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[OM] Day Three Redux

Subject: [OM] Day Three Redux
From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:35:16 -0500
Well, it's over.  Three days (evenings, acutally) and an intense few hours
of shooting.

It started at 4:45 PM when I arrived for the groups and individual
portraits.  These photos were all taken right in the main auditorium and
fortunately the tech crew left the fancy backdrop lighting on.  Usually I
have to ask them to turn the washes on and I pick a color which doesn't go
nuclear in the pictures (LED lighting).  Fortunately, the light setup from
the night before was just fine and I only had to make one minor exposure
tweak to control the background (ambient) level.

Three groups of people needed to be photographed and then each person with
spouse (if they had one) had to be photographed.  It wasn't ideal, but I
took my painters cloth, tossed it over a railing up on the stage (clamped it
in place), grabbed a cool looking high chair and snapped a test shot.  Ugh.,
exposure and shadows.  I ran up into the balcony, grabbed the far lightstand
and traipsed it over to the side i needed it. Re-aimed them both, dialed
down the T45 as low as it would go and test fired.  Moved the chair out
another foot from the backdrop and then rolled them as quickly as possible.
I think I set a personal record of 35 portraits and three group shots in 45
minutes.  We were cooking with oil. Not perfect, but good enough.  Part of
professionalism is knowing when good enough is good enough.

The main event was a rather formal affair and I did most of my main-floor
movement during the first 15 minutes.  After that, I spent most of the time
shooting from the balcony--either from the center or all the way to the
side.

I had experimented on Tuesday with umbellas in the lightstands to soften the
shadows from the hanging mikes, speakers, projecters and stuff. Although
effective, I lost two stops of light as a result. So, I removed the
umbrellas and lowered the monolights down as low as I could get them and
still clear the railing. This put almost all of the shadows up on the
ceiling and by dragging the shutter a little, the ambient light took care of
the rest.  Every year I fight this and this probably was about the best
configuration yet, but I'm still not happy.  I'm loathe to just go ambient
for everything because the stage lighting isn't even enough. (the stage
lighting has been an issue for the facility's video production for years).
Yet, I think that I probably got my best lighting balance ever for this
event.

For the ceremony where awards/recognition was given (kinda like a
graduation), but extremely formal and steeped in tradition, I used the
Tokina AT-X 100-300/4 on the E-1. Other than the difficulty in focusing, it
worked great. F6.7 and be there...

T45?  I think I've said enough, eh?

10 rolls of film total.  Ah, it was wonderful...

AG
-- 
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