The Hip Hop Nutcracker

 

This was an assignment I hadn't planned on taking. I wanted to try out some new lenses on my Sony A7 body during a walk in Marin County. In addition, I also wanted to test the practicality of using a manually focusing battery of prime lenses on an actual assignment at some point. These two pet projects converged during a performance of the Hip Hop Nutcracker, presented by Peninsula Lively Arts and performed at the Fox Theater in Redwood City, a venue and city I knew reasonably well.

Recently my friend Meshelle gave me four Zeiss Contax/Yashica lenses along with two Contax film SLR bodies, all of which had belonged to one of her friends. I carried three of those lenses with me that morning; a 25mm F 2.8 wide angle, a 50mm 1.4 normal, and a 85mm F 1.4 short telephoto lens. Along with these three lenses and my one Sony body, I carried a single Nikon SB 800 with its diffusion dome and a CTO gel taped to the flash head. I would be shooting in an indoor venue, and since it was a staged production, the lighting was sure to be "creative".

This photo of the sleeping Clara shows that when lit by a conventional incandescent spotlight, proper coloration of the subject is indeed possible. However, the colored gels that were added for effect complicated obtaining a color rendition that was reasonably accurate. To complicate things further, many of those tinted lights were spotlights aimed at one specific portion of the stage. This resulted in areas with differences in both the color tint and brightness within different areas of the frame.

The Money Shot: Focusing was also an issue. Focus peaking works best when you have lots of light and a high-contrast foreground subject, which was not the case here. For this shot, I focused on the dancer's foot, as there was a good chance he would stay "anchored" to that location long enough to get at least one well-focused shot. Add to that the dancer's constant movement and you'll get many "near misses" when it comes to selecting one image with a pleasing composition. Fortunately for me I found this single image in a veritable mountain of near misses.

This selection represents 9 of the 11 images that were initially taken. In addition to focusing errors, there was the problem of the subject moving in and out of the shaft of light that Illuminated him. I suspect that I quickly reviewed the take and felt that the final image was going to be one of the selected images.

1/250 second, ISO 1600, Aperture Unknown.

This is a cropped version of the last image. It is as sharp as can be expected, considering the high levels of noise that gave the image a granular, film-like appearance. In addition, the subject in this frame is fully in the spotlight, something that can't be said for many of the images I rejected.

1/8 second, ISO 800,  Incandescent Preset, Aperture Unknown, 

Pressing The Flesh: At the conclusion of the performance, the cast walked up the aisle, high-fiving as many hands as they could reach.  I realized I was in the wrong place if I wanted a photo, so I literally ran up the aisle from my perch at Stage Left, crossed the lobby, and re-entered the theater on the opposite side. The Nikon speedlight with its dome diffuser and the CTO gel was retrieved from its belt pouch and mounted on the hot shoe. After checking to see if the white balance was set to Incandescent, I angled the head up slightly to increase the size of the diffusion source, and then took a few photos to fine tune the exposure. This can be tricky, since there are three factors involved: the flash output, the shooting aperture, and the ISO setting on the camera body. I don't remember doing to because these adjustments because, over the years, they have become second nature to me.

Final Thoughts: Attempting to shoot an assignment without the benefits of autofocusing made this a very challenging assignment. Fortunately for me, I wasn't sent by the paper, which is to say that if I messed up, I could keep it to myself and nobody would be the wiser. I also learned that I need to keep a small flashlight on me whenever I have an indoor assignment. You never know when you have to make an adjustment that requires actually seeing the various settings. And finally, I was reminded of just how well designed the Nikon SB800 was. Both output and zoom angle  are adjusted from the outside using a rocker switch that is far easier to manipulate than those found on the Godox family of flashers, and that they are easier to do in the dark. If the Nikon SB800 only had a dedicated lithium battery, I'd still be using them today.

I'll rant on that more in a future post.