What do I need for good dance recital pictures?

[jpmom97]

thanks everyone, for the advice. Steve's girl that is exactly the picture I was hoping for of my DD. It's a beautiful picture, your DD is adorable.

 

[DVC Jen]

This will be my youngest daughters 13th dance recital this weekend. She also competes several times a year so I can totally feel your pain.

With the XTi the best advice I can give you is get as close to the stage as you can. This will allow more light to get into your camera allowing a faster shutter speed. And you will be closer so you won't have to zoom in as much - allowing your faster and much more easily handled lens to work better for you.

I usually sit in the second row nearly ontop of the stage it feels like. Crank your ISO up to AT LEAST 800 - higher if you can stand the noise and don't plan on making large prints.

One of the reasons I got the Canon 5DM2 in December was for the amazing low light capabilities/high ISO for dance competitions and recitals.

I also never use a tripod - too much of a pain in the rear when you also have costumes and make-up. I have no idea how many routines your daughter has in the recital, but mine has 7. A tripod is not one more thing I am lugging around and trying to keep an eye on.

Here are some shots I took last spring year using the Canon 30D and the Canon 28-135 IS lens. My settings were - ISO 1600, F/5.0 shutter 1/125. They are still VERY noisy - but I usually don't print them and when I do they are never larger then a 4x6.

These are "ok" - nothing I am really in love with - but they preserve the memories.

These next ones were taken with the Canon 5DM2 and I think they are much better - but then again it has a lot better low light capabilties.

Christmas recital - Lens Canon 24-105L IS (again sitting in the second row) ISO 6400, F/5.6 shutter 1/750

From competition last month. Canon 5DM2 - Canon 70-200L ISO 3200, F/6.7 Shutter - 1/350 I was NOT in the front close to the stage - probably more like 15-20 rows back and I cropped these photos quite a bit.

Good luck. I really hope you got something you are happy with.

Until I got the 5DM2 I was very frustrated with the quality of my recital/dance photos. But sitting as close as I was able to and using a high ISO and fairly decent lens (although not super fast) I got stuff I could deal with.

 

[alan]

Beautiful shots!

I wonder if you've tried Noise Ninja or something similar onthe early photos? I find that I get great effects by

1) colour & exposure correction
2) noise ninja
3) resize
4) (sometimes) Unsharp mask at 10% / 50 pixel / 0 threshold to enhance contrast
5) Unsharp mask at 75%, 1 pixel / 0 threshold to sharpen the picture

With a 5D, of course, I probably wouldn't need to bother. Where's the smiley for "green with envy"?

regards,
/alan

 

[minie_meese]

I took these photos last weekend at my niece's dance recital. We were about 12-15 rows back - thank goodness for banked seating (would like to have been closer but that is where we ended up). They were taken with a Cannon 70-200 f4.0 lens with no IS. They were all hand held (a monopod would have been useful but I didn't have it with me) ISO 1600, 200mm, f4.0 and mostly 1/100 or 1/125. All of the pieces I photographed had pretty low light and being back 12 rows made it even more challenging. They were all shot in RAW but I didn't do that much processing on them.

As was already mentioned, I always keep in mind that these are intended to be memories, not something that will get blown up and displayed in a museum. I try to capture the feeling of the dance. I have not been to many dance performances where they allow flash so I try to work with the light instead of against it. Movement of the dancer can produce some interesting effects but only if you can keep the camera still. Most often I try to shoot when there is not a lot of movement going on.

The light was pretty low in this shot but I shot this photo just as they all stopped moving. It has some blur but it captured the feeling of the dance.

The light was even lower in this shot and I wanted to try and capture my niece in this jump. There is a lot of movement in her legs because of the camera speed but her mom was thrilled to see this - it's hard to appreciate how high some dancers jump

I almost didn't shoot this because the light was so low but it ended up looking pretty dramatic. When I shot it I braced my arm on the armrest, held the lens from underneath and held my breath.

 

[Steve's Girl]

The clarity and colours, as well as sharpness, of that photo are gorgeous - well done!

regards,
/alan

Thank you. I do run all my dance photos through Noiseware and find that helps quite a bit with the noise issue.

 

[handicap18]

Another option especially when shooting in RAW is you get a little bit bigger final JPEG when cropping from a RAW image than from a JPEG image.

Get what you can for now with the 50mm f/1.8 and crop it down. Unless you want to print mega sized images. But for sharing online, viewing on the computer/screen saver or for small prints (4x6,5x7), you should be fine.

Just be sure your focus is spot on.

 

[Gdad]

Decent recital photography is certainly possible without breaking the bank- these were taken two years ago with a 6mp D50 and 105/2.8 prime lens. f2.8 primes in the 85-105 range are usually pretty affordable. The lighting is terrible where ours is held. These were all taken at ISO 1600 at f2.8 with shutter speeds in the 1/200 range- fast enough to stop action and not need a tripod or monopod.

(BTW- Here is the best from the pre-dslr year before with a P&S. )

 

[jpmom97]

Thanks everyone~ those recital pictures are beautiful,thank you so much for sharing! I will remember all these tips for next year. My daughter may be doing comptition so I will have more practice.

 

[DVC Jen]

Decent recital photography is certainly possible without breaking the bank- these were taken two years ago with a 6mp D50 and 105/2.8 prime lens. f2.8 primes in the 85-105 range are usually pretty affordable. The lighting is terrible where ours is held. These were all taken at ISO 1600 at f2.8 with shutter speeds in the 1/200 range- fast enough to stop action and not need a tripod or monopod.

(BTW- Here is the best from the pre-dslr year before with a P&S. )

those are great pics Jeff - wish I was able to get some like that before the 5DM2

Thanks everyone~ those recital pictures are beautiful,thank you so much for sharing! I will remember all these tips for next year. My daughter may be doing comptition so I will have more practice.

Good luck to your daughter if she does start to compete. It is a lot of work and takes a lot of dedication - but just like with anything else it teaches them a lot. This was Emily's first year to REALLY do well in competitions and that was with really only one of her 3 competition routines... Lyrical (and of course I dont have any photos of that yet). The other two did OK and better than they have in past years - but it was the lyrical routine that really stood out. Just never know exactly what the judges are going to be looking for from one comp to the next. It can be frustrating.

 

[mabas9395]

I have no problem shooting my kids soccer and baseball games. But in two weeks I'm going to be in the same boat as I try to shoot my daughters first tap dance recital.

The easiest/cheapest option might be to encourage our kids to only get involved in daytime, outdoor activities. Is it bad parenting to tell my kids that they have to choose their activities based on the limitations of dad's camera gear?

 

[jpmom97]

I have no problem shooting my kids soccer and baseball games. But in two weeks I'm going to be in the same boat as I try to shoot my daughters first tap dance recital.

The easiest/cheapest option might be to encourage our kids to only get involved in daytime, outdoor activities. Is it bad parenting to tell my kids that they have to choose their activities based on the limitations of dad's camera gear?

LOL, I think that's a good idea!!

Good luck with the pictures too!

Next year I know to not be dance/stage mom & to get the first row. I was in a big rush, I think that affected my pictures.

 

[handicap18]

I have no problem shooting my kids soccer and baseball games. But in two weeks I'm going to be in the same boat as I try to shoot my daughters first tap dance recital.

The easiest/cheapest option might be to encourage our kids to only get involved in daytime, outdoor activities. Is it bad parenting to tell my kids that they have to choose their activities based on the limitations of dad's camera gear?

Yeah, their hobbies/activities are making mine more expensive.