The photo below is the Hands Percussion Group’s performance entitled Dialogue In Skin. I shot this 2 years back and I am a big fan of this group. I try to make it for all their productions. The exposure for this is about 8 seconds on a tripod. As you can see, employing a long exposure on a tripod (which can be a luxury under most conditions) during a performance can produce wonderful results.

If you wish to indulge in stage photography, these are the tips

- obtain permission from the producers
- if possible, do it during full dress rehearsals
- wearing black is a good idea so that you can blend into the shadows
- a fast lens (large apertured) of around f2.8 is advised; useful focal length of 70-200mm but don’t forget to give wide shots too
- flash photography is a no-no
- tripods are cumbersome and can block the view of the audience; try to master using a monopod
- you won’t have time to fiddle with manual settings, shoot Av (aperture priority)
- the lighting in most performances will change very quickly; make sure you know how to spot meter or quickly do exposure compensation
- turn off the annoying beep of focusing confirmation
- white balance may be hell but sometimes you want to preserve the mixed coloured lighting of the show for atmosphere
- reviewing images will make you miss a shot and the light from your LCD screen will also annoy the audience

2 Golden Rules I would like to share with you all on stage photography…

1) If it is done during paid performances, try not to move to much or make to much sounds or obscure the view of the paying audience. They have every right to be enjoying the performance and not be annoyed by a photographer.
2) Do not fail to see the forest for the trees. Sometimes, you need to sit back and enjoy the performance for what it is. Looking through the viewfinder isn’t always as fun as just absorbing the show with your own eyes.

When it come to people, I’m a beginner, I rarely pointed my Canon A70 at people, shooting people was never very interesting for me, only during parties, then I seemed to have a talent for the candid shot, capturing the moment rather than cheesy smiles and pre-posed stances.

From this I branched into street photography, which is candid for me, to bring out the true feeling, eye contact is good but not in a posed way as demonstrated by Lanatir below, you can have a eye contact portrait without it looked manufactured.

I like to try and capture some kind of emotion, capture a peice of the moment, not just some people facing the camera and smiling over and over.

I like to feel something when I look at the picture, not just go next..next..next..

For me this the essence of capturing an event, the same goes for weddings, nowdays this style has a label it’s called photojournalism style..for me, I just call it real.

I like to use a narrow depth of focus to give a real pop to the subject.

You can capture many emotions in this manner, when people don’t expect it, boredom, frustration, happiness, laughter, waiting etc..

This is my first effort of event style photography with my new SLR camera, so I have a lot to learn still, these are just my few tips from past experience.

It’s good to use SLOW flash setting to make people stand out, and any motion in the background will be blurred.

I also like to frame the subject with other people, or some objects like a glass to bring them out and add interest.

These were all taken with a very cheap prime Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D AF.

They aren’t the best pictures in the world, but I’m just starting out..

I hope my learning journey can help you too.

All were processed from RAW last night, my RAW workflow is still a bit hit and miss, I need to work on that.

That’s all for now

You can view the whole set here.