Articles from Parent Magazine
by Matthew Panzarino
Performance Pics 101
School plays and recitals are an inevitable part of the season. They're also pretty nerve wracking to photograph, you’ve got one shot to catch the piano prodigy in his school auditorium debut or the soon to be youngest ever Academy Award winner in their first leading role. Unfortunately, there are many roadblocks to getting a good shot in the typical school auditorium. Here are some tips for getting braggable level images in even the most difficult lighting circumstances.
The big technical challenges are exposure and white balance (the color of the light in your image). The easiest way to light a subject in tricky indoor lighting is to use the flash, but usually a flash is either verbotten or worthless, unless you camped out and got front row seats. Most compact digital camera flashes only light subjects within about 13 ft. So where do you go from there? Well, your first step is to TURN OFF THE FLASH. Yes, I know, dramatic aren’t I? Turning off the flash will force the camera to use your available light, which is what you want to catch the performance on stage.
Step 2 is to increase your ISO or “film speed”. This will increase your camera’s sensitivity to light, helping it get a proper exposure even in the dimmer light. Next is white balance, automatic white balance systems are usually confused by stage lights. Most compact digital cameras have white balance presets, so using the Tungsten (light bulb) setting is a better option. Before your child gets on stage, take a few test shots with the different white balance settings to find the one that will look best.
One thing that is camera-dependent that will also help is Image Stabilization, which helps DRAMATICALLY by canceling out hand and body shake. For more help on low light shots come by the store and we’ll give you a crash course!
