As you can see from the collage, not all of the pictures that I took in Texas were of landscapes. These pictures are of a group called: The Project. The lead singer, Margaret, is a long time friend of my wife’s best friend, Tamami. I was able to spend a bit of time talking to her and visiting with her over Christmas dinner. On this particular night, December 30th, I had the privilege to hear her and The Project play and sing! What a sound. They were great. They played a wide range of R&B and bit of rock, closing of the night with very rousing version of Ike & Tina Turner’s Lazy River! Margaret does a great job ‘as’ Tina!
Honestly, this was a first for me taking pictures in concert lighting. I knew that I wanted to get the real feel, so I didn’t use a flash. The stage was about 50+ feet away, the setting was a club called Martini Park, located in Plano, TX. It is an upscale Martini bar selling various martini’s at about $10 per glass, or more!!! I had exactly one pomegranate martini, after all, I had to shoot. It was tasty, though! My wife was partial to the mango martinis.
What I thought would be easy, actually turned out to be a bit more difficult than I had anticipated. First, stage lighting is very harsh and contrasty. Add to that fact that the lights are constantly rotating, changing intensity, and changing color. Initially, I attempted to shoot in aperture priority, but the meter could handle it. I sometimes got overexposed shots, sometimes underexposed, but rarely did the meter ever get right.
Finally, I set the camera to manual, experimented a bit, looked at histograms, and settled on ISO 1600 200mm f/5.6 @ 1/15 second. That’s right! Hand held 200mm @ 1/15 second. Without VR and a lightweight camera, zen-like breathing, and a lot of luck, I wouldn’t have gotten these shots, but mostly attributed to the vibration reduction technology! Also, I had to keep moving away from my wife because she wouldn’t stop dancing and kept bumping into me, which I didn’t mind at all, but it makes for shaky pictures!
Oh well, another lesson learned and a lot of fun was had. Usually, by that time of night (1:00 AM), I’m well off to sleep! 
BTW, if these pictures look buttery smooth, it’s because I ran them through Neat Image and this is the result. I just love that program! It’s so easy to use and it works so well. Much credit goes to Nikon’s sensor technology, though. I never hesitate to shoot at ISO 1600 with my D40. It just seems to always come out well. Using Neat Image just knocks it up a couple of notches.
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3 Responses to “Difficult lighting conditions: Life at ISO 1600”
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At wedding receptions I almost always shoot at 1250 or 1600…Nikon seems to handle the high ISO’s so well. And you’re right, Neat Image rocks! These photos are fantastic!
Hey Paul, these look sweet, especially for 1600. I have NoiseNinja, and have always thought it did a so-so job with my D2X images. Is Neat Image any better?
I had to laugh at your words regarding your wife bumping into you!! Sounds like everyone had a great time! And the images do look buttery smooth. Fun shots!