Its Panto time

It has been quiet on here recently, but there is a good reason. The last few weeks I have been busy working with the local amateur theatre group, taking photographs of their latest pantomime, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, whilst also helping out with the video work. I don't own a HD camcorder so I got a friend to video it from the back to get the full run through, which is what they've had every other time they have had a DVD produced.

I am aiming to go one better and had another camcorder operating from the prompters box - a bit cosy for two but just manageable - to get close ups so that the video comes alive instead of looking flat and boring from a creative point of view!

So far the editing is going well, act 1 is pretty much done, act 2 is next.

To produce the video, I chose Sony Vegas Studio 10 over Adobe Premiere Elements due to poor reports on the latter. Vegas has been great, a little bit of a learning curve but I have video transitioning smoothly using just one audio source with no lip sync issues.

The photography presented its own issues. The stage lighting is bright but that is within relation to total darkness! I only managed to get a few shots at ISO 400 with the camera tripod mounted. The problem was freezing the movement. Trip the shutter at or below 1/60 and the lips and eyes look blurry as the actor moves on stage recanting their lines. So most shots were taken at 800 or 1600 with a 1 stop underexposure to boost the shutter speed. This of course introduced noise, which meant an extra step in post processing - noise reduction. Even using Neat Image, I was pushing the boundaries of the software as I was pushing the boundaries of what the EOS400D is capable of. Noise really shows from EOS400D images above ISO400, so Neat Image had it's work cut out and struggled in a few cases.

You can view the final set of images at photoboxgallery.com/spacetheatre

Mobile images at night

Shooting at night involves waiting around, so what better to do than take photos? I shot this picture with my LG mobile which sports a 5mp sensor rated to ISO800. The settings for this were f/2.8; 1/12 sec at ISO400. Neat Image has been used to reduce the noise but still, for a hand held shot on a mobile, at night, I think that's a good result.

The image shows my 400D on my Manfrotto tripod with a remote release attached with Petra Tou Romiou (Aphrodite's Rock, Cyprus) in the background. If you have ever been here there is a rock just off to the left of the track down to the beach. I positioned the camera at the end of that track where I could lie down and watch the night sky in between exposures.

The Night Sky

I have always had a fascination with the night sky and photographing it has become much easier thanks to the advent of digital photography.

Stumbling across the excellent Ben Canales' astro photography images with fantastic shots of the milky way rising up through the frame, I was inspired to go out, especially after find Stellarium. Stellarium a free open source application that maps the night sky for you, based on your location at any given time and date. It labels the constellations for you and gives you an idea where the milky way is.

Ben Canales has produced a video which he has posted on Vimeo in which he passes on his basic tips for photographing the night sky. Manual focus, fix white balance, focus on inifinty (or just next to it for Canon users - Canon's version of infinity is obviously different to Nikon's!). Watch his video for his full breakdown on how to get started.

The image above was taken using my trusty EOS 400D at 17mm on my EF 17-40mm f/4L; 30secs @ f/4.5; ISO 1600. Neat Image was used in the post processing to reduce the noise which it has made a very good job of - if you have seen how noisy the 400D is at ISO 1600 then you will know what I am talking about.

You never know what you will find in your pictures until you get them on to the big screen. I just missed out on a meteor flashing through the sky, but the last image of the night produced the weirdest artefact. Posted below is a 100% crop without any post processing. Can you tell what it is?