5 Key Points for Dramatic Performance Photography

How do you get that million dollar shot of a performer while they are on stage killing it? For those of you who already know how to get that perfectly exposed, properly framed picture, this might be the next stop for you to explore your horizons. But for those just dabbling into the live event photography scene, this is the perfect way to hit the ground running. These days artists are not just looking for that perfectly exposed picture of themselves smiling on stage to say they performed at so and so arena or stadium; they want to capture the feel and emotion of that moment in its Raw-ness. As a result, the desire for dramatic photography is increasing; the artistic want for harsh shadows, silhouettes appearing in front of the spotlight, etc. Here are a few key tips to keep your live event photography on point!

1. Keep Your ISO normal

It’s good to get a lot of clear focus, properly color balanced and exposed photos where you can see the performer clearly. But sometimes you want to capture the mood of the performance, so when people see the photograph they say, “Holy Cow! I wish I was there.” One way to ensure this reaction is to keep your ISO at its appropriate setting; letting the right amount of light into the lens to illuminate your photo. If you have ever played with exposure (ISO) in Photoshop or Lightroom you will notice lowering the exposure tends to adjust the skin tones to look grayish-black and dirty. And over exposing whites them out. The best way to adjust the light and shadow of the photograph in the camera is to use other settings.

1. Keep Your Shutter speed high Shutter speed is a measurement of the time the shutter is open from the time the shutter button is clicked, correlating to the amount of time the shutter allows for light to enter before the shutter closes capturing the image. The shutter speed is shown in seconds or fractions of a second; i.e. 1 s, 1/2 s, 1/4 s… 1/250 s, 1/500 s, etc. The faster the shutter speed, the shorter the time the image sensor is exposed to light. Needless to say that shutter speed also affects your exposure.

Try to not let your shutter speed fall below 1/250 otherwise the camera will catch subtle movements that will appear as blurry when captured. Sometimes motion blurs can have a special effect to them, such as in a dance performance, or a cirque de soleil act where there is a wide and/or large hand, leg, and/or whole body movement. But unless you are an experienced photographer, and know the act or performance like the back of your hand it’s best to play it safe and not risk wasting lots of precious card space. Also remember the higher the shutter speed the more detail and crispness you will get in your photograph, especially in those extreme close-ups of the lead performer with drops of sweat falling down their temple to their cheek when they are in the middle of an up-tempo song with lots of movement, or a slow song, when the performer is really connecting emotionally to the song or scene. Even in action segments, a high shutter speed can really capture that mid-air stunt effect that will drop the jaws of the viewer.

As for mentioned, the shutter speed affects the exposure of the image, so as a result it is important not to set your shutter speed too high, or the image will be under exposed.

1. Keep Your Aperture up Do not let your aperture go lower than F/9. Because you want to get as much of elements on stage (people, instruments, props, and sets) in focus (you can always go into Photoshop later and blur the background a bit. Another benefit to a high aperture is that the higher the aperture number the darker the image will get and the more detail will be in focus because the lower the aperture number (f/1.4) the wider the lens’ diaphragm opens letting more light in, and the higher the aperture number (F/22) the smaller the diaphragm of the lens opens letting in less light. You will notice in post editing software, increasing the contrast makes the image appear to have more detail and cripsness by increasing the contrast between the light/brightness and the dark/shadows in the image.

But don’t let the f-stop (aperture number) get too high that you can’t see the subject (i.e. performer, instrument, prop). Shadow is good, but as long as it’s mood appropriate.

Also do not forget to work with both the shutter speed and aperture together, as they do alter the capturing of your image working hand in hand; they both (like most camera settings) deal with light and exposure.

1. Keep your white balance properly calibrated By keeping your white balance properly calibrated to the right color temperature you are giving yourself the room to capture mood moments and authentic moments.

In this situation, most performances will have their own light man that will cue the lights to go with the flow of the production. Remember, the light man is your best friend at this point, because they know the show, and will be your visual cue as to what kind of photo to take.

And since a camera deals with light/exposure, the light man will play a very particular role in your pictures. By setting your camera to the proper color temperature, the camera will capture all images as the creators and or choreographers envision. You can always adjust the images in post editing.

1. Play with post editing software Photoshop and Lightroom are very good photo-editing software that can help enhance your photos. Depending on time, quantity and the editing requirements on the photographs will determine the editing software you will use. Mostly for event photography you will use Lightroom to get the most efficient work flow as it allows quick and in-depth adjustments and mass exporting capabilities. Photoshop is mostly used for those single photoshoots you may have. Post editing can help to make your images more crisp by boosting the contrast, correcting color temperatures, and adding more vibrance to their clothes and skintone. But for the “artistic” mood images you can durastically play with the contrast, change to black and white; maybe make bring back one object in color, boost the vibrance and saturation, blur backgrounds, and much more.

Keep in mind that dramatic photography is very subjective, but taste is very wide spread. And the best way to get better is to practice and get out there.

But the best tip to give for this type of photography is to try and see the performance before hand. This will help you to anticipate any sudden movements or moments that will get you that jaw dropping, million dollar shot.