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.