Spot Metering or Exposure Compensation for Theater Lighting?

[Studiopfp]

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Yes, thanks for the comments. 

I tend to want to use shallow DOF as a "cheat" to avoid having distracting lines in the background, and also to try to give more of a 3 dimensional feel to the images.  I'm also kind of influenced by the Cartier-Bresson dictum that "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept" especially as a bit of blur can give the sense of motion and emotion...  Finally, I'm still learning to use the SL2 + 75mm Summicron and use it shooting wide open, so I don't have a feel for how much DOF there is at a given aperture.. All of the preceding contribute to having soft and or out of focus images, as well as some that are sharp.  

I did the full rehearsal last night and overdid shooting wide open, as many images at 1.4 have part of the actor in focus but too quickly drop out of focus.  Also, I found in the full rehearsal, the action was much faster, and I was struggling to recompose and focus as the players moved around the set.  I had a higher, better hit rate with the Canon 70 - 200mm on my Canon 7D, with the autofocus, rather than trying to focus the Leica SL2.  Next time I will probably shoot the Leica at F3.5 and that will give me a better result. 

Live and learn...

All that said, the Director and the cast were delighted with the images from the tech shoot, and very complementary!

Back to editing the pics from the rehearsal...

 

[Studiopfp]

 

Here's the second shoot, the full rehearsal..  Much tougher to do because the action and movement of the cast was more fluid, I didn't want to move around the set, and there were a lot of props reflecting light in the background that was distracting.  Also the mustard yellow walls of the set just made all the color images look washed out, so I decided to concentrate on putting together just B&W.  I think it results in capturing more of the emotion in the play.  

I think the next time I shoot a play I will use the Leica M lenses, more wide open, say F3.5 to have more DOF with the actors, and still blur the background.  I will have to see how that works, and maybe also keep shooting with the Canon using the fast autofocus. 

I'll be interested to see if any of the actors or the Director talk to me about doing other theater shoots after this experience!

https://studiopfp.smugmug.com/Projects-2022/Bachelorette-Rehearsal-Night

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[LocalHero1953]

6 minutes ago, Studiopfp said:

 

Here's the second shoot, the full rehearsal..  Much tougher to do because the action and movement of the cast was more fluid, I didn't want to move around the set, and there were a lot of props reflecting light in the background that was distracting.  Also the mustard yellow walls of the set just made all the color images look washed out, so I decided to concentrate on putting together just B&W.  I think it results in capturing more of the emotion in the play.  

I think the next time I shoot a play I will use the Leica M lenses, more wide open, say F3.5 to have more DOF with the actors, and still blur the background.  I will have to see how that works, and maybe also keep shooting with the Canon using the fast autofocus. 

I'll be interested to see if any of the actors or the Director talk to me about doing other theater shoots after this experience!

https://studiopfp.smugmug.com/Projects-2022/Bachelorette-Rehearsal-Night

I love these shots, and for the nature of the play, B&W looks appropriate. And it certainly looks like you were able to get close enough to the action.

Edited February 23, 2023 by LocalHero1953

[250swb]

I couldn’t see the Smumug photos because it was asking me for a password?

I’m glad it went well and you got into it. One thing I’d say is don’t be afraid of deeper DOF and use the ISO as much as possible if you need. Characters in plays talk to each other and ‘shots through’ from one character in the foreground to another in the background can be powerful. I only ever used B&W because it was film and mostly low lighting so I had to push to 1600 ISO, but monochrome is a powerful way to focus on the people and not let colour get in the way. But relax, set high standards but without beating yourself up, the more you shoot the more instinctive it will become. 

[Studiopfp]

@250swb - Thanks for the insight.  The password is Terra..   One of the last shots in the rehearsal set you will see has one actor on the floor and the other 8ft behind, looking down at her while sitting in a sofa.  I shot it with just the actor in the foreground (on the floor) in focus, and the other out of focus.  Wasn't sure what to do with that composition.  Local Hero 1953 mentioned Snowdon's theater photography, so I think I will look at some of the classics in B&W to see how they used DOF with multiple actors. 

I've seen theater photography shot with lots of DOF, probably F11, so that the players and the set are all sharp and in focus.  Honestly, that seems to me to be so difficult, in terms of composition, to not have the objects in the background cutting into the back of the actors, that I want to use the shallow DOF to blur and create that separation and the sense of "looking into" the photography.  Of course this is a matter not only of technical skill in composing the shot, but also of style, and subjective, to taste

BTW, the Opening was tonight, and at the After Party, I made several contacts, even being offered to do paid work at a larger NYC theater company.  And the wardrobe person for the play I shot asked if I would come back to just do a shoot of the wardrobe.  

It's a new, young, company, and they seem to be reaching out to me to do more photography, so this is all feeling very good.  Now if I could get them to produce some proper English or Continental theater, I would be really happy! Lol!'

 

[Studiopfp]

@LocalHero1953. Yes, I was quite surprised at how I was able to get a good close up image, despite being a good 20 to 30 feet away.  I used the 75mm for all of the shots except a couple with a 50mm.  In all cases I was shooting wide open at 1.4, which was too shallow in retrospect, but it allowed me to shoot at 100 ISO, so I had no problem cropping in tight and with a very clean file, and therefore able to give the sense of being in close to the action.