Flamenco - Albondigas Calientes

[hwchoy]

shot with the sexy EF 35mm ƒ/1.4L under available stage lights. thanx CF for the lens

#1.


#2.


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#7.

[hwchoy]

lessons for a digital age:  filters are still useful!

this particular stage lighting is very challenging. the stage is shallow and spotlighted from the front ceiling, resulting in the performers being brightly lit below their chest, a reflecting plywood floor, and faces in the dark. I had to apply a gradient soft light layer in photoshop to suppress the lower half and brighten the upper half. the result being visible noise on the performers face (see #2).

had I chose to meter the face, it would have blown the lower half which no digital filtering can bring back the details. I think that in such a situation a graduated filter would have helped by suppressing the bright light at the lower half during the shot, which will allow me to meter the face correct and so avoid noise.

the stage light is bright enought that #2 was shot at ƒ/5 1/160s ISO200.

comments and thoughts?

[evershine]

#3 her expression not very nice, you captured her at the wrong moment.

Cannot 'feel' the mood in these photos perhaps limited by 35mm and space constraint.  In terms of exposure,color and sharpness its quite nice. Sometimes can try slower shutter speed to capture the movement. But its very difficult. For example, the hand movement or dress maybe much faster than the body/head so it shows the movement if you use slower shutter speed. Its an experiment.

[hwchoy]

its a bit tough because the dance tempo changes quickly. I am mostly using 1/160s so as to retain some motion blur in the hands, clothings and fan.

space constraint is an understatement, there is a big Carlsberg banner over head which I have to remove, and not much foreground I am only like 10-15ft from the stage.

however I am still waiting to hear from the dancers which ones they like. they have a different notion of good expression from us. in fact I asked "should I get rid of the sweat and tidying up some hair?" and the answer was NO!

[jediforce4ever]

I guess the background removes impact....

[hwchoy]

strange nobody has mentioned the bottles of mineral water yet!