Lisa_Holloway wrote:
Absolutely beautiful, Ron. You do dance photography like no one else. These tell the story very well!
Thanks, Lisa. I've put them up on my FB page, and then was shared onto Ballet Chicago's FB page, and it's totally blown up! It's kind of fun to see my Facebook page getting so much activity.
Mitch W wrote:
Nice, Ron. Curious if you noticed an improvement to compositions, moments, etc with each show you shot....better knowing what to expect, and when.
Mitch, there's no question about that. I've been shooting Nutcrackers for years, but every dance company does them a little differently, and in the past, I've only shot the dress rehearsals. Never, ever the live performances. Here with Ballet Chicago, I shot the dress rehearsal on Friday night, then two shows on Saturday and one on Sunday. By the time we got to Sunday, my exposure was down pat for the lighting of each scene, and I could anticipate better each move. I have four more shows coming up this weekend. Looking forward to it.
friscoron wrote:
I could anticipate better each move.
What if, during the first show, you didn't shoot at all. Just narrate your own notes into a voice recorder. Include stuff like "jump!" or "shoot now!" Then, for the second show, start listening to your recording, but 15 seconds in advance of the actual performance. You would hear yourself say "shoot now" and 15 seconds later the moment would be there.
Achilles, morby, sanjay, qwyjibo, Joe and Kialya: thanks! I appreciate it. I also really like hearing which is your favorite image.
Bryan, it's actually an interesting idea. But I'm with the dance company once or twice a month, second year with this school, so I'm pretty familiar with the movement. My real main issue shooting those first shows is figuring out the lighting. With all these different colored lights, it can really be misleading, and the lighting is constantly changing. And if you look at hte pictures, you can see the dropoff in light and color temp from where I shoot the main performer all the way to the backdrop. It can be pretty drastic.
Given the difficult lighting, what shooting mode did you use? Full manual? Maybe manual shutter and aperture but auto ISO? Your ISO and shutter speed varies so much it makes me curious. My daughter had her first Nutcracker performance this year (she's only 2) so I only have around 16 more Nutcracker performances to get it right.
Edit: And I honestly cannot pick a favorite but my wife likes 8 and 10 (she danced ballet for 18 years).
Given the difficult lighting, what shooting mode did you use? Full manual? Maybe manual shutter and aperture but auto ISO? Your ISO and shutter speed varies so much it makes me curious. My daughter had her first Nutcracker performance this year (she's only 2) so I only have around 16 more Nutcracker performances to get it right.
Edit: And I honestly cannot pick a favorite but my wife likes 8 and 10 (she danced ballet for 18 years).
Hi Jerald,
That's how I got into dance photography, my little girls and their performances. Next thing you know, I'm shooting for the Houston Ballet! As for your faves, I put them all up as they were faves of mine, I couldn't really select one over another. But a dancer, I think, relates to more than what we see as photographers. They really see the movement of the dancer, beyond just the technical aspects of the shot that we tend to focus on. So that's pretty cool that she liked 8 and 10, I can definitely see what she likes in them!
I shoot all manual. I honestly just don't trust my camera's sensor -- even the D4's -- to go with auto-ISO, but I have seen others in this forum have really good success with that. I just can't afford to miss any shots, and I see the light really well on the stage. I'm at the point now that I'm rarely off more than 1/3 of a stop.
I pretty much keep my f/stop the same at 2.8 or I experimented a bit with 3.2 this time. So far, haven't really seen any difference between those two stops, but still in the process of working the shots. Each of the scenes are lit slightly differently, or more than slightly in some cases, so I'm constantly working the ISO to give me as fast of a shutter speed (preferably 1/400 or 1/500) as I can get -- other than when the little kiddies are on stage, as they aren't flying through the air like the older dancers do, so I can get away with a slower shutter speed with the kiddies. I often change ISO or shutter speed depending on what part of the stage the dancers are at. I know the hot spots, and I know where the stage light falls off, so I often adjust on the fly. Hope that helps.
