Boston Ballet, Studio Rehearsal...

rutt

... 1 March, rehearsal for Grand Slam, opening 16 March. I will shoot the dress rehearsal for this ballet and also La Fille Mal Gardee opening 9 March.

I shot for more than 5 hours and culled down to a about 230 shots and then to these 16. Hope you enjoy!

dancinkate

wonderful shots.....
You captured the movements so well and they make me want to go back to my dancing days!

Thusie

The strength, power, control and the grace of ballet dancers is unbelievable and fasintaing. You captured that well!

wxwax

Wow, some marvelous shots, there Rutt! What a great opportunity, I'm envious. Some of these are wonderful.

I have to say, I find the post-processing to be a little harsh and contrasty on their faces. Is that because you were fighting the white background?

binghott

good stuff. i was just wondering if you're doing this for fun or if you were hired to do this. if i shot something for 5 hours i'd have to be getting compensated pretty well.

rutt

wxwax wrote:

Wow, some marvelous shots, there Rutt! What a great opportunity, I'm envious. Some of these are wonderful.

I have to say, I find the post-processing to be a little harsh and contrasty on their faces. Is that because you were fighting the white background?

Yeah, I was fighting the light. Not necessarily the backgrounds, but the light was a little low for the amount of DOF and shutter speed I wanted. You can see that when the dancers are more still and when I shot portraits, I did better. There is great window light in this studio, but it varies a lot from day to day and this wasn't the best day.

I shot with both 1DmkII and 5D and one thing is very clear: 5D high ISO shots have a lot less noise. I was fighting the noise in those 1DmkII shots a lot in post.

wxwax

rutt wrote:

I shot with both 1DmkII and 5D and one thing is very clear: 5D high ISO shots have a lot less noise. I was fighting the noise in those 1DmkII shots a lot in post.

Oooh, that's interesting. The 5D has less noise at high ISO than does the 1DmkII. Good one.

rutt

wxwax wrote:

Oooh, that's interesting. The 5D has less noise at high ISO than does the 1DmkII. Good one.

I wish that weren't true, because I like a lot of things about the 1DmkII better than the 5D. But it's very obvious, especially once I try to sharpen.

For The Nutcracker shoots, I eventually just left the 1DmkII at home in favor of the 5D. Maybe the 1DmkII N would be better?

Anyway, I love my 5D for available light photography. It's really amazing.

Antonio Correia

Ballet Photos
Superb set of pictures.
Very well done. All very nice.
Congratulations.

rutt

binghott wrote:

good stuff. i was just wondering if you're doing this for fun or if you were hired to do this. if i shot something for 5 hours i'd have to be getting compensated pretty well.

Unfortunately, I had to sign away my soul to do this. The Ballet is unionized, but I'm not a union member, which causes a problem. So all profit goes to The Dancer's Relief fund, which helps professional dancers adapt to life after their very short and unprofitable careers are over.

The company may use my shots for next year's programs or stuff like that, in which case there is hope for compensation. My contract with the company allows for that.

In the meantime, I'm hoping the exposure will be worth it. Nobody else is shooting these rehearsals. It may be that the juxtaposition of studio shots and dress shots will eventually lead to something more than internet posts.

4labs

I really enjoyed these!

Check out www.loisgreenfield.com

I bet you would love one of her workshops

rutt

4labs wrote:

I really enjoyed these!

Check out www.loisgreenfield.com

I bet you would love one of her workshops

Thanks. Her work is certainly stunning.

The BB shots I've been taking, well, I've tried to be a fly on the wall and not get in the way of what was going on at all. Getting the dancers to pose, that's a great thought. I don't think it's happening until after they get these two performances out of the way, though. From the looks of yesterday's rehearsals, I think there's still a lot of work before opening nights.

wxwax

4labs wrote:

I really enjoyed these!

Check out www.loisgreenfield.com

I bet you would love one of her workshops

Great sutff, I recognize a ton of her work. She has the benefit of working in a studio, under controlled conditions, and it shows in the quality of her work. Very imaginative and creative.