Event Shots - A Photographer's Challenge

[CNelson]

My church asked me to photograph an event where several churches joined to sing classic gospel hymns. It was a real challenge with combinations of too bright and too dim lighting and overlapping color temperatures. I only used the flash a few times as I didn't want to distract so I spent my time peeking around pillars and crawling on the floor to get my shots. The lighting was pretty dim on the whole so I shot in manual mode using ISOs up to 2000 so, even with my 5D, I had noise to deal with. Everything was hand held as I was on the move and couldn't be bothered with a tripod. I shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom then CS4. I am packing for a trip to northern CA for camping so had little time to play with the images but I did make a collage which is linked below. I am hoping for some good nature and wildlife photo ops when up north.

Chuck

[Donald]

Right. Try again. Had just written my reply, went everything went down.

I think what I said was .... I very much like the way you have put this together. Each of the component parts is good, particularly given the challenges you faced. But, as a whole, I think it is a very balanced picture that conveys and illustrates a real sense of what the event was and what atmosphere must have felt like. The parts (people and text) all fit together very harmoniously.

[Colin Southern]

I say good job all round there Chuck!

[CNelson]

Thanks Don and Colin. This project has made me really appreciate what wedding photographers do on a regular basis. They have to battle unique lighting conditions, moving events in real time and they are under 100 times the pressure I was. They are expected to deliver a quality product that a client is paying good money for. At least they can pose some of the shots but much of it is flying the the seat of your pants. It was a good experience for me.

Chuck