Low light photography at performances

Here’s another image from a corporate party at the Field Museum in Chicago. A different group of Chinese acrobats performing with parasols under stage lighting. Although the area was well lit on the performers, overall the low light photography considerations are the same for any type of performance. Shoot for the highlights and let the shadows fall into place either through the ambient light or with post production.

Chinese acrobats
There was plenty of ambient light to to bring out the background and foreground while exposing for the highlights on the performers. Larry Shapiro photo

There was quite a bit of ambient light in the museum while shooting from this angle to show the entire scene. I ramped up the ISO without going too far and introducing a large amount of noise. At the same time, the shutter speed was fast enough to capture the performance without blur, all while shooting hand held.