Taiko drumming photo

J

jlw

Rangefinder camera pedant
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One quick pic from last Sunday, which was Asian Culture Day at the museum where I'm occasionally asked to photograph; among the events was a performance by a taiko (Japanese drumming) troupe, which turned out to be very photogenic.

07-02-03_034.jpg


If you've seen this type of drumming, you know that the stick work is very, very fast; getting a good picture depends partly on catching the sticks in the right place.

I was shooting with both a DSLR (a Nikon D80, which is supposed to be pretty responsive) and the R-D 1. The DSLR was useful for tight close-ups, using either an 85/1.8 or an 80-200/2.8... but all the really good action shots came from the R-D 1.

Short shutter lag is only half the battle here -- you also have to be able to sense the movement rhythms in order to know when the picture moments are coming. Since I had never seen taiko before, I couldn't rely on experience to predict the peak actions; I had to learn "on the fly."

I've always maintained that this type of learning is easier with an RF camera -- the finder never blacks out, so you get immediate visual feedback to help judge whether or not your shutter clicks were at the right time. I find this feedback very helpful for "getting in the groove" of movement rhythms -- if you concentrate on watching through the finder, you get a feel fairly quickly for when to trip the shutter.

Tech data for this photo was 1/480 and f/1.5 at EI 1600, using a 50mm f/1.5 Nokton on the R-D 1.
 
Nice shot. I would like to have seen some "sticks moving" shots. The movement should be part of the photo IMHO.

The rangefinder is a very useful tool in this respect.

Ron
 
I tend to agree with Ron. This kind of drumming is hi-speed and very intense. IMO it should show up in the photos. Nevertheless, a nice shot.
 
I've got plenty of blurry-sticks photos, but picked this one for the light on the faces. They're usually looking at the sticks, so the stick position also determines what lighting you'll get.
 
mwooten said:
I really love the drama you get with these side stage shots.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Most of the time I find stage photos work better if you stand in the corners and shoot along the diagonal lines of the stage, rather than plopping yourself in the center of the house and shooting everything from square in front.

The fact that you're seeing along the diagonal helps bring the people on the stage closer together visually. And since most of the lighting on a stage tends to be from the front, shooting at an angle gives more modeling and depth. If there are lights on "trees" in the wings, that's a bonus -- they can create backlight or rimlight.

You do need to make sure the wing lights and other stage machinery doesn't get into the background (unless you want it; sometimes it looks interesting) and you also have to watch out for performers hanging out offstage in the wings scratching their butts or whatever!

But with a little care, shooting from the corners can be a good technique that I feel is always worth at least a look whenever you're photographing a theater event.
 
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