The Ballet, a first for me

Posted on May 30, 2010 by The Lazy Photographer

EXIF: 55-250mm@96mm | Tv (shutter prioroty) | 1/160 s | F5 | ISO 3200

Well, believe it or not I went to the ballet today. My friend had asked me to come along to photograph her little girl, who is only 2 1/2 years old. Unfortunately, we were stuck in the balcony so I had to use my 55-250mm Canon zoom. I also wasn’t shooting with flash and had to pump up the ISO to 3200 because I was shooting in shutter priority to keep the shutter snapping fast enough to catch the action. There is definitely noise in my shots, but that’s okay. I’ll post a couple of my favourites only. If any experts out there see anything about the settings I could have done better with, please do tell.

UPDATE: The second photo here is an addition to the first. They are so similar I thought it a waste not to post them together.

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11 Responses to The Ballet, a first for me

  1. lynnwiles says:
    May 30, 2010 at 8:36 pm

    Have you seen the movie “Dancer in the Dark”? This photo could have the same title. I’m amazed that it turned out as well as it did, time for a little denoising (is that how you spell it?). She looks awfully mature for a two and a half year old.

    • davecandoit says:
      May 30, 2010 at 8:47 pm

      It was a looong pregnancy. 🙂

      Actually, they had performers from all age groups. The little tykes were the sweetest thing you ever did see. I’ll post a shot of my friend’s little girl, if she’s okay with it.

      I already applied some noise reduction to it. For ISO 3200 even the original’s not bad. Of course, a nice Nikon D3x would have handled the low light with no trouble at all.

      I’m adding another shot to the first one, by the way.

  2. uncoveringyou says:
    May 31, 2010 at 9:42 am

    dave..nice shots! something different from you 😉
    hope you’re well…will be in touch again soon!! xo

  3. aswirly says:
    May 31, 2010 at 12:12 pm

    Hooray, you went to the ballet!! Cool shots too! I’m surprised they let you shoot at all. The last time I went I was veeeeery sneaky with just my p&s coz the gaurds were watching and it was said they’d confiscate any camera they saw. eeeeek

    • davecandoit says:
      May 31, 2010 at 12:51 pm

      Thanks Amber. It was filled with proud parents so I don’t think they had a choice. This was sort of a community event hosted by the ballet school. Many of the folks were shooting with flash, but I didn’t want to disturb anyone.

  4. milkayphoto says:
    June 1, 2010 at 9:45 am

    These are really nice, Dave. Dramatic and moody as the performance probably was. Nice job!

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