When extreme high ISO is better than nothing: a rundown on my experiences shooting ballet

Five years ago, I decided to put my relatively high investment in photo gear to good use (I had the K100D then and some nice Pentax lenses). So, I decided that a ballet presentation was the place to start. My first outing was, quoting GOB from Arrested Development, '...A HUGE MISTAKE'.

What I did learn that day was that it was a) a great (physical) workout for the ballerinas and for me, b) a great way to practice my photography skills (and to learn new ones), c) practice working under pressure and d) learn that all my investment was for nothing.

I loved a), b) and c) but got bummed out because of d). So, I did what any crazy person with some expendeble money would do, i.e., buy more equipment. I decided to stay with Pentax, mostly because of the SR and the size.

Since then, I've bought the K-7 (already sold it due to very poor high-ISO performance), the K-5 and last year the K-5II, and have the 16-50, 50-135 (this last one is my most used lens but needs servicing because it gets stuck from 90 to 135mm. But I've shot more than 60K photos in 3.5 years with this lens). I was extremely happy with the K-5, except on those ocassions where the lighting was so low, that it didn't even try to focus. The K-5II has been a great addition to my collection in this last respect.

This last month, I shot more than 12,000 frames total. The most difficult scene was one called: La Bayadère. It was interpreted by a local dance company. The lighting was almost non-existent and to make matters worse, they projected image backdrops that also hit the dancers. Horrible stuff. Fortunately, most of the time the dancers didn't move, except the soloist.

One of the most difficult aspects of dance photography is that, unless you've gone to many rehearsals and memorized the dance routines, there's no way to anticipate if you can get away with low ISO + low shutter speed or if you need high shutter speed. Auto settings are simply out of the question. So, you've got to be on your toes all the time, checking your Manual settings. Lights go up and down, sometimes in a semi-strobe like fashion.

Since I try to get as many keepers (sellable) photos as I can, my priority is high-ISO with high shutter speed. In ballet, non blurry-high noise photos are better than blurry-low noise photos. The problem, is finding the optimal settings, quickly, many, many times during a presentation.

Many times, I don't need to go above 3200 ISO to get 1/200s shutter speed. Sometimes I'll try to go to 1/320s, but the slight blur I may get at 1/200s is tolerable. But then, there are times like La Bayadère scene that extreme settings are neccessary. Most of these decisions have to be made in a split second, and most of the time I make the wrong decisions. But, thanks to modern software, and that most people only care that they look better than photos taken from cell phones, I have lot's of room to work with. The only problem I have with the K-5(II) is that 16MP are, many times, not enough.

All in all, I think I've grown enormeously (photographically wise) with these types of events. I've begun to get local recognition and have been published many times in the local paper. Thanks to social networks, many people from many other countries have seen and praised my photos. Well, I only publish on these networks some of my best work, maybe that's why I get praise, but I also upload all the rest of the photos for people to choose and buy.
Only recently have I begun to get the FF bug. I have the D800+70-200 on my amazon shopping cart, but I've hessitated to pull the trigger. It's an important sum of money and the size/weight could be just too much for aching hands and wrists. The high ISO+ 3x the resolution would help me in many situations. But, I think I'll wait and see what Pentax has in store for us this year.
I'd love the stories from other forum menbers. Would appreciate any tips or criticism.
Cheers!

I got away with some usable photos @ ISO 6400 and 1/100s

On the corners of the stage, minimal light was available. I had got away with using ISO 6400 @ 1/60s. I've also had to bump exposure +1 in lightroom

This is when I noticed that I had too slow shutter speed (1/60s @ 6400ISO). Exposure bumped to +0.83 in Lightroom

Notice the horrible projected backdrop on the dancer's faces. I had to go ISO 12,800 so I could get a 1/160s shutter speed. But, that wasn't enough as I needed +1 exposure comp. in Lightroom.

Here's the same photo as the previous, but with no post-processing.

This is from another event. I loved how the K-5II let me focus perfectly in (not extreme) low light, and that I can recover detail from red lights.

This one was taken @ 1600 ISO 1/200s. But I needed +2 exposure comp on Lightroom! Notice the slight blur on the feet. I should've gone to 1/320s. Nevertheless, I'm happy with it, and the dancer was extremely happy with it, also.

Here's the original from the previous photo.

Nice work, interesting post. I think you should rent that D800 and 70-200 lens combo before you buy one, I know that it would be on the heavy side for me to use for any length of time. But sometimes you need the right gear for the right job. On the other hand, your work is already good enough to produce happy clients, and even APS-C is going to get better and better at high ISO photography. And the software tools are getting better too, so the good news is that in the long run technology is going to make your job a bit easier. Keep up the good work!

Gary, renting one didn't even cross my mind. That's a very good tip!. I'll see if they'll rent one to a non-USA person.

Thanks!

Gary Martin wrote:

Nice work, interesting post. I think you should rent that D800 and 70-200 lens combo before you buy one, I know that it would be on the heavy side for me to use for any length of time. But sometimes you need the right gear for the right job. On the other hand, your work is already good enough to produce happy clients, and even APS-C is going to get better and better at high ISO photography. And the software tools are getting better too, so the good news is that in the long run technology is going to make your job a bit easier. Keep up the good work!

The new Shake Reduction filter in PS CC will also help with some of the blurring....may come to the next version of LR......

I wasn't aware that Photoshop CC had the debluring option. Just saw a video and it looks great. I'll give it a try and see how it fits my needs. There's also this plugin for GIMP that does something similar:

http://refocus-it.sourceforge.net/

Try keeping the ISO lower and take an underexposed shot and raise it in PP. Here is my image shot at ISO 800, f 8, 1/125 sec no PP. Shot with K-5 and DA 50 -200. First is a jpg of the original raw with no PP, as you can see there is nothing to see. Second is a jpg of the raw after raising exposure +5 in Camera Raw and last is the final image. The downside is the amount of PP required. Probably could be better if I had a noise reduction program.

jpg of the original raw with no PP, as you can see there is nothing to see.

F

jpg of the raw after raising exposure +5 in Camera Raw

ir

Final Image

The last image didn't download, so

final image

here it is

I've done that kind of PP, mostly due to bad shooting parameters on my part. The only thing bad about that technique is that a) you can't tell if you have good focus and b) blacks tend to look blueish after massive exposure comp.

But I'll give it a try, next time.

Cheers!

Thanks for your comments, Robert.

I'm going to think this through. I'll probably make my decision next year. If I do buy a FF, I'll keep my K-5II, for travel and family portraits. I'll also use it as a second camera for professional photos.

Let's hope Pentax offers something awesome in the K-3.

Cheers!

Nice shooting from both at high iso, the last poster excellent.    

Mr. Meyer, great tips! I'll incorporate some of them into my workflow. THANKS!

You do not NEED high ISO in camera to get faster shutter speed. If you take a picture of the same scene at at 1/160s f/3.2 ISO12800 and 1/160s f/3.2 ISO100 and then bump +7EV in PP you'll get same picture with same SNR. (This will work with cameras, which have ADC with constant read noise, K-5 does have constant read noise).

For the camera itself, amount of noise depends only on the quantity of light your sensor gathers, which is determined only by shutter speed and aperture size. You can see example here or just try it yourself.

Hi, Silvarum.

You do need to bump the ISO that high if you need to check if you're focusing correctly. Other than that, that's a good tip. I'll try it out next time out.

I think you're shots are pretty good.  Have you added a denoiser, such as Topaz, to your LR flow.  I use it for any ISO shots with 4 digits or over.  I've even used it on 6D shots with ISO 25600 (I'll see if there is one I can post on the forum).  With Topaz you can probably get away with 12800 on the K5II (just a guess) but that would give you another stop of shutter and it recovers some detail you'll appreciate.  If you decide to go FF choose a Canon 6D (standard ISO range is 100 - 25600) expanded to ISO 102400.  They have the 85mm f/1.2 L (pricey) or the excellent 135mm f/2 L (might be perfect for what you're doing).  On this cam set the min shutter to 1/320 and forget about it (1/640 for basketball).

Cheers.

Petroglyph wrote:

I think you're shots are pretty good. Have you added a denoiser, such as Topaz, to your LR flow. I use it for any ISO shots with 4 digits or over. I've even used it on 6D shots with ISO 25600 (I'll see if there is one I can post on the forum). With Topaz you can probably get away with 12800 on the K5II (just a guess) but that would give you another stop of shutter and it recovers some detail you'll appreciate. If you decide to go FF choose a Canon 6D (standard ISO range is 100 - 25600) expanded to ISO 102400. They have the 85mm f/1.2 L (pricey) or the excellent 135mm f/2 L (might be perfect for what you're doing). On this cam set the min shutter to 1/320 and forget about it (1/640 for basketball).

Cheers.

I use only Lightroom's noise reduction slider. Haven't tried third party denoisers, yet. I'll give them a shot and see if there's significant improvement.