How to Photograph: Stage Lighting

This is a shot of a Balinese dancer during a traditional Barong dance performance. Photographing shows in stage lighting is challenging. In bad stage light, it can be a nightmare.

With stage lighting, I normally shoot in Manual mode. Spot lit performers against dark backgrounds will fool a camera’s meter every time.

The subject will end up overexposed. Stage lighting is usually very uneven around the stage particularly in small third-world venues where I tend to hang out. This means it’s tough to shoot all over the stage. So I look for the best lit spot on the stage, which is often the center but not always. This is the zone where I want my subjects to be.
I rarely use on-camera flash here (or ever) because I like to shoot from the back of the room with a telephoto lens. The flash may not reach the stage plus it would be a distraction to everyone else. (I take a lot of pictures; it would look like a disco.)

For exposure, I choose the highest ISO my camera can handle without creating noisy images. ISO 400 is about as high as go on Nikon D2X. I know I’ll need a pretty big aperture too if I’m going to get a reasonably fast shutter speed. I choose F4 and use the spot meter to determine the shutter speed. I take a few test shots also and check the histogram.

Now I’m set and I just wait for the performers to enter the “zone” where my light is. I might pick a different zone at times and if the light is different there, I adjust my exposure. This isn’t a point and shoot affair.

If I’m shooting a show where they actually have a proper lighting production as part of the performance, using manual exposure can be very difficult. The constantly changing lighting schemes are too varied to keep up with.

This is a good time to shoot in Aperture Priority mode and use the built-in meter, but on the spot meter setting. I check the histograms frequently and dial in some exposure compensation if needed. Usually underexposing 1/3 of a stop, but it depends on the show. Let the histogram help you fine-tune your exposure.

Being in the back of the room also allows me to use a monopod and move around without ruining the show for others.

Gear: Nikon D2X / Nikon 80-200mm F2.8 lens / Manfrotto Tripod with one leg extended and ball head.

Exposure: ISO 400 F3.2 1/50th

Here is a traditional Apsara dancer in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Here I used the spot meter technique for sure. It was on slide film, no quick image reviews back then.

As always, click any image for the large version. TR