Mar, 2014
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo at a fashion show which was a part of the annual cultural festival at my business school. As a senior organizer of the event, I was able to secure a place right at the edge of the ramp in front of the audience, giving me unrestricted access to the entire stage with minimal distractions. Positioning myself at the center of the stage helped me get a clear straight angle at the model.Time
The picture was taken at approximately 9 pm at night. The show had just started and the first model had taken her position on the stage. It was a very well choreographed show which had the lead model come on stage before the others and take her position / pose at the center of the stage before the lights came on. This shot was taken a couple of seconds before she got up and began her walk on the ramp.Lighting
I think the key aspect about this capture is the lighting. There are not too many other details apart from the dark silhouette of the subject surrounded by a dash of red light dispersed by smoke. This picture was all about the timing. When the scene was unfolding on the stage, I had immediately visualized the kind of image I wanted to see on the playback monitor, and fortunately, was lucky enough to time it well. I am glad that the light was situated behind the model and not in front of her, else the silhouette effect would not have been achieved. The smoke machine had fired off just an instant before the red light behind the model had lit up. This offered just enough time for the smoke to fill up part of the frame and not the whole of it. I think this juxtaposition of red light dispersed with smoke at the bottom right with the dark background in the upper left offers great contrast. Another complication was that even though the show would typically start with soft mild lights giving just a glimpse of the act to follow (which also offered more camera friendly lighting), the harsh bright lights of the stage would follow soon which offer lesser opportunities for some exotic shots. Luckily the light engineer waited for a few moments to turn on the bright lights and this enabled me capture this shot.Equipment
I had just started dabbling in photography when this picture was taken. I had clicked this image with a Nikon D3000 using a 55-200 mm lens. I did not use a flash as that would have killed the soft edges of the colour in the smoke and would have destroyed the silhouette. No tripod was used, but had used a friend's shoulder to stabilize myself to avoid blur owing to the low light settings.Inspiration
Since this fashion show was a part of a larger cultural event, there were other performances taking place on the stage at various times of the day. And the stage engineers would often bring in smoke and light effects to add some drama and intrigue to the performances. I tried taking different pictures at different times but either there would be too much smoke which would completely shield the subject, or there would be very harsh stage light that would suddenly light up overexposing the picture, or I would need to compromise on the composition to avoid certain distractions on the stage. So I was already on the lookout for a moment wherein there would be some optimal combination of lighting, subject, stage effects, and my position around the stage to capture it. And I think one good capture is worth the 10 needed to get there !Editing
Am not big into post processing, probably because I am not too good at it. I just did a very basic touch up to this picture to deepen the blacks by a slight amount to enhance the silhouette effect.In my camera bag
Not being a professional photographer offers some constraints in my need to invest in fast expensive lenses. I still use my old Nikon D3000 and carry the standard 18-55 mm, a 55-200 mm zoom and a 50 mm f1.8 prime. I am starting to enjoy playing with my off-camera flash triggers which do allow some more room for creativity. And also a remote trigger for some long exposure shots.Feedback
Finding patters in live events is something that helps out a lot. For e.g. I had noticed that the stage engineer in charge of the lights would start the lights when the music for the performance / act would begin. The music was his cue to turn on the lights. Thus when the music began, I immediately got in position to capture the subject and was ready to click the moment the lights went on. Furthermore, even though I managed to click this picture, I also lost out on some other potentially good captures because of auto-focusing issues in the dark. The stage would be quite dark before the shows and the key moments that are available just at the beginning of the show would be lost out if your camera takes too long to focus. In events such as fashion shows, or car racing, you would normally see a pattern - the subjects would follow a certain path or enter and exit or move along imaginary lines. Use your camera to focus on these points before the action begins and then set the camera to manual focus. This would ensure that you don't lose out on key moments because of delay in auto-focusing of the camera.
