So last Friday, I went to “Miss Melbourne Chinese Pageant”. It was the first time I ever attended a beauty pageant. I didn’t really know what to expect.
My girlfriend was one of the contestant, so of course I got to go there to support her.
She’s the one in pink.
Without further ado:
1. High ISO performance is really important.
Just like music concert or any classy entertainment events, the lighting is very moody dim. With my D700 body, I was able to nail shoots at 6400 ISO. My old D80 wouldn’t be able to do anything in situation like that.
2. Zoom lens is good.
The performers are always on the move. You need a good zoom to keep following their movement. I use 80-200mm f2.8.
3. Shoot RAW and post process later
There are several reason to shoot RAW here.
- Ever changing lighting color makes white balance a bitch
- You need good dynamic range as the stage uses quite a lot of spot lighting. The performers are usually really brightly lit while the rest of the stage is very dark. This can be balanced later with Camera Raw. JPG will die here.
- You will be using semi-auto mode most of the time. With so many variable changing outside of your control, you won’t have the time to go full manual here. semi-auto is aperture or shutter priority mode. I even go auto-ISO. It nails the exposure most of the time, but you will still get a bad exposure. RAW makes this salvageable.
4. Cheap seat is sometimes better than VIP seat
I got the cheapest seating arrangement for $30 on the second level of the hall. It was a vantage point that will make any sniper have orgasm. I have a perfect view of the stage.
The VIP seats was ~$168 located just in front of the stage. They were seated behind the judges (on elevated platform). Yes you are closer to the stage and might feel more of the atmosphere, but it is harder to take photos from there.
This is a pano pic taken with my cellphone.
5. Be BOLD
My seat wasn’t originally on the perfect spot. My ticket stated that I had to sit on the 5th row back and 45 degree to the left. It wasn’t a very good spot.
Then I saw empty seats on the best vantage point. I just rushed there and seat beside some people I don’t know. They gave me some weird look, but who cares.
More photos on my Google Plus
