Dance Photography

[brooke_renee]

<p>I have asked afew questions already in relation to a D3000 and D90 settings for Dance photography, I was asked on the weekend to photograph a charity performance night. It will be in a private room with a stage, 5 dance performances and 5 singers as well as fire breathers and other performers. It will be dimly lit when there is performances with possible strobe lighting. I will also be taking photos of each table and people walking around with the lights on.<br>

Im thinking I will rent a camera and a lens as I want to do the best possible job because its being advertised. From the comments from my previous posts im thinking a D7000 and a 70-200mm VRII I know afew people who have FX cameras and swear it is worth getting a D700 instead? Its only about $120.00 more.<br>

I would be getting the lens and camera a day before has anyone used this combo for dance or action and know the settings I should set it to? I want to freeze the movement when dance performances are on I dont like Blurred effect photos.<br>

I only want a Nikon Lens are there any other lenses worth looking at? I prefer VR and I dont want to manually focus.</p>

<p>Thanks :)<br>

Brooke</p>

 

[Jerry_]

<p>Table images: something like a AF 35-70mm f2.8D Nikkor on a D700. Using a 70-200mm lens will be tough to back up enough in a large room...unless you just want a head shot, no table...</p>

<p>The dance - stage images: careful with flash...to much and the fire will not look like fire. Again, depending on where you can shoot from, a AF 85mm f1.4D lens and a AF 105mm f2D DC-Nikkor might do better in low-light shooting.</p>

<p>And, one vote for the D700 and high-ISO work.</p>

<p> </p>

[leslie_cheung]

<p>Dance photography in lowlight without motion blurs is really tough. Stop action might require 1/250 depending on what type of dancing. I would mix stop action and utilize motion blurs in a constructive way. Motion blur is great for dancing, I would hate to do without. If you have fire breather and strobe lighting, metering is equally tough...shadow noise and burnt highlights. Is flash disallowed in the performance? I would bring two cams, a zoom and a fast prime.</p>

[brooke_renee]

<p>Ill definately have two cameras. Flash is not allowed when performances are on any other time it is.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>If you can afford the rent, you might as well give the D700 + 70-200mm/f2.8 AF-S VR ii a try. However, please keep in mind that it is not a good idea to shoot something important with a camera that you are unfamiliar with.</p>

<p>Are you getting paid to shoot this event; what is the expectation from your images? If this is a "best effort" type situation, you have more freedom. If you are expected to deliver, I would spend a little time getting used to the D700 + lens beforehand.</p>

[bms]

<p>1) I second Jerry and Shun - D700.<br /> 2) From my limited experience shooting dance performances (n=1), I would suggest you consider a manual setting. This allows you to choose various shutter speeds quickly, and then you can vary the effect (blur vs no blur). See if you can get in on a rehearsal to test the setup. If you are in "A" or "P" - and I assume that the lights will vary quite a bit - this may throw off your camera's meter. E.g. if you have a scene with a spotlight but most everything else is dark, you'll blow the highlights unless you spot meter.... which may prove challenging. Double plus if you are not quite familiar how to set the meter and change it on the fly (as would be the case going from D90 to D700).<br>

3) Practice, practice, practice.</p>

[eric_arnold]

<p>1) go for the d700.<br>

2) shoot manual.</p>

[chris_leck]

<p>@Brooke: D700 & 24-70mm f/2.8 from the front row. I've covered the rest in responses to your other posts. There's more than on way to skin a cat, so don't disregard others' suggestions.</p>

<p>This is a demanding sort of photography. Even if you're good, you can flail with things. Practice and knowing your hardware helps.</p>

[chris_leck]

<p>Fire dancers</p><div></div>

[chris_leck]

<p>Not sure what happened with that. Second try.</p>

[pcnilssen]

<p>If you can manage to be in the front seats, I'd go for the 24-70, and crop if needed. 70-200 puts you in some distance from the performers..</p>

[chris_leck]

<p>Perhaps I'm old and slow. I'd appreciate to know how one might have an edge by spot metering or shooting manual in performance photography. This is a sincere question. Since one is attempting complex operations, why not figure out how to use the camera to make it assist in rapidly changing circumstances?</p>

<p>I always want to improve my work, but dance photography is not contemplative. One needs to react quickly to changing circumstances. Often, one is shooting cold. Levels of automation seem helpful to me.</p>

<p>Probably some contributors are way ahead of me. Likely, some are speculating. I actually do this stuff and am happy to share my experiences and learn from others. It seems that there are some frequent posters whose goals may be to be frequent posters.</p>

[chris_leck]

<p>@ <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=440542">Per-Christian Nilssen</a>: So true. With a long zoom one gets a flat perspective and usually a lot of floor.</p>

[brooke_renee]

<p>Thanks for the advice I might get the 24-70 instead I really wanted VR is there any other lenses with the same F2.8 but with VR</p>

[chris_leck]

<p>I shoot with an old 28-70mm f/2.8. No VR. VR may reduce handshake, but is useless on subject motion. Are you over-thinking this for dance?</p>

[pcnilssen]

<p>Chris,<br />I only have some experience in shooting dance, and then specifically Freestyle/Discojazz competitions, which are fast-paced, with badly lit floors (indoor arenas) and some spotlights randomly sweeping over the dance floor. Using a Nikon D300, I have done a lot of trials end errors, and have found that for my taste, I like freezing action at 1/320 sec, and using f:3.3. I then use the Auto ISO to compensate for the varying degrees of spotlights hitting the dancer, and quite often this leads me to ISO6400. If I find the noise annoying, I reduce it in Adobe Lightroom 3.</p>

<p>And spot metering on the camera ensures that I get a correct exposure on the dancer. I have seen that using matrix often means that I get the highlights blown out, as the background around the dancer is quite dark, and the camera tries to compensate for that, pushing exposure up, when using matrix.</p>

<p>But again, that is how I like the pictures; others will probably see it differently. Guys, I'd love to hear your experiences and how you would shoot such venues. After all, I'm here to learn, and if I could be of assistance to any other photo.netters, I'd be honored!</p>

[pcnilssen]

<p>Chris, I have visited your website. Impressive work. </p>

[elliot1]

<p>How far are you going to be from the stage?</p>

<p>Depending on far you will be from the stage and how dim 'dim is you may need a f f1.8 lens like Nikon's 50mm (or wider) or the 85mm to get reasonable exposures at reasonable ISOs - f2.8 may not be quite fast enough. Shooting RAW will negate the need to worry a lot about about metering.</p>

<p>@ Chris, if the light is constantly and quickly changing, spot metering will not be effective. I find when metering becomes less reliable because of difficult lighting (a spotlight on a dim stage, for example), I quickly adjust the exposure as needed through the exposure compensation dial. Patterns usually develop so it becomes intuitive after a short period of time. Again, shooting RAW helps a lot.</p>

<p>If the table and other candid shots are before the performance, use a flash.</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p><a href="../photodb/user?user_id=998821">Chris Leck</a> wrote:</p>

<blockquote>

<p>I shoot with an old 28-70mm f/2.8. No VR. VR may reduce handshake, but is useless on subject motion. Are you over-thinking this for dance?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Brooke, this is like your 4th recent thread on pretty much the same subject. As several of us pointed out a few days ago in a previous thread, the main gating factor for image sharpness in dance photography as well as a lot of action photography is shutter speed and focus accuracy. In your case you pretty much need 1/250 sec or faster. Therefore, for shorter lenses such as those 50mm, 70mm, etc., VR, tripods, etc. will not be that helpful because camera shake should be a non issue. No Nikon constant f2.8 zoom shorter than the 70-200mm has VR, anyway.</p>

<p>If you use a longer tele such as 70-200, you may need to use even faster shutter speeds due to the higher magnification. As long as your subject is moving, the usefulness of VR is fairly limited. In fact, it may even slow you down because VR takes a little time to activate.</p>

[gooseberry]

<p>Get as fast a lens as you can put your hands on. <br />VR only helps reduce the camera shake, which you can eliminate completely by using a tripod, which would come very handy if you wanted to take some long exposure shots, even >1s for dramatic blurs; you can always stop it down.<br>

<br />What would be useful for you to know upfront are:</p>

<ul>

<li>how mobile will you be able to be during the performance -- will you be confined to your seat (hopefully a front row one!) or would you be free to wander around?</li>

<li>if you can wander around, where will you be able to venture -- is there a high vantage point, like a balcony or a tall ladder you could climb on, and how about getting *really* close to the action, literally crawling onto the stage? ...maybe even shooting from behind the stage?</li>

</ul>

<p>Answers to these questions should give you a good sense of what focal length(s) will be the most useful. <br>

<br />Also do you know how fancy the lighting is going to be? -- it would be much easier on you if it's lit brightly and consistently, but dramatic lighting results in more interesting pictures, the downside being that it tends to change fast and often, so you've got to be quick adjusting exposure (as others said, I wouldn't trust any auto-programmes => stick to the manual mode and <strong>spot metering!</strong>) <br />Either way, there should be enough light for the AF to work, but with a fully opened up fast lens, the DoF will be pretty shallow, so nailing the focus on a moving subject might be a challenge [read: be prepared to end up with a substantial number of out-of-focus and/or incorrectly exposed images]<br>

<br />While I'm at it, since you're not practiced in this, it might be better to have less equipment, even only one camera with one fast prime, than two bodies and numerous lenses -- all that stuff will do is distract you: too many things to juggle; you'll be better off staying focused on making the most of the basic set-up.</p>

<p><a href="../photo/2564017&size=lg"><img src="http://d6d2h4gfvy8t8.cloudfront.net/2564017-md.jpg" alt="" width="679" height="450" /></a><br>

<em>Don't remember the exposure settings of the picture above (it's from good old film days) but all I had with me was a 50mm f/1.8 lens and a roll of B&W film ISO 400 pushed +2 EV, and a tripod, of course.</em></p>

[daverhaas]

<p>Just shot a dress rehearsal this past weekend - No table shots - so I shot with a D7000 and 70-200 f2.8 vr 1. </p>

<p>Dave</p><div></div>

[fpessolano]

<p>I did some dance event last week .... the d700 with the 70-200 made a huge difference. And do not be afraid of using iso3200 and iso4000. Results are still good (after some Topaz Dfine 5) and better than nothing (and way better then what you would get otherwise).</p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>Shoot LOTS of frames for two reasons. One, given the fast moving action under bad lighting you are going to have lots of out of focus shots and lots of bad exposures. Second, dance moves that might look beautiful and graceful while watching have a nasty way of looking ugly when captured for a split second in a still photo -- grimaces, awkward poses, etc.</p>

[richardsnow]

<p>+1 for the D700.</p>

<p>Personally, an 85mm f/1.4 would be my single lens choice for a dance performance. If I had to choose a fast zoom, I'd be torn between the 24-70mm and 70-200mm, but likely would choose the 24-70mm and get close to the stage.</p>

<p>Additionally, if there is colored lighting and you want it to appear in the photos, I'd avoid flash like the plague.</p>

<p>From the few performances I've shot with my D700, here's the settings I prefer. (Basics, but lighting can change drastically on stage, so specifics are tough)</p>

<p>SHOOTING MENU:<br>

ISO Sensitivity Settings:<br>

Auto-ISO: ON<br>

Maximum Sensitivity: 3200</p>

<p>High Speed Shutter, (CH, 5 FPS)</p>

<p>Shutter Priority (S) - Set shutter at 1/500sec or faster in order to stop motion and keep aperture between f/2.8 and f/4 (I like shallow DOF).</p>

<p>Center Weighted Metering or Spot Metering if lighting is difficult. (Spot meter faces).</p>

<p>Auto White Balance or Incandescent White Balance if there is colored and white spot lights.</p>

<p>These are not the "set-in-stone" settings, but it's a good place to start. If you rent the D700 + Lens, get to a dress rehearsal so you can plan your spots and shots and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.</p>

<p>RS</p>

 

[indraneel]

<p>A D700 with the settings above by Richard.</p>

<p>Also, arrive early and check out the lighting (ambient and theatrical). If (bounced) flash is allowed, you may really want to set them up, maybe with gels. TTL and CLS comes in real handy here, due to the changing theater lights. Go backstage if possible and speak with the performers about what they will be doing and where on the stage they will be, also color of their dresses etc.... this will really help previsualize. Maybe also some portraits while they are preparing.</p>

<p>If you are allowed, two small step ladders on each end of the stage at an appropriate distance (chairs don't work cause someone will be sitting on it when you need it!). This really works well if you can move from one end to the other during the performance without disturbing the audience. But even otherwise, you don't want all shots of all performances from the same angle.</p>

<p>Do not forget to enjoy the show! Remember to hand out your business cards.</p>