Followup to surprise marriage proposal in dark theatre

[iwong]

As a followup to the below post:

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00CT61

 

I have attached an image captured during that event. It was successful and I am very

thankful for the advice given here in photo.net. I used my Contax 645AF for the entire

shoot, the action happened so fast there was not even time to swap to another camera for

a different focal length. Well, mainly because the guy hired a local TV station camera crew

and the girl was not expecting it, so she was kind of TV camera shy and had to run fast

away from it. The entire event lasted no more than 5 minutes max and they were out of

the theatre and hopped into a limo. I was able to capture 16-18 shots. I used 400ISO film

(Kodak 400NC) and turned the flash -1 stop. That was crucial because the exposure was

dead on, otherwise the flash would have over-compensated for the dark environment and

rendered the subjects washed out with too much flash.

 

I metered the theatre before the event and there was not much ambient light, as expected.

I dragged the shutter at 1/30s and still couldn't get the background in. I didn't want to

risk 1/15s and I thought it wouldn't make much difference anyway. Aperture was at f16,

and I set hyperfocal distance somewhere between 2.5 to 5 meters. That was proved to be a

life saver too because I think the 645AF would be hopeless in locking focus with that kind

of light levels.

 

Anyway, it was such a fantastic and high pressure moment and I was glad the guy and

myself had pulled it off. He and she were happy at the results, given the challenge of the

situation. I scanned the prints so please bear with the poor quality.<div></div>

[fotografz]

Glad it all worked out for you.

[picturesque]

Also glad it worked out. I wouldn't have used the hyperfocal and used a wider aperture but I can understand why you want to cover yourself if you're not used to zone focusing a lot. At weddings, I cover action sequences like this and just anticipate and zone focus. With my 80mm "normal" lens, I feel pretty confident with zone focus with f5.6, even for half lengths. With that aperture and 1/15th, you might have gotten some background. But you got what's important in the images, so congratulations.

[jmichaelc]

Why on earth would you use F16 in a dark theatre if your were trying to get ambient? Go back and try F4 (or in my case...i'd stand back and shoot at F2 or even wider - at a shutter of 1/60) on another subject in the same theatre.....i think you will find a more pleasant result with a truck load of ambient. Anyway, i'm glad to hear all was successful!

[iwong]

In 20/20 hindsight, I would have tried zone focusing and used f11 or f8. I am well

practiced enough to judge distance by sight, but given the circumstances there was not

enough time to even look down at the lens barrel to focus. It was pretty much all pre-set

and point-n-shoot. Hell, I think the Contax T3 might even have been a much better choice

than the 645AF. The T3 has AF assist light, manual focusing, and a wider view. Only

disadvantage is flash position and risk of red eye. Oh well. The couple loved the larger

negatives of 6x4.5 so what the heck :)<div></div>

[picturesque]

Jammey--Isaac was using hyperfocal distance on the lens to avoid the camera hunting around with autofocus. Marc warned him about that specific camera's tendency to do that.