Lens Hood for Indoor Photography: I will be photographing my granddaughters performance next week in place of the professional who has a family emergency. The stage is fairly well lit...

srfmhg Loc: Marin County, CA

I will be photographing my granddaughters performance next week in place of the professional who has a family emergency. The stage is fairly well lit and I'll be able to move around since it will be the dress rehearsal. I will be using a Sigma 70-200 2.8 on my Nikon D7200 and a Nikon 18-300 3.5-5.6 on my D7000 for group shots. Should I use the lens hoods on each lens? I probably won't use flash. Any other tips would be appreciated. I also have a Tokina 12-28, a Nikon 35mm 1.8, and a Micro Nikkor 85mm 3.5. Thanks.

Mark G.

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

Always a lens hood, except when they may cast a shadow on the subject.
With stage lighting they may help prevent any unwanted flare.

Tips: Expecially if it is an indoor stage
#1 Remove any filters from your lenses - it will help reduce flare.
#2 Shoot RAW - it will give you more options when post processing
#3 Be preapred to do noise reduction when PPing
#4 The 18-200 will proabably be too slow at the longer focal legths.
#5 Have a back up lens.

For the classical music concerts I shoot
Aperture priority
Lens wide open
High to very high ISO (1600+) or auto ISO set to max out at 6400 (lighting dependant)
Hand held and image stabilistion is on
Take what ever shutter speed you can get.
If you have more light than what you needed (no unwanted subject or camera movement) consider decreasing the aperture and/or the ISO.

Nowdays I shoot with Olympus E-M5 Mark II (crop factor is 2) with a 12-40 f2.8 lens on one body and an 40-150 f2.8 on the other body.
Back up is a Canon 70D (crop factor 1.6) with choice of fast primes (f2 or faster)

Hope this helps.

srfmhg Loc: Marin County, CA

Thanks for the tips. The filters will come off and the hoods stay on.
Mark

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

srfmhg wrote:

I will be photographing my granddaughters performa... (show quote)

For physical protection and for unwanted light/flare control a lenshood should be on your lens 24/7 ! - except in close up work where it may cast a shadow.....

srfmhg Loc: Marin County, CA

imagemeister wrote:

For physical protection and for unwanted light/flare control a lenshood should be on your lens 24/7 ! - except in close up work where it may cast a shadow.....

Thanks - will do.

Quixdraw Loc: x

I use always use a hood except with flash.

Very important, unless you are a RAW shooter, is to get the White Balance right. Since it is a rehearsal you can test first.
Also, as backup, include a white card in a test shot so you can adjust if you pp. S/B fun, if you can keep from getting stressed!

srfmhg Loc: Marin County, CA

quixdraw wrote:

I use always use a hood except with flash.

Very important, unless you are a RAW shooter, is to get the White Balance right. Since it is a rehearsal you can test first.
Also, as backup, include a white card in a test shot so you can adjust if you pp. S/B fun, if you can keep from getting stressed!

Thanks. The real stress will be getting a shot of every kid in the show and having to endure the wrath of parents and grandparents afterward if they don't see a perfect image of their child!

Quixdraw Loc: x

Don't know how many kids -- I recently did an adult play, and in a few minutes at the rehearsals, did a quick portrait of each of 30 odd cast members, stand on a mark in front of the curtain, a mark for me as well, walk, stop, snap, Next!. Well received.

RichardTaylor Loc: Sydney, Australia

When it comes to colour you may need to make a decision for for your final images.
Do you show what the lighting director intended?
or
Do you show what it would be in real life?

Sometimes the light may be pretty horrendous.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

I always use a lens hood. If you want to understand the value also indoors, cup your hands around each side of your eyes and then remove them. Amazing. I would do some test shots to see wht you will need to push your ISO to freeze the action. Have fun.I would use the Nikon 35 1.8 and sigma 70-200 2.8.

srfmhg wrote:

I will be photographing my granddaughters performa... (show quote)

srfmhg Loc: Marin County, CA

Thanks so much to all for the great tips.

sueyeisert Loc: New Jersey

Can you practice at a dress rehearsal? You may need flash.

srfmhg wrote:

I will be photographing my granddaughters performa... (show quote)

warrenvon Loc: Ellicott City, MD

I always use a lens hood.
Not just to preclude flare but to protect the lens as I never use a filter to protect the lens.
For me . . . I use a filter only when it is necessary to alter the light, i.e. a circular polarizer or a ND filter.

Cappy Loc: Wildwood, NJ

quixdraw wrote:

I use always use a hood except with flash.

Very important, unless you are a RAW shooter, is to get the White Balance right. Since it is a rehearsal you can test first.
Also, as backup, include a white card in a test shot so you can adjust if you pp. S/B fun, if you can keep from getting stressed!

------
Good advice

srfmhg Loc: Marin County, CA

sueyeisert wrote:

Can you practice at a dress rehearsal? You may need flash.

Thanks. I will be doing the actual shoot at dress rehearsal. The producer told me that there will be 2 dress rehearsals next week so I'll get in a practice run in order to get all the kids and have a chance to correct mistakes.
MHG