wow, Asher 3.3 kwS for the entire hall, only? Thats not that much.... ok, that's why you you had to use direct light.
One of the major issues with concert halls is that they are difficult to deal with as a matter of principal
1. Their architecture is a work of art! They seem to act as if the architecture is so valuable that being included in the picture allows folk to exploit them. So there's a very protective attitude about the rights to the architectural design and may demand veto power on how each picture is used.
2. Time to take pictures is highly restricted. The don't easily give leeway for experimenting.
3. If you change your mind, tough luck. Likely as not accommodation will not be feasable.
4. They are sure that your AC power supply breaks fire regulations, cords are too long and even with gaffer tape, folk may trip and sue them
So, to make things easier, I decided to go with battery flash and run no cables, just one light per pack.
Any chance to have more powerfull flashes (without softboxes, or even with hard, small reflectors beeing fired to the ceiling, and beeing reflected down softly to the orchestra? The light beam should be directed that way, that it comes down in about half of the orchestra, thats the main light. You could play with adding one - just one - front flash with softbox (or even indirect, to soft...) exactly on top of the cam - for avoiding silly shadows - for the faces and the instruments; it will accentuate the boring main light. You need these two sources to be balanced carefully, but you can work it out before the orchestra arrives.
I may try that in the next location by working in advance to meet with the folks there. AC-powered packs with much higher power would allow use of a banks giant softboxes or several octadomes. The Ceilings in the next concert hall in December, I believe are yellow, but I'll go and check. UGH!
Then, there's the problem of a big contrast required for the black clothes, while the white collar would prefer a low contrast. What about asking the orchestra to stop moving for a bracket shot - I don' know if that is possible, though.
They won't stay still, not 115 people! I though of using a Fuji DSLR as they have a several stop advantage in Dynamic range. but two things are needed: DR and enough pixels to define each face well. The 5DII does well. I haven't printed the files yet and that will let me know whether I should try LF film!
If these proposal don't work, here's a simple way to avoid the cross-shadows :
shoot the hall whithout the orchestra and then with it, so you could paint easely away the cross-shadows at the wall in PS.
Mike,
The hall is always an issue since they fuss about architectural rights. So I might consider removing
all traces of the hall for many of the shots! Still, I will also try to make a perfect picture in a fantastic architectural setting and for that, it's worthwhile getting the permission.
Imaging the hall separately is often an absolute necessity. There is very little room around the musicians and no time to set up lights behind and to either side of them as would be required to illuminate them from close up and have no shadows. Ashley Morrison, a photographer from the Ireland and the U.K., did a superb picture in a Cathedral with rows of top level prelates and princes of the Church and even though he lit the
priests with a wonderful arrangement of lights in the most ideal fashion, the rest of the church as done separately as you suggest. I'll try to find a larger picture with the priests and the rest of the interior of the cathedral, I just have to hunt, but you probably get the idea.
Asher