Been to the Cirkus

[FlemmingS]

I was recently in Cirkus and brought my E-30 with the 35-100 mm and a permission to take photos provided I didn't use flash.

The rapidly changing light and fast action was really really difficult to deal with, and the E-30 metering was not up the job.
Ctr-witht seemed to gove the best results.
Shooting in ISO 1600 is something I generally avoid but I was pleasantly suprised when I got home.Most photos has been processed with standard noise filter setting.

http://e-group.uk.net/forum/album.php?albumid=152

[David Gethin]

Re: Been to the Cirkus

I shoot with the E-30 and 50-200mm for theatre work, so things should be easier with the extra stop to stop and a half of 35-100mm. This would be the obvious upgrade for me if I stay with Olympus.

I tend to go with Aperture Priority and shoot wide open with ISO at 1600. Then again I often focus on the actor and want to throw the rest of the scene out of focus, and that may not be appropriate style for a circus environment. With the far better noise reduction of LR3 I have even gone to using ISO 2500. That said, the effectiveness very much depends on what is in the frame.

Theatre (and what you are shooting) often throws up large parts of the frame with dark tones and this is where the noise is most noticeable. A number of theatre photographers do shoot fully manual as they want to ensure movement is frozen and the shutter speeds you talk of would be appropriate, but I doubt you could get sufiiciently exposed image with ISO 800. This is one of the areas where Canikon has a distinct advantage over Olympus.

Have a look through my theatre work to give you an idea of what is achievable:

Dark of the Moon

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjstf9iD

Footloose

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjsTQvLb

[FlemmingS]

Re: Been to the Cirkus

Hi David
Wonderful photos in your two links!

I get your point on ISO 800, even my two friends with Nikon D300 and Canon 5D chose ISO1600. And I am very keen on seeing their results.

But the photos I took where quite overexposed using aperture mode F.2.2 and ISO1600.
So I guess I can either reduce ISO value, increase aperture to F.2.8 or increase shutter speed.
Whatever I will try and experiment tomorrow, it should be great fun.

One thing I utterly dislike about the E-30 is the lousy LCD
It is too low resolution for evaluating the quality of a shot.
One reason alone why I am saving up for an E-5 !

[David Gethin]

Re: Been to the Cirkus

If you think they look overexposed (I didn't immediately think so) I would still run aperture priority and ISO 1600 and dial in -0.3 or -0.7eV exposure compensation so that you will get even faster shutter speeds.

I personally go with spot metering so that the subject is correctly exposed. Easier when shooting theatre but may not be so easy in the fast movement of the circus and if the subject is not in the centre of the frame.

[Zuiko]

Re: Been to the Cirkus

Does the Cirkus have constant lighting? If so, and you are shooting from a fixed position, check the histogram on the first couple of shots, adjusting exposure as needed, then shoot manual.

[FlemmingS]

Re: Been to the Cirkus

Does the Cirkus have constant lighting? If so, and you are shooting from a fixed position, check the histogram on the first couple of shots, adjusting exposure as needed, then shoot manual.

Unfortunately the lightning is shiftning rapidly not only in strength but also the colours in the Flood-lights (Yellow/Red / Blue)
Very spectacular but aslo extremely challenging.

David: The original photos where quite overexposed, I had to reduce exposure by minus 1.0 to 1.5 in order to get the results I have shown.
When shooting I changed between spot metering and ctr-weight and found the last one to work better in most situations.
My Canon 5D friend used ESP and my Nikon D300 friend uses Ctr-weight and I am curious to see their photos

[FlemmingS]

Re: Been to the Cirkus

Hi David

Hi have had another go at the Cirkus at I achieved much better results using your advice (Aperture + EV 0.7 to -1).
I primarily used ESP and occassionally Ctr-weight
Also I went manual when I wanted very short shutter speeds and the E-30/ 35-105 combo worked very well.
You should consider renting a 35-100 mm - I imagine an E5 / 35-100 mm combo would be awesome !

ISO setting was auto (200 -1600) but I couldn't resist trying aperture priorirty and ISO 800 which actually worked quite well in certain situations.

I have uploaded some of the better photos at

http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm200/fsorensen/Cirkus%20Arena%202/

Many of them are straight out of the camera (White balance auto, ISo 200-1600, noice filter standard, gradation normal). and only slightly cropped.
But many turned out much better in Low-key and expsoure compensation minus 0.7 to - 1.5

I will definenately spend more time on certain photos improving noise reduction, sharpening and colours.

Here is ones that I like the best

[Zuiko]

Re: Been to the Cirkus

Awesome! And a great set on Photobucket, too! Proof that it's worth persevering untill you get the camera settings right.

[FlemmingS]

Re: Been to the Cirkus

Awesome! And a great set on Photobucket, too! Proof that it's worth persevering untill you get the camera settings right.

Thank you for your kind words John - Yes i pay of training and it was great fun - I can only recommend a trip to the Cirkus.

And I found your website very inspiring and I might turn to you for a piece of advice.
My next photo challenge is 'Landscape' - the photo club only accepts minor post processing, no HDR unless supported in camera.
I look forward to it nad have already chosen 3 places to shoot-
I wish you all a splendid weekend