low light shooting

Albuquerque Theatre Stage Photography of an original production in New Mexico

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Albuquerque Theatre Stage Photography of an original production in New Mexico

Original student play photographed in an intimate setting

I had a very unique opportunity to photograph the rehearsal of an original student theatre performance at the Albuquerque Academy thanks to a former client who got the parents on board to have a professional photographer (me) come in to make proper, professional theatre photographs of the performances. In the audience that evening were just the director, two parents, and myself, so it was quite an intimate setting. I got caught up in the play, while being totally focused on working with the very low available light to make the best theatre photos I could. There is nothing more challenging than shooting a moving subject in low light. I had to use a very high ISO on both my Sony mirrorless cameras, but despite that I am very happy with the final image quality results. The students were as well it would seem as the photo gallery containing the 136 images I delivered had over 14,700 views in just 4 days!

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DSLR Photography Lesson with Jack & his Nikon D300s

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DSLR Photography Lesson with Jack & his Nikon D300s right inside Tyrone Mall!When Jack contacted me for a DSLR Photography Lesson with his Nikon D300s stating he wanted to learn how to photograph concerts, since we could not go to an actual live concert to practice, I suggested we head to Tyrone Mall to learn how to shoot in low light.  What resulted was a 2-hour lesson with a certain espionage feel to it as we took our chances in the dark corners of the Sears electronics department, Spencer's and some super dark clothing store with columns out front and surfer clothes inside that did not even bother to put the name of the store out front.

In fact we were able to find low light spaces better than I had even hoped for allowing us to really practice what it would be like to shoot in a concert venue.  I basically had Jack shoot in manual mode all day as to get a sharp shot a certain minimum shutter speed had to be maintained, and we would then adjust the max aperture and max ISO as needed to get an acceptable exposure.  Jack also exclusively used his Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G lens.  I was impressed with its sharpness even at the max aperture of f/1.4.  

However, we did get politely kicked out of a couple of the stores for taking photos inside them.  Sears did not mind at all though as we stayed there a good 20 minutes having the run of one entire aisle.  Not a single customer passed by in all that time, sadly, for Sears.  

Jack now has a large set of practice photos that established aperture/shutter speed/ISO guidelines depending on if there are spotlights, movement or just diffused low light.  I hope he has a great time at the concert Wednesday night and returns with exciting photographs as well! 

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