And now for something completely different...

[melody1]

I shot all day at an Arkansas gymnastics training center. There was

so little light in the gym that I had to shoot 800 speed film (no

higher speed film available in small-town Arkansas), and was wide open

for 95% of the shots. I don't currently own a flash, and wouldn't

have the knowledge to use it (yet), so it was all available lighting

the whole day. After shooting, I was so excited about the pictures,

and I think for good reason.

 

 

I would love comments, critiques, any words welcome.

 

The link is http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=601529 .<div></div>

[andrea_ingram]

Like these very much. the dof adds something to the images. Nice colour too

[austinphoto]

They are beautiful!

[walterh]

Melody - nice shots. I liked especially that you decided against flash :-P The mood came out much better in available light , but again I am not a flash person so I may be prejudice. I personally would go and fiddle with the white balance of some of the shots (the darker red once) but may be these came out just the way you prefer.

[rachel k.]

They are very nice shots. As for flash, would they have allowed you to shoot with flash even if you wanted to? I used to have to shoot a lot of sports and as a general guideline, anything in an "arena" type setting, no flash was allowed (altough plenty went off up in the stands... less obtrusive up there I guess).

[sean_flanigan]

really good shot

[paul_sokal___dallas__tx]

You've got good reason to be excited. These are great!

[kari douma]

Great Job Melody! I shoot gymnastics frequently, and I find I am disappionted often, because it is so hard with the available light and wide open. I find my subjects are moving fast, and it is hard to get a good focus with a shallow depth of field! Great job.

[fotografz]

Stunning !!!

[melody1]

I wanted to add -

 

Some technical info - I shoot with a Nikon N2000 (for the next few months anyway); manual focus, and all manual settings. Most pictures were metered off of the blue mats on the floor, as they were as close to middle grey as I could find (for zone system enthusiasts). My meter was going crazy every time I recomposed with a light in the shot. That was one concern I had - that the pictures would be blown out.

 

Also, I shoot with a 50mm/1.8. I have one 80-200 old zoom, but the quality of the glass is poor and it sits on a shelf more than anything. These were all taken from the floor of the gym, and up on the boxes they use to get up to the rings and bars, so I was under and beside the gymnastits. I have the fortune of knowing the manager of the gym, and was given lots of freedom while shooting.

 

I have edited and posted almost all of the shots that caught my eye. I still have two rolls that I haven't touched, and will post in a few weeks, once I'm married and the hubbub has dies down.

 

In retrospect, I think having a fast, quality, auto-focusing camera would have helped. Maybe a camera that has more than 2.5 frames per second. Also, although I like the grain in some shots, it gets plain annoying in others. It would be interesting to have more light and see what the possibilities were.

 

Thanks for your comments, and feel free to leave more!

[wedding-photography-denver]

Great consistency and feel to them, and your metering worked quite well too.

[timberwulf]

Melody, one of the things I miss the most about my 100% film days is my N2000. What a fun little camera, especially for black and white photography. :)

 

Great shots! Being able to get right up to the action really helped to allow you to bring a host of creative angles to this shoot. And to have shot it all with a pure manual camera is excellent!

 

Really impressed, again, nice job.

[think27]

Melody - please post a caption for your image to show up in the forum.

[sprouty]

Great set of images.

 

Your conerns about a AF camera are unfounded.

 

You did a great job, really, in fact I think this is timeless:

http://www.photo.net/photo/4448576

 

BTW the palm of your hand is always available as a metering aid provided you are in the same light as your subject. I open up one stop with slide film and 1.5 stops with B&W.

[Jim_Tardio]

Very enjoyable. Simplicity rules the day.

 

You could have also pushed the film to gain a bit more speed. Perhaps some grain reducing software like "Neat Image" would clean up some of that grain...I believe most of them have trial downloads.

[larry schaefer - chicago,]

Very nice shots!

 

"I don't currently own a flash, and wouldn't have the knowledge to use it (yet), so it was all available lighting the whole day."

 

Hmmm? you may have momentarily defied the collective intellect of the entire forum. Amazing how things can have sucessful outcomes without a lot of angst and hand wringing overanalysis.

[graham_line]

Guess it's not really the equipment, is it? That's a set of pictures to be proud of. Smart use and evaluation of light is everything. Jim T's idea of a one-stop push might have made things a little more comfortable.