Denny JetTone
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Agreed that color from stage lighting is not out of place, particularly in the b’ground. The overuse of strong digital colors has not seemed as bad recently as it was eight or ten years ago in most places where I have shot.
Not particular to Alex’s terrific work but to stage/show/non-rock-concert work generally – and I think that I’ve mentioned this in other, older threads – if we’re shooting raw and looking at the images in Adobe LR or ACR, we’re not really seeing raw. We’re seeing Adobe’s interpretation of what Adobe thinks our raw should be.
The Profile choices used to be few and were pretty much hidden well down in the Adjustment Panel but the choices have been plentiful and have been at the top of the page for a while now. Adobe’s default setting (it’s interpretation of our camera’s raw) is Adobe Color (it used to be Adobe Standard), which has more contrast and saturation built into it that we’d ever see in what our cameras saw a native image.
For any mention of the way that I edit these types of images, keep in mind that I intentionally underexpose most of my stage work.
One tip – which is better known now that it was a few years ago – is to find the profile that best suits your intentions for each image. I don’t know what these are for Canon and Sony but for Nikon, the “rawest” look for the latest version of LR/ACR is Camera Neutral for the D800/810; Adobe Neutral or Camera Flat for the D750; and Camera Flat for the D7200.
Also, under Lens Corrections – see what the Vignetting (under Profile) does for you, and, if you’re looking for more or different, under Manual (rather than Profile), the Vignetting slider also includes Midpoint control.
The second tip – for the kind of work that I do (mostly individual, performance portraits), not necessarily applicable for what I see in Alex’s examples – take down the shadows, not bring them up. My first, trial adjustment is to crush the Shadows (-100) and to run up the Blacks (+100) – sometimes I’ll leave them there, sometimes I’ll adjust to something less severe. I usually don’t care what’s happening in the shadows – those details are only distractions. Some of this involves personal preferences for dealing with noise but that’s only part of it.
Regarding using an f/4 lens for concerts and stage work – it can be fine in a lot of lighting situations This kind of shooting is usually described as “low light” by those who don’t do a lot of it but it’s more often a “high contrast” situation – especially and very much so when follow spots are in use. I’ve got f/2.8 from 14mm to 200mm but am limited to f/4 from 200-400mm – I shoot of lot of performance portraits in the 300mm to 400mm range (on FF). I can’t afford a Nikkor 400mm f/2.8 and – shooting live performances in the presence of audiences – I can rarely be constrained to fixed focal lengths. I rented a 200mm f/2 a few times while considering buying one but I never got comfortable using it as one of two body/lens combos at the same time. It’s a beast to sling and it attracts more attention from “civilians” than the 200-400.
There have been, and are currently, a few posters showing beautiful stage/dance/concert work on FM who are now joined by Alex.
-Denny
→ I don’t post to the forum (or anywhere else) but if anyone would like to see some examples of my one-trick pony show, send your email address to me thru PM
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). I would also like to hear about you deal with white balance challenges. I think you made the right choices here, but there are so many variables in a theater shoot with good or not so good lighting. Nice work.