock is a great host inviting us to shoot during their dress rehearsals.  Once again, low light, mixed stage lighting, striking colors & fast motion.  That’s right, a photographer’s fantasy land.

 

I used my standard kit for this type of photoshoot, and manual mode for all camera settings.  I brought the following (using everything):

·         Nikon D300s

·         AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G prime

·         AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

·         AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

·         A small flashlight

·         Manual cable release

·         Manfrotto tripod with a trigger handled head

Because I was shooting about 12 rows back I was able to use the widest aperture on all lenses and achieve good DOF.  As mentioned my camera was set on manual with white balance set at 4500 kelvin, speed at 1/160 second and f/1.4 on the 50mm or f/2.8 on the zooms.  ISO was varied between 800 to 3200.  ISO was the only variable all evening. All lenses are great and focus super fast even in the low light setting.  That's uber.

 

 

The nice thing about this show was that it was an “Anthology” of previous shows.  That meant multiple themes, multiple costumes, different music and different tempos.  The hardest part of the night was during several of the sets the key light was a large spot light straight over head.  Wow, it was laser beam bright.  Even at 1/160 of a second at higher ISO settings on quite a few pictures the dancers were blown out.  That was surprising, and once again it reminded me NOT to rely on the camera’s monitor only.  If you do, zoom in regularly to check where the histogram right side spikes sit.

 

 

The shoot was about 2 hours, and I was really surprised that I took about 2,400 images.  Needless to say it took hours to go through the images.  It was really a fun night for photography.

 

After shoot comments:

·         Check the histogram regularly.  If you see a spike on the far right (over exposed) then check the monitor and magnify the image to see if anything important is blown out,

·         Bring lots of memory cards.  On a photoshoot like this you will go through them quickly since you will shoot in burst mode,

·         Shoot manual ISO (or a preset).  In a setting like this the light color changes regularly.  With manual ISO or a preset it makes it easier to adjust white balance in post,

·         Bring a small flashlight.  You will need it, but cover it in your hand so you don’t wreck your night vision or affect others around you. 

 

 

 

My Gypsy Soul

Tormented Soul
f/2.5, 1/125, 35mm, ISO 800

One of my favorite venues to photograph is the Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre. They are a resident dance troupe that recently relocated to the Tarkington Theater at the Center for the Performing Arts  located in Carmel, Indiana.  The Indianapolis based Photo Venture CameraClub gets the opportunity to shoot the GHDT during their dress rehearsals. We had such an opportunity this past week for the showing of “My Gypsy Soul”. The performance “Traced the footprints of the gypsies from India to Spain. Music was featured from Romania, Russia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, India, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Africa".

Let’s see; low light photography - check, contemporary music - check, motion & movement - check, vivid colors - check, challenging photography setting - check. You guessed it, I was in photographic heaven.

Red Leap Three
f/2.5, 1/100, 70mm, ISO 800

Flying Blue Three
f/4.5, 1/100, 70mm, ISO 1250

As you probably know from my blog posts and photo sessions (non-studio based) I migrate to after dark or low light settings.  This was no different.  I was shooting in full manual for this shoot.  I did research prior to the shoot to best determine the white balance to us.  As I’ve mentioned previously, even if you shoot RAW I don’t advise using auto white balance.  Shooting in auto white balance may require an extra step in post processing to correct or tune.  For this shoot I knew there would be lots of mixed color lights accompanied with a single or multiple bright, focused, white spot lights.  Therefore, I set my white balance at 4760K (kelvin).  All shots were taken with this white balance.  I think I hit the sweet spot with this white balance setting because I didn’t have to make a single white balance adjustment in post processing.

In Flight
f/2.8, 1/100, 70mm, ISO 800

Also, because I wanted to get as much freeze action during this shoot I had my shutter speed set at 1/100 of a second in almost all shots.  On a couple of shots with my brighter lens I did go to 1/80, but also at times I shot at 1/125.  I did set my exposure compensation at +0.7EV on all shots.  This allowed me to brighten the photos a bit.  Also, what is a bit unusual for me, I shot at center weighted metering.  Normally, I shoot matrix metering, but tonight I wanted to meter off my subject knowing there was going to be lots of dark negative space.  I didn’t want to blow out (over-expose) my subjects of focus.  Finally, I set my ISO last.  I started off setting my camera at ISO 2500, but found with the mentioned settings, the distance from the action, the quality of the lighting I was able to quickly move to ISO 1600 for most shots, and believe it or not with my f/1.4 & f/1.8 lens I was able to get to ISO 800.  I have shot LOTS of low light images before, and I have never been able to hit 1/100 of a second with ISO 800.  This says quite a bit for the quality of the light.

Finally, I shot most of my photos with my AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens (I think I’ve told you before this lens is UBER), but I also used my AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4G prime (also UBER), and my AF-S Nikkor35mm f/1.8G prime (oh yes, UBER as well).  I found the 35mm was more useful focal length than my 50mm for this shoot since I wanted to get a bit wider angle and I was shooting with a DX sensor.

Silhouette on Orange
f/3.2, 1/100, 70mm, ISO 2000

Leaping Blue
f/2.5, 1/125, 50mm, ISO 1000

With these settings I was set up about 20 feet from the stage but eye level with the dancers.  On stage the dancers were probably no less than 30 feet away.  All shots were hand held, and I spent most of the night either focusing on the entire stage or following and panning on a specific dancer.  I also wanted to capture images of dancers at the top of their leaps.  I ended up taking about 1,600 images over approximately 2 hours.  All images were processed in Adobe Lightroom 3.5 and a few had additional processing in Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended.

Bottomline, I really enjoyed myself and have lots of images that I will share with the GHDT.

Oranje, Now That's a Party

A big party thrown every year in Indianapolis is called Oranje.  This is the 10^th year and it’s going strong.  Oranje describes itself as “an interactive experience of art and music.  All I can say is that it’s a fusion of rock, hip hop, dance, trance, art, colors, pretty people, sights and sounds.  A photo rich environment.

I went last night for the 3^rd year in a row.  I go with the intent of taking lots of low light photographs of the music venues, the people and the general vibe of the place.  It’s amazing.  This year I showed up at 9pm and stayed until about 1am.  Since there are so many people in the venue, an abandoned warehouse, and the action is constantly moving it is not a place to bring a tripod.  Therefore, it’s a night of my fastest lenses, wide open apertures, and very high ISO.  Also, for good measure I brought one of my speedlights, and I’m glad I did.

I started off outside in 2 of the music tents, the IndyMojo Electronic Music Tent and the Nuvo Main Stage.  The Nuvo stage was a bit easier to shoot because it had reasonable lighting that reflected off the white tent.  The Mojo tent was pitch black to go along with the pulsing electronic dance and trance music.  It was lasers and smoke machines.  Loved it.  The absolute best piece of kit I brought was ear plugs.  Believe me the music was so loud even with ear plugs I had no problems hearing it.  I spent about 1 hour shooting in those 2 tents, and of course listening to the music.

To minimize the amount of equipment I carried, since I didn’t want to bring a backpack, was my trusty Nikon D300s, my AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 G, and a Nikon SB-600 speedlight.  I brought extra rechargeable batteries and memory cards, and that was it.  I shot the entire event with that kit.  I could have brought my faster prime lenses, but again I wanted to somewhat blend in, and lugging a camera backpack defeats the purpose.

I later moved into the main building and walked around for about an hour looking at all the local artists’ work.  Good stuff, and I would love to pick up a few pieces, but wow the prices…Anyway, I really enjoy looking at other’s people’s creativity.  There were paintings, photography, sculptures, interactive art, body painting exhibits, hair and design work, etc. etc. It gave me plenty of opportunities to photograph the environment.

Next, I spent a couple of hours listening to music, watching dancers, and photographing in the Ketel One Lounge, Old Soul Stage & the MOKB Presents Stage.  For my $20 entry fee not only did I get to take lots of photographs but I got to listen to some really good musicians and DJs.  Man, I'm a cheap date.  I hung around the Ketel One Lounge for a good chunk of the time simply because there were so many people dancing.  I was able to get right up to the DJ’s and photograph them and also several times get to the front of several dance circles and watch the dancers do their thing. 

Most of the night was a real challenge balancing shutter speed, aperture and ISO.  Most of my shots were taken with ISO 3200, or 2000.  When I did use the flash I cranked my ISO down to 400.  I “tried” to keep the speed up to 1/50 of a second most of the night, but that was often hard.  Therefore, I came back with lots of motion blur, but in many shots that worked.  In this type of setting the speedlight helps but the stopped action really doesn’t work.  I also spent lots of time trying to get my white balance right.  I am proud to say I didn’t take a single shot in auto white-balance.  I found the cooler settings worked the best.  The lighting was REALLY mixed every few feet.

Bottomline, a really fun time AND a great opportunity to shoot.

Tips & After Action Thoughts:

·         I really need to purchase or rent a full frame Nikon for this type of event.  In post processing I have used the noise reduction slider in Lightroom 3 extensively, but I would like to minimize it with a bigger sensor.

·         In hindsight I should have brought in my AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 or AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 to get a wider aperture.  Again to lower noise and the speed up the shutter speed.  I actually brought both, but left them in my car.  I REALLY didn’t want to carry around a bunch of kit

·         A wider zoom might have been good in this setting.  I have a 12-24mm Tokina, but its f/4.  I had stopped into Roberts Camera earlier to see about renting a Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8, but it wasn’t available.  I complain, but honestly my 24-70 worked really well.

·         Note to self, remember to ALWAYS bring ear plugs to an event such as this.  I did, and my ears are thanking me.  I saw almost no-one with ear plugs and I bet they are regretting it today.

·         Don’t be afraid to mix in with the setting.  At first I shot standing back, but after about an hour you could tell the alcohol was starting to loosen people up.  After about an hour no one cared that I was shooting photographs of them or getting up close to the action.  This is a lesson I learned from my San Francisco workshop.  Get close, not the part about photographing lubricated people.

·         Bring business cards.  Argh, I forgot them and several people asked me for my contact information. 

·         Take video.  I took possibly 20 segments throughout the night.  If I have time I’m going to put a short video together of the party. 

Dark Side of Dance

I had the opportunity to shoot the  Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre with the Indianapolis Photo Venture Camera Club.  This evening was dress rehearsal for “Happily Ever After”, themed around Hansel & Gretel, Once Upon a Time, and a very dark version of Pinocchio.  Since this was dress rehearsal we had freedom to go anywhere except on stage.  Great images here we come. The posted images are from Pinocchio.

As always this is a challenging shoot because of the extremely dark conditions coupled with mixed and varied colored stage lighting.  This called for my fastest glass, high ISO & the highest shutter speeds possible with low light.

This time at the theatre I did something different.  I did my normal hand held thing, but also mounted a Nikon in the balcony with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 prime.  This is my fastest lens and from the balcony the 50mm focal length covered the entire stage.  I simply set the Nikon on a tripod secured to the balcony railing.  I used a Promaster ® SystemPRO Professional Wireless Remote Shutter Release to trigger the camera from about 50 feet away.   I set the Nikon to manual mode, with aperture at f/2.8, shutter speed at 1/80 second and ISO at 1600. WB was set at 5400 kelvin.  Before things started I focused the camera on the center of the stage and then set the focus to manual.  This setup worked great.

I then used my trusty AF-S Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G ED on a Nikon D300s hand held.  Setting was manual mode, speed between 1/50 to 1/100 of a second, ISO between 1250 & 1600 and aperture either wide open to stopped down to f/5.6 to get reasonable DOF.  Also, I set the white balance at 5400 kelvin. 

In almost all shots I needed to increase exposure and used the noise reduction slider in Adobe Lightroom 3.  Not much additional processing was required except for the occasional tweaking of lighting using curves in Adobe Photoshop CS5.

I’ve shot this venue about 4-5 times and have always come away with great shots, but at the same time many shots are not as tack sharp as I would like.  It’s extremely difficult with a crop sensor camera even if you have solid high ISO range like the Nikon D300s in such a dark setting without flash when hand held.  You need to balance noise in the shadows (which often is most the photo) with shutter speed and DOF.  Oh, the problems us photographers face.

Overall, a fun night with good friends shooting a great venue.

As always a few tips:

·         Crank ISO up as high as you can get even sacrificing a clean image so you can get your photo as tack sharp as possible.  You can often fix noise in Lightroom, but you can’t save an out of focus image

·         Use your fastest glass when shooting in a dark setting.  Tonight I brought no lens slower than f/2.8

·         I found with both the 24-70mm f/2.8 & the 50mm f/1.4 a speed of 1/80 was about as slow as I could go and still get tack sharp images with the speed of the dancers.

·         Bring a small flashlight.  For some strange reason I didn’t and I really could have used one.