Tag: Donnette Heath

Whether I’m halfway around the world or near home in the San Francisco Bay Area, I love to capture images of the performing arts.  Perhaps more than any other art form, dance distills the culture of its place and its time down to its essence.  This past weekend, I had the opportunity to shoot the second annual FREEdom DANCEfest, a free festival showcasing new work by emerging professional choreographers and dancers.  Today’s post presents some of my favorite images from the dress rehearsal and performance of the fifteen new pieces highlighted at the festival.

A few technical notes on how these images were made:

1. For fast-moving action in low light conditions, use of a fast prime lens is advisable in order to allow use of a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion.  I used two DSLR bodies, one fitted with a 50mm f/1.4 “normal” lens and the other with an 85mm f/1.8 portrait lens.
2. A high ISO sensitivity setting and a wide aperture (low f-stop number) are often both required to allow fast shutter speeds in dim lighting.  Don’t be afraid to boost the ISO to 3200, 6400, or even higher if your camera’s sensor can handle it.  Any resulting digital noise can be reduced later during post-processing.
3. Always be aware of the background and lighting as well as the action of your primary subject.  It is the interplay of all of these compositional elements that makes your final image.  Most of the time the goal is a clean and uncluttered background, but once in a while (see the third image below, for example) the contrast between the background or lighting and the subject can actually enhance the impact of the image.
4. Shoot plenty of frames to ensure you capture just the right moments.  I shot more than 5000 images of this one-day event and culled them down to about 100 that were delivered to the client.
5. Occasionally a slow shutter speed can be used to blur the motion intentionally as a creative choice.  I’ve included a few such images in today’s post.
6. During post-processing of performance images, my most common adjustments are applying noise reduction, adjusting color balance and lighting curves, cropping, and straightening horizons.  Sometimes I also apply a bit of post-crop vignetting to emphasize the subject and reduce clutter in the background.

I hope you have enjoyed these images and that they (along with my technical notes) will inspire your own performing arts photo shoots! While gear and technique do play a role in capturing great dance images, by far the most important element is the photographer’s eye.  A great dance image should artistically capture a special moment during the performance and should emphasize the choreographer’s and dancer’s physical ability, grace, hard work, and joy!

Now it’s your turn.  Please share your own stories and tips for capturing live performances in images.

Want to read more posts about what and how to shoot while traveling?  Find them all here: Posts about what to shoot.

Whether I’m halfway around the world or near home in the San Francisco Bay Area, I love to capture images of the performing arts.  Perhaps more than any other art form, dance distills the culture of its place and its time down to its essence.  This past weekend, I had the opportunity to shoot the second annual FREEdom DANCEfest, a free festival showcasing new work by emerging professional choreographers and dancers.  Today’s post presents some of my favorite images from the dress rehearsal and performance of the fifteen new pieces highlighted at the festival.

A few technical notes on how these images were made:

1. For fast-moving action in low light conditions, use of a fast prime lens is advisable in order to allow use of a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion.  I used two DSLR bodies, one fitted with a 50mm f/1.4 “normal” lens and the other with an 85mm f/1.8 portrait lens.
2. A high ISO sensitivity setting and a wide aperture (low f-stop number) are often both required to allow fast shutter speeds in dim lighting.  Don’t be afraid to boost the ISO to 3200, 6400, or even higher if your camera’s sensor can handle it.  Any resulting digital noise can be reduced later during post-processing.
3. Always be aware of the background and lighting as well as the action of your primary subject.  It is the interplay of all of these compositional elements that makes your final image.  Most of the time the goal is a clean and uncluttered background, but once in a while (see the third image below, for example) the contrast between the background or lighting and the subject can actually enhance the impact of the image.
4. Shoot plenty of frames to ensure you capture just the right moments.  I shot more than 5000 images of this one-day event and culled them down to about 100 that were delivered to the client.
5. Occasionally a slow shutter speed can be used to blur the motion intentionally as a creative choice.  I’ve included a few such images in today’s post.
6. During post-processing of performance images, my most common adjustments are applying noise reduction, adjusting color balance and lighting curves, cropping, and straightening horizons.  Sometimes I also apply a bit of post-crop vignetting to emphasize the subject and reduce clutter in the background.

I hope you have enjoyed these images and that they (along with my technical notes) will inspire your own performing arts photo shoots! While gear and technique do play a role in capturing great dance images, by far the most important element is the photographer’s eye.  A great dance image should artistically capture a special moment during the performance and should emphasize the choreographer’s and dancer’s physical ability, grace, hard work, and joy!

Now it’s your turn.  Please share your own stories and tips for capturing live performances in images.

Want to read more posts about what and how to shoot while traveling?  Find them all here: Posts about what to shoot.

Whether I’m halfway around the world or near home in the San Francisco Bay Area, I love to capture images of the performing arts.  Perhaps more than any other art form, dance distills the culture of its place and its time down to its essence.  This past weekend, I had the opportunity to shoot the second annual FREEdom DANCEfest, a free festival showcasing new work by emerging professional choreographers and dancers.  Today’s post presents some of my favorite images from the dress rehearsal and performance of the fifteen new pieces highlighted at the festival.

A few technical notes on how these images were made:

1. For fast-moving action in low light conditions, use of a fast prime lens is advisable in order to allow use of a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion.  I used two DSLR bodies, one fitted with a 50mm f/1.4 “normal” lens and the other with an 85mm f/1.8 portrait lens.
2. A high ISO sensitivity setting and a wide aperture (low f-stop number) are often both required to allow fast shutter speeds in dim lighting.  Don’t be afraid to boost the ISO to 3200, 6400, or even higher if your camera’s sensor can handle it.  Any resulting digital noise can be reduced later during post-processing.
3. Always be aware of the background and lighting as well as the action of your primary subject.  It is the interplay of all of these compositional elements that makes your final image.  Most of the time the goal is a clean and uncluttered background, but once in a while (see the third image below, for example) the contrast between the background or lighting and the subject can actually enhance the impact of the image.
4. Shoot plenty of frames to ensure you capture just the right moments.  I shot more than 5000 images of this one-day event and culled them down to about 100 that were delivered to the client.
5. Occasionally a slow shutter speed can be used to blur the motion intentionally as a creative choice.  I’ve included a few such images in today’s post.
6. During post-processing of performance images, my most common adjustments are applying noise reduction, adjusting color balance and lighting curves, cropping, and straightening horizons.  Sometimes I also apply a bit of post-crop vignetting to emphasize the subject and reduce clutter in the background.

I hope you have enjoyed these images and that they (along with my technical notes) will inspire your own performing arts photo shoots! While gear and technique do play a role in capturing great dance images, by far the most important element is the photographer’s eye.  A great dance image should artistically capture a special moment during the performance and should emphasize the choreographer’s and dancer’s physical ability, grace, hard work, and joy!

Now it’s your turn.  Please share your own stories and tips for capturing live performances in images.

Want to read more posts about what and how to shoot while traveling?  Find them all here: Posts about what to shoot.

Whether I’m halfway around the world or near home in the San Francisco Bay Area, I love to capture images of the performing arts.  Perhaps more than any other art form, dance distills the culture of its place and its time down to its essence.  This past weekend, I had the opportunity to shoot the second annual FREEdom DANCEfest, a free festival showcasing new work by emerging professional choreographers and dancers.  Today’s post presents some of my favorite images from the dress rehearsal and performance of the fifteen new pieces highlighted at the festival.

A few technical notes on how these images were made:

1. For fast-moving action in low light conditions, use of a fast prime lens is advisable in order to allow use of a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion.  I used two DSLR bodies, one fitted with a 50mm f/1.4 “normal” lens and the other with an 85mm f/1.8 portrait lens.
2. A high ISO sensitivity setting and a wide aperture (low f-stop number) are often both required to allow fast shutter speeds in dim lighting.  Don’t be afraid to boost the ISO to 3200, 6400, or even higher if your camera’s sensor can handle it.  Any resulting digital noise can be reduced later during post-processing.
3. Always be aware of the background and lighting as well as the action of your primary subject.  It is the interplay of all of these compositional elements that makes your final image.  Most of the time the goal is a clean and uncluttered background, but once in a while (see the third image below, for example) the contrast between the background or lighting and the subject can actually enhance the impact of the image.
4. Shoot plenty of frames to ensure you capture just the right moments.  I shot more than 5000 images of this one-day event and culled them down to about 100 that were delivered to the client.
5. Occasionally a slow shutter speed can be used to blur the motion intentionally as a creative choice.  I’ve included a few such images in today’s post.
6. During post-processing of performance images, my most common adjustments are applying noise reduction, adjusting color balance and lighting curves, cropping, and straightening horizons.  Sometimes I also apply a bit of post-crop vignetting to emphasize the subject and reduce clutter in the background.

I hope you have enjoyed these images and that they (along with my technical notes) will inspire your own performing arts photo shoots! While gear and technique do play a role in capturing great dance images, by far the most important element is the photographer’s eye.  A great dance image should artistically capture a special moment during the performance and should emphasize the choreographer’s and dancer’s physical ability, grace, hard work, and joy!

Now it’s your turn.  Please share your own stories and tips for capturing live performances in images.

Want to read more posts about what and how to shoot while traveling?  Find them all here: Posts about what to shoot.