Simply asking your subject or subjects to move a few feet so you can change the background lighting can dramatically improve your pictures.
Photography is all about light. Understanding all the light around you can really help you when shooting. We generally know where the sun is when shooting outside during the day. It’s probably harder to do when the sun isn’t out as your background lighting, if available, changes as you move. There was a lot of light coming from the stage in this arena and that lighting was changing a lot.
These two subjects were originally framed away from the stage lighting at this event A shot of them would have been with a black or very dark background. I simply got them, using hand gestures as it was far to noisy to talk to them, to move a few feet so the stage lighting would provide a better backdrop of light. I knew the lighting was changing quickly and I had some feel for the pattern.
Once the lighting cycled to something I liked I shot it. From the time I encountered the subjects until I shot them was under 30 seconds.
Using available background light can really add to a picture. You should be aware of it constantly.
Cheers,
David
