1st time shooting a dance recital (C&C appreciated)

Hi all,

I had an opportunity to shoot a dance recital for our CFO's daughter last Saturday. I've shot variety of events, people, sports, etc, but never performing arts. I found out it's much harder than I thought mainly due to constant changing of lighting effects. Anyways, I would like to share a few photos, and your C&C would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

1.

Pictures look great. I wish my daughter's dance recital lighting was that good. I rented a 70 to 200 2.8 for my T1i. Like you said these are harder then what you would think because of the lighting. But your shots turned out really well.

Overall set looks good! On my monitor it seems that the white balance is a little off, but then again, with the digital age, everyone may see it differently depending on what they are viewing it on. Really like a lot of the expressions you were able to capture!

Great job! You definitely captured some great expressions and action. 1,4, 7 and 8 are my favorites from your set

Thank you all so much for kind words!! I really appreciate your time and comments.

Thinking about shooting one of my neices recitals soon... what settings were you generally using for good results? Thanks.

joonrhee wrote in post #12903974
I found out it's much harder than I thought mainly due to constant changing of lighting effects.

Know exactly what you mean and it looks like you nailed it.

CHillyDoggy, I was mainly in aperture priority mode to use f/2.0 at 200mm. It was allowing me anywhere from 1/100 to 1/150 shutter speed at 400-1600 ISO (depending on the lighting conditions). Although I went the safe route this time by using Av, it'll be in full manual from next time. For this kind of event, I'd probably push the shutter speed a little more (perhaps up to 1/250, to get crispier actions) and crank up the ISO up to 3200. It's just that all lighting conditions are different per performances, and probably would need to change the settings on per performance basis...

Thanks for your kind words, MWhite.

Wow, to me these all look really good !

Well-done !

The performers all looked like they were into their roles, as well - even the little ones

My favorite is #1 - very nice !

Thank you TustinMike for such kind words! I really appreciate it.

mhazlett wrote in post #12934601
Overall set looks good! On my monitor it seems that the white balance is a little off

Not just on your monitor

Apart from that: Nice set, with only a few cropped limbs. (I mean that as a compliment)

Hehe, I suck at WB... Thank you for taking time to leave me your feedback Rene!

i tried to get pics of my sister in laws girls at there performance and god it sucked. i was forced to sit like 10 rows from the back(wifes idea). then i only had a 75-300 4-5.6, which as we know lets in no light, and even at 3200 on my t1i i could only get a few good pics. then to boot my wife **** about not get any good pics.. all i could think was grrrrrr..lol

These are truely some great pictures they will treasure, I especially love the color and detail in Pic#7 amazing job. I have tried taking recital pictures but just can't afford the correct lens for the type of lighting.

Body: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 28-135mm / Sigma 150-500mm

Great shots.

I'm going to ask the same boring question I always ask. On #1 what lens would you use to get everything in focus?

Cheers