Trying to shoot in an auditorium (was not easy)

So I tried to shoot the 44th Army Band at a concert they were playing down at the fair grounds and it was very different than anything I'd done before. The light was horrible; it was low so I had to use a High ISO, large aperture and slow shutter. The lens I was using didn't have Vibration Reduction so most of the pix are fuzzy (my VR lens is still in the shop getting repaired.) Flash was a small help, but didn't help much because of the size of the place and the distances I had to shoot at.

I used my Nikon D300 body with a Nikkor 28-100mm AF lens and a Nikon SB-600 Flash mounted on the body.

This was a humbling experience for me and I am glad I got to do it so I could learn something. Specialist Erin Montoya from the 200th Public Affairs Detachment was there taking pix too and I hope she did a lot better than me.


White balance was another nightmare in the place. I tried using Live view, going through the WB settings until one looked good; took a shot then the light changed. In this frame there is different WB in different parts of it and I couldn't fix it in Photoshop.


Next time I have to shoot something like this I will have a VR lens and maybe rent one with f/2.8.

Chriss advanced to the second round of her contest and wanted to do another shoot.

When we talked about it Chriss wanted to use the same location as the Brianne shoot. This time I brought an extension cord and power strip to plug in my lights, but I still had only the small area to work in. I brought a couple of guns for props to the shoot and she really enjoyed them. (she's an Army Iraq veteran and knows how to handle firearms). Here are a few from that shoot.

I really needed to pull her away from that back ground, but just didn't have the room.

She was really happy with the shoot and loved the photos (I'm kinda pleased with them myself.)

Footnote: The T-Shirt she's wearing is from her friends with the local band Anesthesia.

shooting another friend for the radio station

Chriss called later the same evening and talked about her shoot. She would be dressed kind of Goth and wanted her shoot in a graveyard or in dead trees at night. My first thought was, "I Don't Wanna Be That Cold!!!" Second though was, what am I gonna do for lighting? The only thing I could come up with was my trusty SB-600 speed light (an off camera flash sitting on the ground in front and to her left) and it's little stand. I also had the thought of using rubber bands to attach a bunch of LED flashlights to my light tripods. Heavy to carry and it didn't work. Back to the SB-600 and here's what I got.

In this one I think a second speed light with a green filter behind her would have looked good.

I liked the way I could see her eyes through the branches in this one.

This shoot went pretty well for us and she really liked the photo's. Chriss has become my favorite model. She shows up, on time and loves to pose.

I shot these last December.

A couple of friends of mine wanted to enter a local radio contest and needed photo's so they asked me to shoot them. My buddy Brianne talked to me on the phone and we talked about where we would shoot and what she would wear. I wanted to use a friends house, but Brianne wanted to use a store room so I brought a back ground to hang and hide the stuff there. I arrived lugging my light set and started to unpack and set it up only to find out there were no electric outlets around. The only light I would have would be my SB-600 speed light which I mounted on a tripod at shoulder height in from of me and too my left front. I was further dismayed when Brianne pulled out a black dress and all I had was a black background. Oh well, here's what I got.

The space I had to work in was very small, about 6 feet high, by 6 feet wide by about 3 feet deep. I would like to have moved her out farther and would really have liked to have more light, but she was pleased with the photos.