A good lens for dance photography?

<p>Except for color correction and resizes, this image is unedited 1600 ISO on an XTi.</p><div></div>

<p>To Ed Nsb:<br>

I have shot dance rehearsals and recitals for about 5 years or so. The group always has about 400 dancers and one big event each year (that is one week long including rehearsals) and several smaller groups and events during the year. On average, I take 10,000 to 15,000 shots per year. What I consider to be my keeper rate is about 10%. But that does not mean the other 90% suffer from poor photography - it can be any combination of factors.<br>

But, you do need to start with the premise that this is one of the most difficult settings for still photography and, to a lesser extent, video work.<br>

My work improved when I moved from the Rebel series to the original 5D, then the 5DII and now the 5DIII. I almost never use flash. I have always shot primarily with one of the 2.8 Canon 70-200 lenses. And I have used all of them. I always use either a monopod or a tripod when I am using that large lens. I also have used the cheap but perfectly fine 85 f/1.8. For video, I have used the aforementioned lenses plus the slower 24-105 and the faster 135 f/2.<br>

My suggestions are as follows:<br>

Learn the dance routines by going to the rehearsals. Know where the jumps and the stop action will occur. Always shoot in RAW (I shoot in RAW and jpg for a variety of reasons). Take plenty of shots but don't be wasteful. I do not shoot in rapid fire though the 5DIII has a higher fps than its predecessors I take one shot at a time. It forces me to me more careful. Coming from a sports background as you are, that style might be tough to adapt to.<br>

I do set my manual white balance with a card and I play around with the K setting when I have a difficult situation but since I am shooting in RAW anyway and can correct it later I don't sweat too much over the white balance. That being said, since purchasing the 5DIII, however, I am paying much more attention to everything because I am finding that my jpgs are so good, I am processing fewer and fewer of the RAW images and when you are shooting 10,000 frames in a week, this can lead to a more efficient project.<br>

Take shots when the dancers are standing still! Yes, you will want to get plenty of jump sequences as well but some of the best shots do not really involve a lot of action.<br>

Depending on the model of your camera, mine seems fine with 3200 and even 6400 sometimes, you will bump the ISO for sure. But holding the camera steady and carefully framing the shot is still very important. Using the 70-200, my shutter speed has to be at least 320 and I want it to be more like 500. I shoot almost everything at f/2.8, so if I want more dancers to be in sharp focus, then I move to the back of the theater.<br>

Take lots of different angles from different places in the theater. This is only easy if you are at the rehearsals. I sometimes sit on the side of the stage or in the very last row.<br>

Gel lights are a problem. You can compensate with your white balance settings (do lots of experimenting or just live with the fact that your photos are going to produce what you and the audience actually saw rather than the actual color of the dresses etc.). You could use flash in the rehearsals if the group allows but I find that it is very distracting to the dancers - even though they are practicing.<br>

If you shoot on more than one day, review your images at night and your settings and take note of what lens was working and with what settings.<br>

This is one area of photography which really does benefit from better equipment but it's just as easy to get a lousy shot with better equipment as with the basic setup.</p>

 

<p>To Robin and William:<br /><br />Thanks so much for the helpful insight. I am going to check out prices for a 85mm/f1.8 f2 lens, as well as a 70 - 200mm/f2.8 lens. Either way I might just head to borrowedlens.com. Unless anyone else has heard of a different site? I reside in Massachusette's. And certain local places are still highly pricey or they don't carry the lens I am looking for; especially in a used condition. There is also KEH.com. So I can check that out as well.<br /><br />To everyone else:<br>

Thanks so much for the tips and your help as well.<br /><br />I now have a direction that I want to go towards and know what to look for also. I'm still a beginner but am on my way! When I have done the shoot I hope to post some photos up here on the site and you all can take a look at the differences!<br /><br />=).</p>