Ballet recital and warm-up backstage photoshoot

Hi there!

I am going to take some ballet-on-stage photos.

What settings: ISO, shutter speed, + or - comjpensation should be applied to my camera? No flash permitted.

Regards.

When I do shots of local theatre, I go to a rehearsal, spend the time to take test shots and set up my cameras and lens choices. I don't use flash either. Has worked out well for several years. Not ballet, so you will probably need a fairly high ISO because of movement speed. We do have at least one member who shoots & posts ballet images, he might be able to give you an ISO suggestion to try, though your lighting will probably be different.

When I do shots of local theatre, I go to a rehearsal, spend the time to take test shots and set up my cameras and lens choices. I don't use flash either. Has worked out well for several years. Not ballet, so you will probably need a fairly high ISO because of movement speed. We do have at least one member who shoots & posts ballet images, he might be able to give you an ISO suggestion to try, though your lighting will probably be different.

 

I have shot ballet, a few times, but what I ended up doing was determined, of course, by the lighting used. Lighting is generally on the dim side, and varies, scene to scene, moment to moment, and from one end of the stage to the other. Plus, there is often a lot of contrast between subject(s) and background. What I have had luck with, is spot metering each exposure (generally taken on the face of a dancer) at the same time as single point 3D follow focusing on the same. Aperture priority, generally wide open at f/2.8, with auto ISO set with a minimum 1/320th and a max of 6400 ISO. Most shots end up being at 3600-6400 ISO. If you have more light, lower ISO or up the shutter speed. If it is darker, well, pick your evil, blur or grain. Even at 1/320th, I end up trying to grab the moment of least movement. It is amazing how fast dancers move.

Edited September 21, 2018 by chris_graamans

Chris, what if I use shutter + aperture manual with ISO auto mode? Honestly, I do not want to crank my ISO higher than 1600... but to capture leaps I need very high shutteer speed. I also think of spot metering.

What drive - single or continuous do you use?

Chris, what if I use shutter + aperture manual with ISO auto mode? Honestly, I do not want to crank my ISO higher than 1600... but to capture leaps I need very high shutteer speed. I also think of spot metering.

What drive - single or continuous do you use?

Ruslan,

Your idea of manual mode with auto ISO yields essentially the same result. Exception: if you reach the top of the ISO range in manual, you get an under exposed frame, but at your preset shutter speed. In Aperture preferred mode, it will drop below the base shutter speed you've set, and get you a blurry shot that's well exposed. At least on my camera, at the 6400 ceiling, under exposure results in unusable material, whereas motion blur may still work. On your gear? You'll have to experiment.

I use single exposure rather than continuous, and try to hit it on the peak moments, but continuous may work better for you.

I use single exposure rather than continuous, and try to hit it on the peak moments,...

Agree - I use the same method for rodeo and bugs/birds in flight - all fast movers. It may miss occasionally, but gets more of the peak moments referenced.

What drive - single or continuous do you use?

Does it matter? - IMHO it depends a lot on the camera picked. - Mine go down to 2 (or 2.5?) FPS. I see no need to adjust such a beater to "single" in a studio setting, odds to trigger an unwanted 2nd frame (before the strobes recharged) by accident are way too low. - OTOH I learned that I should set a 5FPS body to single when I am using flash; my old leaden finger doesn't always let the trigger go fast enough.

To benefit from continuous &/ bursts you need: 4FPS or above + an AF that tracks your subject between shots (if they aren't moving inside a DOF defined orbit around you) and of course also a sufficiently swiftly flushing buffer.

AFAIK you are shooting Pentax, a tad younger than mine but probably still not on par with Canikon. - Biggest issue I see: Getting somebody in focus on a dim stage. if I want to nail an approaching jogger with 135/2.8 on K20D, it is hit and miss, my photography is basically ruled by the focus confirmation light below the screen "green => snap!", refocus retry. - Performers on stage are the same or worse; I am permanently trying to refocus on them and hope they'll look good enough to shoot while they seem in focus.

On EOS I 'd set AF to continuous, select my spots manually, if I have to open the aperture further than f5.6, and fire bursts. - I'd let my auto ISO skyrocket over there. Pixelbinning is a denoising option and whatever I capture should be good enough for the Internet. ISO 1600 isn't much unless the stage lighting is good & generous.

 

Light & metering: Best practise: Show up early, hop on stage, take incident reading. Try having a word with the stage tech, make puppy eyes, (maybe even try to bribe them?) and beg(!) for more. Those folks are humans, not middle aged DSLRs and light just well enough for their human eyes' needs. They are frequently able to crank it up another 1.5 f-stops without ruining the show for anybody.

 

To me the Pentax matrix metering seemed quite decent. I 'd always shoot staged events in RAW. - I am not sure what spot metering combined with manual & auto ISO might provide, results wise. - Will the camera just meter around an AF spot, that you'll always be able to place on a face? - If that is the case, you should be fine. If not, I'd worry that the auto ISO might kick all spot metering benefits out. - You'll run out of fingers to select AF spots hold AE lock and back button focus at the same time!

 

If the stage tech will play with the light's color, maybe try to set your WB to something reasonable instead of "auto", to capture the intended moods already in your image previews.

 

There is no "magic bullet" in camera settings!

An event challenging you and your AF is the entirely wrong moment, to start getting used to back button focusing. That technique requires(!) muscle memory. - I haven't learned it but understand why some folks are doing it.

Talking AF: if you are going to use nasty fast glass, try to micro adjust your AF for the event, if you haven't already done that excessively.

 

If life gives you alligators, make Gatorade!

Assuming you end at that show in it's dim cave and feel no light at all. - What is left to do? You can try to capture motion blurred dancers. - There is still a chance to nail 3 keepers. Best of luck! - Both with that event and also with networking yourself to shoot a promising dancer in better light.

Important ingredients are knowledge of the lighting and knowledge of choreography: so if you have the opportunity to view one performance and have a crack, debrief yourself with notes and then go back and shoot for real the next night, that would be really good.

 

For Ballet, most of the time you can make a good job with TWO sets of exposure parameters, based upon a basic knowledge described above.

 

Regarding knowledge of the lighting – a key element that you’re looking, is when there is a Follow Spot on the Dancer which is to be your Subject.

 

Usually (n.b. ‘usually’, not ‘always’) the Follow Spot or Follow Spots, (plural) don’t change much in intensity throughout a Scene (sometimes not much change throughout the Performance).

 

Additionally, the Follow Spot is almost always the KEY LIGHT (photographically speaking), so, if you meter for the Follow Spot(s), then you have one setting that will likely not change.

 

Ergo, (one example only) once you calculate the Tv (Shutter Speed) necessary to nail “The Leap”, your ISO and Av just fit in and that can be your formula for all Follow Spot Lit Shots.

 

The choreography is important to know, so you can anticipate your shots, dividing them into two basic different shooting scenarios –

 

1. When you want to Zoom Out for a Full Stage (Full Stage Lighting and this usually requires your Exposure to use a Metering Mode such as “Evaluative” or “Zone”, etc)

 

2. When you want to Zoom In for an Individual or Small Group shot (this is when you can predict the Exposure Parameters based upon the Spot Lighting measurements that you’ve previously done).

 

Break a leg.

 

WW