Celtic Flame Dancers of Philadelphia @ Towamensing Trails Club House, Albrightsville

[johnstoy]

Celtic Flame Dancers of Philadelphia at Towamensing Trails Club House, Albrightsville, PA...

I used the Canon 24-70mm F/2.8, and the Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5, on the 30D... with the Canon 580EX II Flash on a Newton Di100FR2 bracket.
View the entire set (choose *slideshow*) at: http://poconophotos.smugmug.com/gallery/7599975_SYwmZ#491355111_QVCfw


#1.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l60/stoy17/Celtic%20Flame%20Dancers09/IMG_0198AA.jpg

#2.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l60/stoy17/Celtic%20Flame%20Dancers09/IMG_0160A.jpg

#3.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l60/stoy17/Celtic%20Flame%20Dancers09/IMG_0195A.jpg

#4.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l60/stoy17/Celtic%20Flame%20Dancers09/IMG_0212A.jpg

#5.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l60/stoy17/Celtic%20Flame%20Dancers09/IMG_0252A.jpg

#6.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l60/stoy17/Celtic%20Flame%20Dancers09/IMG_0248A.jpg

#7.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l60/stoy17/Celtic%20Flame%20Dancers09/IMG_0215A.jpg

#8.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l60/stoy17/Celtic%20Flame%20Dancers09/IMG_0373A.jpg

[René Damkot]

Hmmm. The lighting kills it for me.
Did you try bouncing? I think that would have looked better.

[DwightMcCann]

Odd hairdo/wigs! Odd arms straight down and stiff! I had neighbors who did this type of dancing. Looks like fun. I agree with Rene ... too bad it isn't stage with decent lights as that would look fabulous.

[johnstoy]

Hmmm. The lighting kills it for me.
Did you try bouncing? I think that would have looked better.

The lighting was tough... I tested my flash before the dancing, and was even able to use the flash from 30 feet away... However, at the last minute, two bright flood lights got turned on and I didn't expect them to affect the images as much...

Rene', I didn't try to bounce the flash of the ceiling... Instead, I was concerned about the motion blur and slow shutter speed I was getting on some of the shots ,as the dancers were going pretty fast right in front of me.

What flash settings would you have suggested for use with the flash bounced of the ceiling?

[johnstoy]

Odd hairdo/wigs! Odd arms straight down and stiff! I had neighbors who did this type of dancing. Looks like fun. I agree with Rene ... too bad it isn't stage with decent lights as that would look fabulous.


I grew up in an Irish neighborhood (the only Polish born kid around)... The curls look pretty, Dwight... The lack of flail of the arms, goes back centuries, to religious restrictions of dancing... Apparently, the arm movement while dancing could be seen through windows of homes, so hence the arms stayed stationery. Thus the "still arms" evolved.

The stage is just our club house dance floor... We get comedy acts and occasional song stylists to perform... and most weekends it's just DJ's.

Thanks for the feedback... So far, the parents and the school instructor really like their pics.

[digitalchivalry]

I think they look perfectly fine, though I'm no pro. Irish dance is one of my absolute favorites to shoot. If I had some decent fast lenses I would do a lot better though since I never shoot with a flash when shooting dancers. The more performances you see, the more you get used to what the next sort of steps will be in their reels and jigs. Being able to anticipate helps a bit for me, but it's still a big challenge. Nice shots, thank you for sharing with us.

[René Damkot]

The lighting was tough... I tested my flash before the dancing, and was even able to use the flash from 30 feet away... However, at the last minute, two bright flood lights got turned on and I didn't expect them to affect the images as much...

Rene', I didn't try to bounce the flash of the ceiling... Instead, I was concerned about the motion blur and slow shutter speed I was getting on some of the shots ,as the dancers were going pretty fast right in front of me.

What flash settings would you have suggested for use with the flash bounced of the ceiling?

Yeah, motion is always a problem. You have the choice to either balance ambient and flash yet risk motion blur, or to use the flash as main light, but get a "bat in the cave" look.

In either case, using high ISO would have made life easier on the flash & gives faster shutterspeeds to help freeze action. I think in a case like this it'll still be neccesary to keep ambient under flash exposure, to avoid motion however. Pity.

I think side wall, or ceiling bounce (not straight up, but a bit to the side, to get directional lighting) would have worked nicer.

Here is a good read on flash: Link (http://www.planetneil.com/tangents/flash-photography-techniques/1-natural-looking-flash/)

[roman_t]

good direct flash shots.
thats why i chose metz 58 - it has secondary flash which fills when main one bounces. i'd agree with rene partly. surface seems not white and not flat with some texture.
i'm sure parents were happy with those shots. as a parent myself i'have those than none :-)

[johnstoy]

Thanks for the great feedback... And I agree with you guys...

The parents really love the pics...

As usual, I gave the small file version (1024 x 1024) of these pics to our community publication, they'll choose some for print and our web site too...