50mm Dance Shots

Bryce Wilson

The more I work with the 50mm 1.4 on the D-700, the more I like it. In low light situations, if I can get close enough to the subjects, I'm at the point that I think I will use it in favor of the zoom I have. Don't get me wrong, it is nice to have the versatility to isolate subjects, but for capturing scenes or groups of people, in crappy light, I like the images from the 50mm better.

The downside is that I missed some shots I would have liked to get while using the 50mm because of the inability to zoom. This was my first attempt at photographing dancers in a competition and was a bit of trial and error. I had made a post with one of the shots earlier and now that I've had a chance to go through more of the images taken that day, I thought I'd post a few more.

Overall I am happy with my first attempt at a live dance shoot. Any tips or suggestions to improve are most appreciated.

f2/350 ISO 800 Available Light
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/60399337@N06/5549068514/&quot; title="Barbara Hatch073 by Bryce Wilson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5146/5549068514_2eac26eaac_z.jpg&quot; width="640" height="512" alt="Barbara Hatch073" /></a>

f4/350 ISO 1800 Available Light
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/60399337@N06/5549960088/&quot; title="Barbara Hatch757 by Bryce Wilson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5053/5549960088_3a1084a347_z.jpg&quot; width="640" height="457" alt="Barbara Hatch757" /></a>

f4/350 ISO 2500 Available Light
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/60399337@N06/5549839541/&quot; title="Hip Hop Strike A Pose by Bryce Wilson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5185/5549839541_926dc632cc_z.jpg&quot; width="640" height="457" alt="Hip Hop Strike A Pose" /></a>

f4/350 ISO 2800 Available Light
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/60399337@N06/5549959680/&quot; title="Barbara Hatch175 by Bryce Wilson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5148/5549959680_e7dddbe539_z.jpg&quot; width="640" height="512" alt="Barbara Hatch175" /></a>

This one might have been nicer with the ability to zoom and a tad faster shutter speed.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/60399337@N06/5549960458/&quot; title="Barbara Hatch249 by Bryce Wilson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5224/5549960458_c93685ccdd_z.jpg&quot; width="640" height="512" alt="Barbara Hatch249" /></a>

indiegirl

I do a lot of theatre photography and would have never used my 50 mm for show shots. I'm going to try it in a few weeks, though! These look great! Thanks for sharing.

Bryce Wilson

indiegirl wrote: »

I do a lot of theatre photography and would have never used my 50 mm for show shots. I'm going to try it in a few weeks, though! These look great! Thanks for sharing.

Please share a few shots when you do. I would love to see them.

Thanks

B

divamum

I use my 50mm 1.4 in the theatre all the time! I will frequently crop in as needed afterwards (the 7d's pixel density is very handy), but sometimes the extra lumens more than make up for the lack of isolation, as you say. Plus, of course, you don't need as fast a SS, so it's win-win usually.

Very nice shots - you've handled the contrast-y light well and framed up some really nice comps. The only nit I might have is on #3 I'd rather have more or less curtain to camera right; I don't think I mind which.

I admit that the thought of shooting dance scares the pants off me! Most of the theatre stuff I do is relatively static (at least for large stretches), so as long as I know where the money moments are it's fairly easy to keep up.

Hackbone

Very nice.

Svennie

Indeed, very nice!

Zerodog

Nice shots. Dance is not easy.