PM2k12 - Candlelight Processional

[Tim]

Post your photos from the Epcot Candlelight Processional in this thread.

 

[zackiedawg]

I still haven't gotten to the zoom shots in my processing workflow (mirrorless camera)...but I did get to some of the ultrawide shots (DSLR)...so to kick off the photo thread...

 

[RedOctober25]

Going thru my photos of the Candlelight, I found that I need to work on accurate settings in ever changing lighting conditions. ; I think I have maybe a half dozen decent photos, but almost every one of the shots of Blair Underwood are washed out or are colored oddly due to the lights. ; As least it was a fun time and a great experience.


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[gary]

red, do you use lightroom? i have to shoot a lot of changing stage lighting, particularly festivals that go all day and into the evening. i usually use auto white balance, and then during post i may have to make up various presets adjusting for the dominant color, maybe dialing down the reds some, warming the blue gels. oddly enough green quite often does not need as much. i label each preset as to what color it's for. now what helps is that many acts prefer a certain look, and after awhile you get a feel for the lighting just by looking, then hit it with that preset, you should be close, maybe a little tweak, save the new preset with a new name, and batch all from that particular set. now candlelight quite often presents a particular challenge for the narrator as when they hit them with the white spot they blow out. all musicians and narrators should be prohibited from wearing white on stage. that just makes the problems worse. i won't get to my candlelight for a few days, but i'd be surprised if i don't have to rescue a few of blair, in fact i daresay i have more than one blow out. ;

 

[RedOctober25]

I have not ventured too much into post-processing. ; Most, if not all, of what I post is stright out of the camera. ; Guess I need to go back and pull a few of the better candlelight photos for future editing.


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[zackiedawg]

Stage lighting can definitely be tough if you're not doing any processing, especially when the lighting is so intensely colored and changes often. ; I know the challenge as I too prefer to shoot with as little processing as possible, often sticking with JPG when I can. ; With lighting that changes, you pretty much need to stay on top of your white balance all the time - rather than rely on Auto, often you have to either preset for a particular type of lighting, or even constantly adjust it either by setting or by temperature as the lights change. ; You have one advantage in that you are using an electronic viewfinder on your camera that can actually show you white balance and exposure simulation before you even fire the shutter - if you keep WB on one of your custom buttons where you can get to it immediately, it gets easier to change on the fly.


I haven't processed my way through all my shots yet - I'm done with the DSLR photos, and about 1/2 way through the mirrorless photos now, but I grabbed a few of my Blair Underwood shots for a sample, since we were shooting with similar bodies and the same lenses...

To avoid any blowout or washout, stick with center-weighted or spot metering on the NEX, and precheck your metering in the finder - I find it most useful to just make fast adjustments to the EV if you find it's running a bit too hot or underexposing too much. ; I keep WB on my center custom button so I can adjust it fast...however a very fast post processing tool you might use that won't take much time is to use the color balance tool in whatever software you use, and you can usually use the 'dropper' tool to set a white point in the photo - it will immediately eliminate any color cast in the shot and help level off the effects of strong color lights. ; Something you know to be white, such as the candles the chorus are holding, can be sampled to set the white point fast - 5 seconds of processing time per shot!

 

[Tim]

You can also use the podium to set white balance.

 

[gary]

red, here's one using the podium to set white balance with the custom dropper in lightroom, i also auto the color, i liked the exposure for this one so i added a little clarity, 8, ; a little vibrance and saturation at 5, i didn't like the midlevel tone so i set it back to linear , (too dark) and checked the auto lens correction box, since LR4 has many lenses from many makers already set up, i then saved all this as a preset. took me all of 5 minutes and now if i liked this look i could batch process all my candlelight photos. i already made my first cut run through, so i usually batch process then do another cut run and delete any i just don;t like. i may go back and lower the exposure a little on the preset, but i wanted to just show you real quick what using something already in the scene for the white balance point does for it. always check out podiums, and keyboards, especially the korg bodies as many of them come in an almost perfect neutral grey.

 

[Tim]

Well done, Gary. ; Nice exposure and color. ;
To add on to your podium and keyboard tip, cast member name tags also work well, since they are white. ;

 

[RedOctober25]

Of course, this might be another way to go (and much easier)...

Sent from my iPhone...

 

[zackiedawg]

And to add one more thing - feel free to experiment a bit with the white point sampling - there are several ways to approach white balance...some like to go for technical accuracy - always portraying white balance to exact white accuracy - others like to maintain a little bit of the cool or the warmth being cast by the lighting...it's all in how you want to capture the shot or the memory. ; I actually like to keep a little bit of the lighting color being used on a stage - having a singer's face illuminated reddish against a green backlight, if that was the color of spotlight being used on the singer...you might pull out a little bit of the red cast to the light where it's too harsh, but you may not want to go for accurate skin color and get rid of all the red because it's what you saw with your eyes at the time. ; By moving the dropper around the edges of a white or grey object, you can sample from a lighter or darker amount of color and lessen or increase the effect of the white balance to suit your taste.

 

[jbwolffiv]

Great stuff Justin and Gary! ; I'm just getting around to looking at my shots from PM2k12.


Blair Underwood by jbwolffiv, on Flickr

 

[zackiedawg]

Some more from the Processional, now that I've finished all my processing...these are from the mirrorless cam w/55-210mm lens:

A wide stitched panorama shot - might need to click on the photo to see it in larger form:

 

[gary]

percussionist at work during candlelight