My favorites from Summer Rep 2010

Settings: 85mm, 1/160 sec, f/2.8, Mode: Av, Metering: Multi-segment, Exp comp: -1 2/3, ISO: 1600. J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan at Summer Repertory Theatre, Santa Rosa California, James Newman, Artistic Director. Check out the site at: www.summerrep.com

My viewfinder sought out Tinker Bell in this show. She was all in black, and I mean all black, so she either disappeared or became a silhouette.

One of the Lost Boys fires off an arrow at poor Tink.

Settings: 165mm, 1/160 sec, f/4 Mode: Av, Metering: Multi-segment, Exp comp: -2/3, ISO: 1600.

I was surprised to catch the bow string vibrating even though I hadn’t been using drive mode for firing the shutter. Luckily the background was a night scene.


Settings: 200mm, 1/1000 sec, f/2.8, Mode: Av, Metering: Multi-segment, Exp comp: -2/3, ISO: 2500.

The tension and action of Capt. Hook and Peter arm wrestling is strong, but I regretted missing Hook’s hook in the frame. The action is frozen well because shutter speed was 1/1000 second. Because I knew the was coming for this well-lit scene, I set the ISO very high to ensure fast speeds with a low f-stop (f/2.8) for a shallow depth of field. I often use a shallow depth of field with the telephoto lens to make foreground subjects stand out against their background, however distracting.

And speaking of speed, here is a dance scene from The Full Monty by Terrence McNalley.

Settings: 70mm, 1/125 sec, f/2.8, Mode: Av, Metering: Multi-segment, Exp comp: -2/3, ISO: 3200.

The dancer gets a lot of air and I was fortunate enough to have the Monty crew in the background. The dancer is the focal point, and the boys are a bit out of focus because of the low f-stop. The light available required the 3200 ISO to even get 1/125 sec speed, so I was lucky to get this clear a shot. Usually I like to shoot at 1/250 sec or faster for dance numbers.


Settings: 62mm, 1/320 sec, f/3.2, Mode: Av, Metering: Multi-segment, Exp comp: -1 2/3, ISO: 2000.

The Monty women song and dance number ended with a great pose that let me shoot seven frames, allowing me to pick the best, that is, the one with everyone’s eyes open and great expressions.

(To Be Continued)