competitive cheerleading

New Canon 50D owner. Need critiques so I can try again tomorrow. Audience was in the dark, bright stage lights. Specifics: 1/640, ISO 3200, f/4, 200mm

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Maybe consider cropping #2 vertically - a shame the girls were not in front of the black background. Audience in the dark sounds like a good thing to me! The team seems well synchronized, but maybe level along the red / gray horizon. The shadows are interesting too. Carry one tomorrow - good start.

So is there nothing I can do for the orange quality of the photos as I shoot them? Do I just need to fix in editing on computer? Also - dumb question......carry one what tomorrow?

Looks good considering those conditions. I agree with Terry, carry the computer and adjust until you see something that you like.....

'Carry one' -> 'Carry on'
Sorry, I no typa so goot. But carry the computer if you wish.

LOL...... Just take the puter with you and look at the shots on site...... Then you will know if you need to make adjustments.... Now that I have everyone throughly confused!!!

Terry Healy wrote in post #9413916
'Carry one' -> 'Carry on'
Sorry, I no typa so goot. But carry the computer if you wish.

Got it, but computer too heavy with all the camera and cheer stuff. I will just conitnue to play with setting tomorrow. Maybe I will try and get closer. Also the prof photographer had strobes going off in the stands. Should I try and sit by those?

carry a flash.

Nice stuff. Two comments: the first one confused me - are they jumping or on the carpet? LOL Secondly - keep an eye on your backgrounds to give a better presentation. Move accordingly if you can.

Keep shootin' !

doc,
Try to shoot from a lower angle if you can. And please do not use direct flash. What lens are/were you using?
# 2 should be a verticle crop, try not to cut thier toes off, or crop in a bit tighter to get the bases right about the waist and the flyer.Theres alot of wasted space on either side of 2.
Your white balance is off more so in #2 than in #1. If you can get the WB right in camera with a custom setting if not do it in post.
Try to crop your photos to standard aspect ratios.Level your horizons.
Do you have any faster glass? Maybe a 2.8? Your eif shows you shot at f/4.
You will want to be just laft of center stage to get real good shots of flyers doing their stunts otherwise you will get less than flattering shots of the girls. Try to get the shot at peak action # 2 is a bit early as they are loading in. Just work on your timing a bit more.
Does your daughter compete? If so you may be able to go to the practices to get some practice in your self as the season is still somewhat early on.
Hope some of this helps, you can check my site under "events" to see some of my work from this year so far. Or under sports from last year. My FB page has some of the latest shots that have been processed.
Thanks for sharing and I look forward to seeing some more from you soon.

I have a 70-200mm f4 lens. I will try to get lower and to the left of center stage today. Good idea for practicing during practice but the gym doesn't allow parents in during competition season practices. I will play more today at the competition. Next weekend is outdoor soccer so I will have to start over with figuring out the settings for that. Ugh.

#1 They are on a blue gym mat. It is shadows below them. Actually that one is kinda cool the way that happened. There are shiny trophies behind them so that is limited. There are so many obstacles with shooting cheer that cannot be controlled which is why it is so frustrating.

docscrapper wrote in post #9413672
So is there nothing I can do for the orange quality of the photos as I shoot them?

The orange is from the direct harshness of the stage lighting...Nothing you can do for that. Use blue or dark blue photo filter in PS to cut the orange. It will bring the image more on the cooler side of color tone, but add a bit of saturation. Experiment a bit to see what works best.
Ron

Looks like the girls in the first picture have got it down. I don't see anyone out of sync (droopy legs, etc.). The stage lights can be a booger.

For me they are a bit warm. May want to invest in a WB or coffee filter as a start