Six rules for shooting live performances

Shooting any kind of live performance will be a great challenge, both indoors and outdoors. This is not only because we need to master various shooting principles before shooting, but more importantly, we are usually confined to our seats and can't walk around at will to find the shooting angle we want. However, these are not the most challenging, and the poor lighting conditions of indoor performances are our biggest enemies. The following is my understanding of the six rules of shooting live performances. Welcome to reading.

1, be a polite person

No matter whether our shooting environment is indoor or outdoor, the first thing we need to pay attention to is modesty and courtesy, and fully consider the feelings of performers and audiences. If you are filming a group of street performances, you are likely to have a close communication with the performer before the performance, so take time to have a rough communication with him. This is not only to make performers more relaxed, but also a basic etiquette. In addition, please remember that the performer is not just for you. When shooting in front of a crowd, try to avoid or reduce the interference caused to the audience. Finally, when we finish shooting and are ready to leave, don't forget to leave the artist's email and send him our shots.

Step 2 be fully prepared

This seems to be an obvious principle, but I still want to emphasize that we need to be prepared to shoot any performance under any circumstances. I mean, don't forget to turn on your camera, make the correct body settings, and then prepare the right lens, so that we won't miss any wonderful shots. Before shooting, we can try to predict what will happen next. You know, usually every performance will have a climax, and we need to be ready to shoot the next climax.

3. Plan the shooting speed

One of the most important factors when shooting a performance is the speed control. By changing the shooting speed, we can not only shoot sharp and clear images, but also create dynamic and blurred images as needed. Of course, this blur does not come from the camera itself. Therefore, setting the appropriate shutter speed is an essential link.

For high-speed performance classes, if you want to freeze a dynamic scene, you may need to use a larger aperture value to ensure that the shutter speed is enough to show the image details. But before the aperture is fully opened, please remember that the larger the aperture, the shallower the depth of field and the more blurred the background. So whether we need multiple shutter speeds depends on the moving speed of our subject and your own shooting intention (assuming you want dynamic blur effect). Usually, if we want to completely freeze the moving picture, the camera shutter speed needs to be set higher than 1/200 seconds. In addition, the high-speed continuous shooting mode of the camera is a good auxiliary tool. You can take a series of photos in succession and then choose the clearest one.

4, improve the ISO value

In some usage scenarios (especially indoors), we need to improve the ISO sensitivity setting of the camera, so as to get a faster shutter speed when shooting high-speed moving targets. The level of ISO setting depends on the lighting conditions and whether you have a pair of "iron hands". In most cases, I will not shoot at a shutter speed lower than 1/60 seconds, and my ISO starting value will be between 400 and 800. Before shooting, we need to fully understand the capabilities of cameras under different ISO settings, because different cameras have different noise suppression capabilities. We can try more before shooting, so as to have a good idea of camera quality under high ISO.

5. Avoid using flash.

People think that it is disgusting for both performers and audiences to shoot with flash, not only because it will stifle the whole performance atmosphere, but also because it will make the original rich colors dull. Therefore, we should avoid using flash and choose to shoot through the real light in the scene. For example, if the performer is in the shadow when shooting outdoors, then we can choose to press the shutter when he enters the sun; If the performer is on the indoor stage, we must wait until the spotlight hits the performer or the lights turn bright before shooting.

6. Don't ignore the audience of the performance.

After we can easily capture the actions of the performers, don't forget the onlookers. Sometimes bringing these audiences into the composition of the shooting performance can make us gain unexpected gains. Try to find those funny expressions and actions in the crowd and record them when they show joy and surprise, and these often unique moments should not be forgotten, right?

The best thing about filming performances is that those wonderful scenes are often unique, and usually the performers don't mind us recording these moments. You know, many people are often afraid to shoot their performances at close range because of attitude problems. However, although there are many challenges in shooting performance theme photography, as long as we practice hard, we can easily capture the perfect picture.