I mostly shoot glamour/nude/naughty genres. When I shoot in my studio under controlled conditions, the percentage of properly exposed and focused photos is very close to 100%. Depending on the model or client I'm working with, the percentage of photos I send to them can vary from roughly 10% to roughly 70%.
Last week I tried something new. A friend in the local live music community got me a stage pass to a blues benefit concert in Portland, Oregon at the Crystal Ballroom. My last event photography was as a high school yearbook photographer, back in the last century, so I was looking forward to the challenge and seeing how my fancy 21st century camera gear would handle the job.
Photographing this concert was quite a challenge, even with modern equipment. My keeper rate was 20 out of 700. I didn't have much problem with exposure. I just used my 5D3 on manual and did not try to adjust for the quick changes in lighting. Nearly all of my shots had acceptable exposure. Mostly at ISO 6400. Lightroom easily handled the noise reduction job on the RAW images.
Most images were rejected because the performers had a microphone or some other object covering part of their face! How rude! LOL
I did have a big problem getting sharp images. I'm still evaluating the reasons, but here are some that I believe are factors.
1. Some of my lenses had a problem locking focus on the performer's faces. I only brought three lenses, the 35mm 2.0 IS, the 50mm 1.2L and the 85mm 1.8, since I knew I would be able stand at the edge of the stage. The 35mm had the worst focus reliability. I suspect this is due to the focus sensor covering a larger area and picking up other high contrast objects like microphone stands.
2. I almost always shot wide open. However, I could tell via my LCD screen that I was having sharpness problems and did try a few shots at smaller apertures and higher ISO. That did not seem to help.
3. I did not try use any kind of camera support, although I saw another photog with a monopod, so perhaps I could have used one. One funny thing about the Crystal Ballroom is that the ancient wood floor is mounted on springs to enhance the dancing experience for the folks who used the place 100 years ago. I could definitely feel feel the up and down motion! So I guess maybe a monopod would not have helped.
Anyway, here is one of the keepers with the 35mm F2 wide open. I applied a lot of sharpening in Lightroom, which is not something I'm used to doing.
Here is the link to the gallery if you wish to see the other 19 keepers.
http://mikeshane.zenfolio.com/f725079218
Last week I tried something new. A friend in the local live music community got me a stage pass to a blues benefit concert in Portland, Oregon at the Crystal Ballroom. My last event photography was as a high school yearbook photographer, back in the last century, so I was looking forward to the challenge and seeing how my fancy 21st century camera gear would handle the job.
Photographing this concert was quite a challenge, even with modern equipment. My keeper rate was 20 out of 700. I didn't have much problem with exposure. I just used my 5D3 on manual and did not try to adjust for the quick changes in lighting. Nearly all of my shots had acceptable exposure. Mostly at ISO 6400. Lightroom easily handled the noise reduction job on the RAW images.
Most images were rejected because the performers had a microphone or some other object covering part of their face! How rude! LOL
I did have a big problem getting sharp images. I'm still evaluating the reasons, but here are some that I believe are factors.
1. Some of my lenses had a problem locking focus on the performer's faces. I only brought three lenses, the 35mm 2.0 IS, the 50mm 1.2L and the 85mm 1.8, since I knew I would be able stand at the edge of the stage. The 35mm had the worst focus reliability. I suspect this is due to the focus sensor covering a larger area and picking up other high contrast objects like microphone stands.
2. I almost always shot wide open. However, I could tell via my LCD screen that I was having sharpness problems and did try a few shots at smaller apertures and higher ISO. That did not seem to help.
3. I did not try use any kind of camera support, although I saw another photog with a monopod, so perhaps I could have used one. One funny thing about the Crystal Ballroom is that the ancient wood floor is mounted on springs to enhance the dancing experience for the folks who used the place 100 years ago. I could definitely feel feel the up and down motion! So I guess maybe a monopod would not have helped.
Anyway, here is one of the keepers with the 35mm F2 wide open. I applied a lot of sharpening in Lightroom, which is not something I'm used to doing.
Here is the link to the gallery if you wish to see the other 19 keepers.
http://mikeshane.zenfolio.com/f725079218