Theater Sound Board......under lights

[Jim Fox]

Was watching the final performance at our local summer theater program (my kid was in it). I was continually being drawn to this sound board and the yellow/orange light being cast down on it. All I had was a monopod with me, so steady as I could be I popped a couple shots of it. After playin with it a bit in Lightroom, I found l liked the B&W version better. I used an Ilford preset in Lightroom for the B&W. What do you think?

[ShatteredPieces]

It's a great photo! I personally like the color version better. It just gives it more of a "behind the scenes magic" kind of feel. But that's just me.

[deudbus]

I agree with liking the color more. Brings back my days of work in the theater (I was a sound guy).

[Jim Fox]

Thanks you two.........you are starting to make me second guess my B&W thoughts. Like I said I was really drawn to the lighting, now I am liking the original better! Thanks a lot!

[deadgirlreading]

Just to be different, I like the black-and-white better. It changes the emphasis to the forms.

[TimA]

I like the B&W. But for me, the color one is my favorite because of specifically the colored lights. In an essentially monotone photo, the the green and red lights bring it more to life I think. With the B&W, the overall focus changes and the shot is not as lively...more moody (all personal opinions of course!).

Nice low light shot though. I assume you used something like the 50mm pretty wide open. But there's not much noise either. Nice shot!

[Jim Fox]

Originally Posted by TimA

Nice low light shot though. I assume you used something like the 50mm pretty wide open. But there's not much noise either. Nice shot!

I used my Canon 70-200/2.8, probably with the IS on.

ISO 3200
200mm
f/2.8
1/80sec

BTW, I ran it through NikSoftware's DFine do reduce the noise.

[TimA]

Ooooh. The 70-200. Love that lens though I don't use it enough indoors. That came out really nice! I'm really impressed with the noise reduction with DFine. The 50D is pretty noisy at 3200 because they crammed so much pixels in there and when I use NoiseNinja 2, it just softens it so much...

I gotta use it more indoors... Thanks for the info!

[Jim Fox]

I love the Canon 70-200/2.8. I use it for theater (obviously from this post) and dance. It's on my camera 99% of the time.

Samples:

[TimA]

The ballet shot is awesome!! Now those are things that I would love to get permission to shoot from either the pit or the side of the stage Now I really need to start using my 70-200 more. I think my 24-70 has gotten enough love from me lately to not get too jealous