Photographing Opera

Kent Miles shoots a mystical Spanish production by the Utah Opera with the Tamron SP 24-70mm VC and SP 70-200mm VC lenses.

Article by Jenn Gidman

Images by Kent Miles

When shooting opera, Kent is always cognizant that he's photographing more than just an individual actor or prop. "One of the hardest things to do when you're shooting this genre is a perceptual one," he explains. "You might see the person who's performing, but you don't see the picture - the lines and form, the lights and color, what the textures are, what's happening at the edges of your frame to create rhythm and balance. You want to create an abstract design that's effective. I always have to make a conscious choice to quit looking at opera and start looking at the pictures that are there to be made."

Kent wanted to be discreet while shadowing the Florencia cast, which is where the 24-70mm came in handy. "I didn't want to be in their face," he says. "The 24-70 is a smaller lens, so it wasn't intimidating to the actors."

The 24-70 also proved quiet, fast, and sharp, even in low light. "I like to get images backstage so I have shots other than those from an audience point of view," Kent says. "In the wings of the theater, though, the light is very dim. I was often shooting at less than 1/15th of a second, and I was able to shoot it all handheld with the 24-70. The colors are sharp and saturated, with beautiful skin tones. Plus the bokeh of these shots was very pleasing, and I didn't see much perspective distortion on the wider-angle end. I like the impressionistic feel it lent to the images, which gives the feeling of really being part of the cast and crew."

Those beautifully rendered colors were important as Kent photographed the projected images used as the backdrop. "To save money, many opera productions now project images of the background locations and scenery," he says. "That was a concern of mine, because I wasn't sure how the color saturation and sharpness would turn out. I didn't have to be concerned."

Kent received the 70-200mm lens just in time for the final performance. "I used it backstage," he says. "I wasn't able to use a tripod (you have to be more nimble when you're shooting in the wings), but there was enough light onstage that I was able to handhold the camera and get some shots of the stage from the wings. It was really light and had very fast focusing. The 70-200's Vibration Compensation feature helped greatly in this regard to help me keep everything sharp."

Both lenses came through for Kent in eliminating lens flare while he shot into the stage lights. "I was really expecting quite a bit of flare, since that's the nature of the beast with these productions," he says. "I was impressed with how little flare there was when I was shooting into the light sources."

Kent's attention to the audio is secondary to the photographic task in front of him. "I hear it, but I'm not as conscious of it, because I need to be visually attentive to what I have to get in the viewfinder," he says. "As background music, it's very nice, but I would probably have a hard time while I'm shooting identifying if a song is from 'Aida' or 'La Bohème.' It's such a visual process that keeps me on my toes the whole time."

Photographing the opera scene has resulted in one drawback for Kent. "It's ruined other music for me," he laughs. "It's very tough to listen to popular music and untrained voices now. I end up listening to show tunes, because they're a compromise between classical opera and popular music."

To see more of Kent Miles' work, go to http://www.kentmiles.com.