Dance Team Shots

[ghaleon109]

Well, I have a pretty nice camera, and my sister's on the dance team so I thought It might be kool to put together a DVD with a slide show of their routines, and hand them out to the parents. Their all very nice and make it a little easier to sit though day long compitetions so I don't mind doing this for free, but I would like my work to still be quality.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v468/ghaleon109/60.jpg

...And this just isn't quality. It was ISO 1600 @ 200mm, f/4, 1/80 Handheld with my 420ex :confused:

If there is anything you could suggest to help out, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks :D

[storeman]

Seems to me like the stadium lighting is just too harsh, perhaps you could do another shoot if they rehearse their routines during daylight hours.

[ghaleon109]

Unfortinatly this is all they do... :confused:

Later on at the beginning of next year it'll be their compitetion season so they'll be inside a gym instead of outside at night. :lol: I think they're just doing it to test me haha.

[Hellashot]

Shoot RAW if you aren't already, and use a tripod if you're taking them from the stands with a remote cable. Typically to stop motion of a dance team you'll need at least twice as fast as 1/80: 1/160 or faster.

[ghaleon109]

Shoot RAW if you aren't already, and use a tripod if you're taking them from the stands with a remote cable. Typically to stop motion of a dance team you'll need at least twice as fast as 1/80: 1/160 or faster.

Thanks :D

Ya, I'm shooting RAW. But do you think a Monopod would work? I'm getting my tripod in a few months, around that same time I'll have the 70-200mm f/2.8 so that should help, but for now I think my only choice is a Monopod.

[tupe]

This shot just needs more shadows and a little less gamma.

[dwterry]

Okay, besides a faster lens (2.8) and better stabilization (monopod or tripod), what about just editing the photos? Be a little more creative than just straight out of the camera?

Here's the same picture with some curves adjustment, a bit of dodge&burn to darken the background, and a gaussian blur in an overlay layer to give the image a little more of an edgy feel.

http://dwterry.smugmug.com/photos/37810576-L.jpg

I apologize for butting in. If you prefer that I remove the edited image, just let me know.

[ghaleon109]

Thanks :D

I would edit my photos more, but I'm still pretty new to PS. :confused: Thanks for the help :)

[sticky]

PS is easy man, just takes a little playing around and you can be very creative.

btw, do they allow anyone to just go down and sit sideline as CSHS? I wanted to go down their and try some football photog when I get my 70-200

I agree that the photo just needs a bit more shadow and less gamma. I would try my hand at PS'ing it but my site is down so I have no where to upload it.

[tupe]

Here it is with just a gamma fix (reduced to 0.80). You may want it darker, or not. My goal was to preserve the detail on their dark blue outfits, and to take some of the brightness out of the grass.

[ghaleon109]

PS is easy man, just takes a little playing around and you can be very creative.

btw, do they allow anyone to just go down and sit sideline as CSHS? I wanted to go down their and try some football photog when I get my 70-200

I agree that the photo just needs a bit more shadow and less gamma. I would try my hand at PS'ing it but my site is down so I have no where to upload it.

Ya, I'm playing aroud with it some more, and I've got the hang of some of the stuff.

Lol, It depends... I'm pretty sure I can get on the sidelines most of the time to shoot at halftime. I just flash my camera with the 70-200 on it and tell them I'm with the dance team. But for football I noticed a guy on the sidelines shooting. They might already have a photog for that, but I'd just talk to them. They're pretty reasonable. But all the CSHS home games are at Mo Val HS, the CSHS field really bites.

Which 70-200 are you getting? I have the f4 and even wide open at ISO 1600 the fastest shutter speeds im getting are 1/80. Which kinda threw me because it looked like the football photog was using the 70-300 DO which is slower than my 70-200. Although he might have had a 10/20D and was at ISO 3200

Anyways, let me know how that goes. It's nice to see there's someone on here from Moreno Valley :D

[ghaleon109]

Here it is with just a gamma fix (reduced to 0.80). You may want it darker, or not. My goal was to preserve the detail on their dark blue outfits, and to take some of the brightness out of the grass.

Thanks Tupe :D

That looks a lot better than what I had. I think once I get my Monopod and a faster lens the photos should turn out alright. :)

[sticky]

Tried my hand at it
http://www.ganoobies.net/pics/uploaded/60.jpg
having it against the forums light background deepends the shadows

[storeman]

Had a try at this one and this looks ok on my monitor although I'm beginning to think my monitor may be severely out of calibration. I used the shadow, hilight & grey tone picker in the levels dialog then ran it through noiseware.