Do you use the E1 as your "Polaroid" for evaluating exposure when
shooting lots of film?
Chuck Norcutt
Ken Norton wrote:
> 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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