Practical tips for stage photography
Stage and literary play photography is characterized by a very distinctive: the subject is basically on the move, the lighting is a special natural light, the shooting distance and angle is limited. So, how can we master certain photography skills, shooting a colorful stage art and large square cultural play photos?
Apply a good shooting position
As you can imagine, the best shooting position for general stage photography is naturally the first row of the center, because there are no other obstacles in front of it, and can be integrated into the entire stage. In this position, it is possible to shoot some drama or concert multi-person situation. But we are not professional photographers, and often do not have the financial resources and the right to obtain that prime position, and therefore we must be prepared to apply their own ready-made seats. Compared with the front row, the back row can only use medium to telephoto lenses, ordinary zoom DC in this kind of place is very difficult to come in handy. But this also allows the photographer to focus more and more on tracking and capturing the best moments without having to keep thinking about changing focal lengths and compositions. In addition, the first thing to do when you arrive at a venue is to look at it carefully and basically lock in your focal length and angle.
Preventing Lighting Difficulties
The lighting on stages and large plaza shows is basically authentic artificial light, which makes white balance and exposure difficult. We can divide the similar light source into two kinds, one is the wavering light source, such as fixed lighting, etc., in the whole performance period will not have a big change in the light source. In this case, you can stop the test shot at the end of the show to see if the camera's automatic white balance can effectively correct the low color temperature. If auto white balance doesn't work, it's best to use custom white balance to set your own.
Another category is not moving light sources, such as effect lights and catchlights. Shenzhen wedding photography in this environment, the intensity and color temperature of the light source varies, difficult to control. There is no harm in simply setting the camera to automatic white balance form, the camera to complete the complex light discrimination; perhaps simply use daylight white balance to fully restore the atmosphere of the scene.
The difficulty of light also lies in the performance of the characters and the background lighting is often very different, it is very easy to form exposure errors. First of all, stage lighting is usually not too bright, using a lens with a large aperture with a DSLR camera is an option to achieve a high enough shutter speed. In the case of non-DSLR cameras, the products with the initial equivalent sensitivity and high image quality are also capable of doing the job.
In addition, when faced with a stage with a complex cloth, a single dark and light area, or even a stage where the light intensity and angle change from time to time, it is difficult to ensure that the camera's automatic exposure is correct. This usually requires the photographer to use exposure compensation, spot metering, exposure lock and other functions according to their own experience.
In the increasingly advanced state of the equipment, today's shooting stage photo also has a shortcut to go, that is, the application of face recognition function. In many current models, the system can determine the face in the picture while framing, and stop focusing and metering based on the face. In this way, stage photography can be a lot less scrupulous, the picture of the characters in the exposure and clarity of the basic can be lost to ensure that the basis of a good stage photography picture.
Catch the most beautiful moments
In the eyes of the audience, every moment on the stage is so beautiful, but not in the shutter of the photographer. Especially when photographing the performer, she is able to close her eyes and frown, able to dance in the high-speed rotation we shoot just a back, able to we try to shoot a stretching bounce, but in the end left a moment of landing.
Stage photography on the moment to capture the test of talent is no less than sports photography, they all require the photographer in the eyes of the hand in addition to the fast, it is best to perform the content of the understanding of the initiative to have a certain conjecture ability. At the same time, no matter what kind of camera, there is a delay from pressing the shutter button to the shutter release, only in advance to press the shutter to catch the most beautiful moment.
For beginners, this is of course a bit difficult, we can be abundantly observed, and strive to discover the laws of their initiatives. The use of continuous shooting function is also effective means, for example, a dancer's bouncing process, we shot 3 to 5 photos, which appeared to be the most extended pose of the probability of natural than a single shot a lot higher. However, most consumer-grade digital cameras have limited continuous shooting capabilities, and it would be a shame to assume that the continuous shooting capabilities would be wasted before a great moment arrives.
But today, many models are equipped with the *** same? The newest addition to the lineup is a new way for users to take pictures of their favorite photos. method, as long as the user presses the shutter button, the end of the non-stop continuous shooting, but only release the shutter button before the shooting of 3 is stored. Assuming that you do not have a grasp of the actor's moves, there is no harm in using this way, see the end of the outstanding moments to release the shutter button, basically foolproof. So, familiarize yourself with your machine is the condition to take good photos.
Stage photography matters
In the stop of stage photography, will certainly be on the surrounding. The audience will be affected in some way. You don't want to see yourself in front of there is always a stretched out neck holding a camera shaking to the presence of people, so the photographer should try to pay attention to the details, to prevent disturbing others to watch the show.
1, if possible, contact the organizers of the show in advance to obtain permission, or lose a more suitable location for shooting; of course, this is difficult to do in large-scale performances, but assuming that there is an automatic counterattack of the moment, do not retreat.
2, do not use flash, flash will not only disturb the audience, but also affect the performers, and destroy the performance of the light environment, the shooting effect is not necessarily good.
3, the use of SLR cameras try to choose the shutter sound photography small, the use of portable digital cameras are set to silent profile, and block the auxiliary focus light.
4, the shooting to prevent prolonged standing and frequent movement, so that their own labor not to say, but also incurred a bunch of complaints behind.
5, before shooting through the program to understand the performance status, fair layout shooting, especially to plan the allocation of memory cards and batteries, so as not to run out of food at the critical time.
6, due to the limitations of consumer-grade digital cameras, even according to the above techniques to shoot, lost a lot of photos are still not ideal. Do not be in a hurry to delete, we can also use a variety of image software to stop the pre-processing, can make the photos wonderful.
Lastly, I'd like to point out that, according to the above tips, we can basically shoot a clear and outstanding moment. But the essence of real stage photography is not only to faithfully record each scene on the stage, but also in the photos into their own creative intent. If we look at the development of stage photography in the past few decades, we will also find a clear trend from realism to re-creation. For example, many photographers in the creation of even deliberately set a slow shutter speed, blurred images will sometimes better express the sense of movement, and the combination of light and the trajectory of character movement will be very creative. It is also worthwhile to try a pre-stacked disposition, multiple stage photos put together, often better express the content of the performance.
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