Michelle, you are right, however I had to deal with huge parking lot type lights the entire time. I was shooting with them on either side of me. They surround the area where the audience is seated. I asked organizers for 3 years now to at least turn them off during the show. I am told they can't because of insurance company policy. It is held at the local high school and they "don't want to risk anything". Add to that the light pollution in this area... I can remember as a kid looking up and seeing billions of stars, kinda like what cynlee can see by going in her back yard and looking up, or what you, Michelle, can see by looking through the trees. But in the last 10-15 years there has been so much development, I sometimes think I will have to join NASA to ever see that again. So yes I agree, they need a darker background. Maybe I will go to Texas and shoot from cynlee's backyard next year.