Palace Theatre reached out and asked if I could come along and take to take photos of the team and people as they arrived. I’m always willing to do Theatre work so off I went with William assisting…
The job spec was simply to capture the atmosphere of the evening. Although many wore masks we were asked to do our best and see if we could somehow show what the evening felt like. I was able to retouch and deliver just over 100 photos the very same evening.
Let’s take a look at a few examples of how we did and what we did to capture the photos we took…
It was interesting to do something different at a Theatre. Usually, it’s a dress rehearsal or behind-the-scenes. To be photographing people arriving was different, but enjoyable.
What makes the job more interesting is the people and staff who don’t want to be photographed. Framing them out of shots can make it more challenging, but at the same time, more rewarding. You have to create new framing all the time as they move around. It’s always better to have no restrictions as shots are missed, but we work with what we have.
We had two members of staff in the Foyer who didn’t want to be photographed. They were either end of the foyer so that was super challenging but we did it.
Theatre Photography Talk
I had my second photographer William with me. He had the Sony 24-70mm F2.8 on his camera, with the Godox TT685s flash on-camera.
The ambient light was really nice in the foyer but it was still dark for cameras. I didn’t want to overpower the ambient light so we both cranked up the ISO to keep ambient light going, and then used the flash as more of a fill light. This worked really well. It can be quite difficult to mix the two types of light without it looking like a flash was used.
I do wonder if anyone else finds it difficult to dial that ISO up? I’m used to my old DSLR’s that had very noisy ISO at just 1,600. It’s hard for me to break that mindset. The Boxing Tournament photography was shot at 12,800 almost all evening so I know I shouldn’t be afraid of it.
The way modern cameras handle high ISO’s seems to border on Voodoo magic. There is so little noise at higher ISO’s, I can’t help but be seriously impressed by all the camera manufacturers.
I was using F1.4 lenses so my ISO for this evening was between 800 and 1,000. William was between 2,500 and 4,000. I love Mirrorless Cameras and their ISO noise limiting magic 😊
Theatre Photography Equipment Used
- 2x Sony A9’s
- 1x Sony A7iii
- 24-70mm F2.8 GM
- 85mm F1.4 GM
- 24mm F1.4 GM
- 2x Godox V1’s
- 1x Godox TT685s
- 1x Godox AD200
