A face in the crowd. This is a shot from my recent shoot for “Jesus Christ Superstar” a production of the St. Timothy’s Lutheran Church Players. I had the pleasure to provide photography for them again this year. They put on an awesome show and I was moved to tears in the 2nd act.

This photo was taken during Jesus’ trial. It shows the love and concern for Jesus on the young ladies face. Perfect lighting and perfect timing – just lucky! In some ways this shot was an accident. I usually take three lenses for the St. Tim’s shoot – the 24-104mm f/4 for the wide cast picture, my 50mm f/1.2 for some low light photos and my awesome 70-200 f/2.8 LII Canon lens. The 70-200 is my favorite lens for Wedding and Event photography and I would replace it in a minute if something happened to it!

A happy accident

So why was this photo an accident? It is because I took it with my new Canon 100-400 L II lens. The lens is a very slow f/4 to f/5.6. This means it does not gather a lot of light and a musical production is a pretty low light situation.

Well, I was wrong! My Canon 5d mkIV has a very good high ISO capiblity and I was able to get fantastic shots with the 100-400 at ISO up to 12,800. The settings for the picture were 400mm at f/5.6 and ISO 10,000. It was also at a very slow 1/320 sec shutter speed showing the awesome stabilization of the lens.

This one of my favorite shots of the night! I was so surprised by the 100-400mm lens. I did not expect any of the 100-400 shots to turn out well! I am so glad I brought it along!

A Question – is the weight worth it?

So, will I be adding the 100-400 to my Wedding kit? It is a big and heavy lens so I would hesitate to bring it. On the other hand it sure made some great pictures so maybe it would come in handy for close ups during the ceremony. Maybe I will bring it the next wedding…

Canon 100-400 f/4-f/5.6 L II | Canon 5D mkIV | 1/320 seconds at f/5.6