Tuesday 9th February 2016

 

Today we were given access to Go Palace Theatre on Union Street to document the work being held there. We were also taking photo's to use bracketing technique to create HDR images.

 

Bracketing is a simple way to create HDR images. One or several images are taken and exposed correctly, and then an equal number of over exposed images & underexposed images are shot, which are then all combined in Photomatix. We bracketed using shutter speed instead of aperture, as this is a more successful method. In theory, this method sounds pretty easy, however it is much harder in practice, especially in a dark theatre with people constantly moving around. In this case a tripod was a must, if they were taken freehand the images would've been blurry and created a "ghost" effect around the outside of the final HDR image.

 

I thought it was an amazing experience to be let into the Theatre as something like that doesn't happen everyday. It originally opened in 1898 as a upmarket theatre, the venue eventually became known as the 'Dance Academy' in the 1990s, becoming one of the best clubs in Britain, due to its darkness and excellent acoustics. The building closed down in 2006, when it was proved that the owner was dealing drugs and it's been closed ever since. However it has now been taken over by the charity Go Great Opportunities, who are now in the process of trying to get it back up and running. It is expected to cost £40 million and will take around about another four years to complete as they're aiming to have it done by 2020. However because the building is grade two listed, it is hard for the volunteers to gain planning permission and carry out any major work inside.