Technique for good exposure

[cookielida]

Hey all!

I have a question regarding stage photography exposure. Now, I know this forum is intended for landscape photography, HOWEVER, as I know there are quite a lot of pro's around here, I hope there will be enough to advise.
I recently started shooting professionally stage dances. I am using a 20D + 400D, one mounted with 85 f/1.8 and the other with 135 f/2L (respectively). I am shooting from a seat, dead center so I could get the look of the dancers toward me (so no moving around...). I am shooting ONLY RAW, and usually I shoot around 1000 shots per hour+. most of the time I shoot partial with the 400D+135 and average or partial with the 20D + 85, depends on the lightings. shoot single shot (no burst) and use ONLY AI Servo. I usually set the CFn to setting #1 (with AE lock if I am not mistaken, seperate buttons for AF and exposure metering).
I find it VERY hard to do the following:
1) Checking the viewfinder BEFORE shooting. Most times I am so engaged with the scene on stage, the fast movement and the getting THE MOMENT, that I loose track of what the settings are and fuck up the exposure. usually what I do is to lock exposure from the face, recompose and rack focus from face (if possible) - for verticals I use the right side focus point, for horizontal that or the center one. things are happening so fast I can't find the time to evaluate exposure, lock exposoure, recompose and the take the shot (and sometimes also change AF point).
2)DOF is really narrow and I find that If I am aiming at the torso, the face is a little OOF and soft. in addition, the fact that I am aiming at the face (whether it is a side or center Focusing point), I crop out the legs and leave quite a space above heads (happens mostly on horizontal wiht center Focusing point).
The switch between focusing point is quite a drag - last time I used the standard focusing switch of points through the wheel and got by mistake the aperture set to f/8 (!) for the whole scene! On the 20D i can at least use the multicontroller but on the 400D i am quite stuck...
So...someone?any idea how to solve these problems?

[mahleu]

Personally I use only the central focussing point, aim at the eyes and recompose in one movement. If the lights are reasonably constant they you should use manual and set your exposure. Even if the lights are up and down, it's far better to use manual for stage work.

[spidermike]

It feels to me that you are new to the profession and are so worried about missing 'the shot' that will make everyone sit up and take notice that you are trying to capture every possible pose and feature. I think you end up trying to do to much in one go - espeically if you really are shooting 1,000 pictures per hour!   .
What market are your pictures aimed at?

I agree with mahleu. Most times a scene will have pretty constant lighting throughout so you can meter off someone's face (or white gown) at the start and set the exposure accordingly. You can pull out any shadows in PS afterwards. Post-shoot processng is the glory of digital.
And once you do that you have more time to worry about framing.

Focus and recompose is probably the quickest way to do it (and most flexible) but the alternative is to set AF to one of the peripheral points and use that for a few frames rather than choping and changing.

The best thing would be to go and watch the performance (taking some pictures maybe) and get an idea of which charaters stand where and when. List it down and go to the performance the following night to do it properly. That way you can be better prepared for dramatic moments.
Or try and get into the rehearsals?

You may get a greater percentage of over/underexposures but this needs to be set against the problems you describe of hitting wrong buttons and just plain missing it because you are trying to work everything out.

[cookielida]

It feels to me that you are new to the profession and are so worried about missing 'the shot' that will make everyone sit up and take notice that you are trying to capture every possible pose and feature. I think you end up trying to do to much in one go - espeically if you really are shooting 1,000 pictures per hour!   .
What market are your pictures aimed at?

I agree with mahleu. Most times a scene will have pretty constant lighting throughout so you can meter off someone's face (or white gown) at the start and set the exposure accordingly. You can pull out any shadows in PS afterwards. Post-shoot processng is the glory of digital.
And once you do that you have more time to worry about framing.

Focus and recompose is probably the quickest way to do it (and most flexible) but the alternative is to set AF to one of the peripheral points and use that for a few frames rather than choping and changing.

The best thing would be to go and watch the performance (taking some pictures maybe) and get an idea of which charaters stand where and when. List it down and go to the performance the following night to do it properly. That way you can be better prepared for dramatic moments.
Or try and get into the rehearsals?

You may get a greater percentage of over/underexposures but this needs to be set against the problems you describe of hitting wrong buttons and just plain missing it because you are trying to work everything out.
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Hey Mike!
You are right, I am new to this profession and that was my first paid-for shoot.
About metering - I agree. I need to start practicing shooting manual and see how I handle it. one thing for sure, it will make me look at the settings, at least at the start of the dance and to be aware of further changes.
About the focusing method - I am using AI servo, and any change of the focusing target will change the focus, even if I will do it in one stroke (as Mahleu suggested) - at the distnace I am shooting (approx. 10-20 meters) and with the wide open aperture DOF is still quite narrow. I really don't see any other solutions as the dancers are moving VERY VERY fast thus will need a focus track.

Yes, I have gone to the rehharsals exactly for this reason and it helped a lot. This is indeed one of the best things to do.
10x for the info!
Chen