I've just finished the revision, edition and reassemble of the last session (only the second one I've tried to cover with certain interest, see here), and you notice that there is a lot to learn reading from the images you got.The cons:
- low lights, causing poor focus (added difficult for the autofocus and even for manual focusing); as well as trepidation due to the longer exposition
- constantly changing light, provoking wrong white balance and over/low expositions
- cornered shooting point of view, will result in undesired framing, not so simple to move among the crowd and get a good position.
- short distance to the back wall and props, an appropriated DOF to remark the subject and create different planes is complex when shooting from certain distance and having all the elements in a short depth (on the stage).
The trials:
- Using the flash makes the ambient light disappear, breaking all the "magic" of the moment, as well as reveals patches and props not so glamorous (like cables, cans, boxes..).
Rebound the flash does not solve much because walls or ceilings are usually black or too far, so absorbing the light.
- Setting the highest ISO is a good solution meanwhile the camera handles properly the extra grain.
- Shoot in raw, it will help to correct the white balance more accurately with a realistic result, since the metadata of the photo is still available in raw.
- Think in the final usage. If you are trying to produce large size posters, you should reduce the grain and maintain an acceptable focus, keeping the light in the character and the ambient lights revealing volumes and silhouettes.
- If the final distribution of the photo is for web or small sizes, you can shoot with higher ISOs since the grain will not be noticeable when reducing the photo size.
- Use the maximum aperture, even when the first two steps aren't usually the best of the lens, the halo they could produce will not be noticeable at all, even more considering that you will have to readjust the levels and contrast in post-processing.
Fine adjustment in post processing to correct the curves and reveal the areas of interest will help a lot to achive a good result. Working with RAW files will help a lot. see here
