Final Cheer Competition of the Season

After a long cheer competition my daughter's team is finally done. This was the first time using my 135 indoors and I have to say that I'm impressed. This may be my go-to lens for next season if/when I don't have a 70-200 2.8 with me. Here are a few from day 2 (final day) of competition. Since I had shot the team in competition a couple times before I thought this time I would try to focus more on individuals during the routines. THAT was not as easy as I thought it would be.

Let me know what you guys think!

1.

Nice set! I used my 135L at all of my daughters dance competitions this season and loved it. Such a great lens.

Just some quick comments:

I like #1.

I wish her hands were in the frame in #2.

Portrait orientation in #3 would convey vertical movement better.

Funny mouth in #4.

#5 is awesome. Maybe clone that rogue strand of hair out?

Crop #6 above the knee.

#7 is great. Can't tell on my phone, but are any highlights on her face blown out?

And a question: would you have preferred the 70-200mm to the prime?

The images look a little washed out to me. It might be my monitor but, as you say image editing is okay, I played with the curves a little to generate the image below. It might not be the look you were going for though but I always see sports photos as needing to be vibrant.

GrendelKhan wrote in post #16836702
The images look a little washed out to me. It might be my monitor but, as you say image editing is okay, I played with the curves a little to generate the image below. It might not be the look you were going for though but I always see sports photos as needing to be vibrant.

I washed them out on purpose. From previous competitions the girls really liked that processing as a pose to one's similar to yours which is why I stuck to it. They said it was "something different". Their parents liked it too. The parents with cameras that were snapping pics got the "normal-looking like what your eyes saw at the competiton" photos. They said mine were different and they loved them like that. Again, that's why I went back to it for this last competition.

rivas8409 wrote in post #16837086
I washed them out on purpose. From previous competitions the girls really liked that processing as a pose to one's similar to yours which is why I stuck to it. They said it was "something different". Their parents liked it too. The parents with cameras that were snapping pics got the "normal-looking like what your eyes saw at the competiton" photos. They said mine were different and they loved them like that. Again, that's why I went back to it for this last competition.

Perfect reason to keep on keepin' on with your style, man.
I agree, the 135 f/2 is killer for these kinds of shots.

rivas8409 wrote in post #16835836
Thanks! The histogram in #7 doesn't show them blown (if I remember right), but they are a bit bright I admit.

To answer your question. Yes and No. I know that's the worst answer I can give, but here's my reason:
I shot the previous competition with a rented 70-200 2.8 IS II. Being able to zoom out to 70mm is nice to get the wider shots of each stunt group, but the weight of it was killer and flinging that thing around during the routine was very heard on the wrist. Having shot that previous one at max 2.8 required ISO 3200 (which is about the max I'm comfortable with on the 5DII) and still required +2 EV to keep the shutter at 1/500. Being able to go to 70mm would have been nice in this case considering how close to the spring floor we were in "the pit".

Granted, the venue was different and had much better stage lighting this time around; using the 135 I was at f/2, 1/1000, and ISO 1600. Much more comfortable at those settings. I could have (and probably should have) stopped down to f/2.8 and slowed the shutter to 1/500 but I can't change that now. The problem using the 135 was not being able to get the wider shot. I think the benefit of a MUCH lighter (and can't forget faster) lens makes me lean towards the 135 over the 70-200...and the fact that I own the 135 and would have to rent the 70-200.

I agree mostly with the CC which frugivore has provided except for #5 (hair is hair it does what it does sports image generally do not get edited like that, #6 (vertical crop above the knee and #7 ( is a bit blown but expectable.
I shoot a bit of cheer and dance, in fact I will be leaving this Thursday for my 5th year in a row shooting Cheer & Dance Worlds in Orlando. You can see some of my past events at the Facebook link below if you care to scroll a bit. My last cheer event was NCA/NDA nationals in Dallas.
135 mm is a nice lens but is not as versatile as the 70-200 2.8 which is my go to lens for most sporting events. I shoot 12-14 hours a day holding that lens and a 1DM3 combo it can be heavy but it nearly as heavy as my 200 1.8 which gets fantastic images of the little ones.
At this level of action you can mostly get away with no more than 1/640ss while other factors do apply this is my slowest of settings for ss.
Anyway you have some great shots here, nice work. You should consider posting some action in the Sports forum. Thanks for sharing these.

Those are great!