This is part two of a two-part series. My first post covering this show is at this link. With the exception of the title image above, they are in order of occurrence in the show. All images were captured live in the moment during the final rehearsal before opening night.
For the photographically inclined folks reading this, I offer the following: I have made many thousands of images of dress/tech rehearsals over the past few years. I have tried angles from every vantage point in the theatre - high, low, left, right, balcony, everywhere. I have concluded that my "best" spot is in the center aisle on a 6-foot step ladder adjacent to the fourth row. I use a full-frame DSLR with a 24-240mm lens throughout. Since most choreographers and directors design and block a show that is generally focused on the visual perspective and experience of downstage center, positioning myself in the manner above yields me the most consistent good results. Since this is live, most images end up in the discard bin. Someone either has eyes closed, a grimace, a back to the camera, blocking someone else out, bad alignment, and on and on and on. A good image is a rare event. A great image is an extraordinarily rare event. I have used all the camera modes available and find the shutter-preferred method suits me the best - usually a 1/200 or so shutter speed and I let the aperture and ISO float accordingly. With the constantly changing stage lighting - color, tint, hue, intensity - using a target shutter speed gives me the best chance to not have a great shot blurred that ends up in the discards.
So, if you have an opportunity to photograph a live show, I hope this advice might be of some use to you.
******************************************************************
The following four images were added after initial publication of the above post just so I have an historical record. They were made during a subsequent live performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment