Fringe 2024

FeatureTheatre

7 Sept

In August I had the opportunity to photograph a number of show’s at The Stand’s venues in Edinburgh during the Fringe. I’ve posted a fair number of images on social media and there’s a dedicated gallery on my website here, so this is a short post just capturing a couple of points of interest whie they’re still fresh in my mind.

*The Stand, Edinburgh*
Sony A9ii | 24mm f/5.6 1/240s ISO2500

Access

There’s a famous Ansel Adams quote - ‘A good photograph is knowing where to stand’. Clearly, capturing decent performance images means that you need to be inside the venue with permission to shoot. Part of the trick is undoubtedly having contacts, but persistence, a clear proposition, good communication and some good examples of your work are also needed. In this instance I’m obviously indebted to all at The Stand, but particular thanks are also due to Stephen at Fairpley for not only making the introductions, but also for giving me plentiful opportunities to build my portfolio along the way.

In the Venue

My start point is always to remind myself that the photographer is the least important person in the room. Because of that it’s important to be professional, on-time, well-prepared and, above all, courteous. Make sure people know who you are and why you’re there. Introduce yourself to the techs and front of house staff and make a point of checking that you’re proposed location isn’t going to cause any issues. Listen to any requests from the artists and staff and abide by them.

It’s also important to remember that the venue may be crowded and all those other folk have paid money to be there. It’s important, therefore, to be there early and bag your spot. You may not have much flexibility once doors open.

Kit / Settings

Every image in the gallery (with the exception of the venue shots) was taken with a Sony A9ii and a 70-200mm f2.8. Your camera needs to be silent - not quiet, but silent. The lighting conditions are poor and you have no control, so you’ll be shooting at high ISO. The subjects also move, so your shutter speed can’t drop too low. Most theatre lighting now is LED based, so you’ll also need to know how to deal with banding. Most of the time your subjects will be talking - unless you have superhuman reaction times you’ll want to shoot short bursts.

I set my camera as follows. Aperure is wide open (f2.8), shutter speed is around 1/320s (checking for banding) and ISO is set to auto. I use highlight priority metering; if you don’t have that you’ll probably want to dial in some negative exposure compensation. (The drama is in the shadows, but the story is in the highlights so you can’t blow anything important). I shot short bursts at 10 frames per second and I compose fairly loosely and crop in processing. After that it’s a case of looking for when the action changes and reacting.

Post Processing / Distribution

While I had a good idea that undertaking to shoot a number of shows would involve a fair amount of computer time, I don’t think I’d really appreciated the intensity. While the shooting is relatively straightforward, the way I shoot involved a fair amount of computer time. I generally had an idea of how many images I was going to deliver for each show, so that helped with culling and selection.

The approach to processing the selected images was pretty straightforward. Shooting at high ISO means that denoising is essential. Sharpening less so. Following that it’s about getting the base exposure roughly right and then softening the effect of what is pretty harsh, unflattering light. I’d set up a couple of presets in Lightroom that I could tweak, which speeded along the process no end.

Finally, images needed to be shared. I used space on my Google Drive and uploaded both high and low resolution of the images there. Links to the respective folders can then be sent without having to deal with large attachments or zip files. It seemed to work quite well.