My three daughters have been taking dance class for the last 9 months and they recently had their recital. Typical during recitals, they don't allow video taping or camera flash photography. If I wanted to take any photos of them dancing, I pretty much had to take the photos during the recital rehearsal. This actually worked out well, because I wasn't so concerned about getting in the audiences way during the dances. The issue is that I needed to use on camera flash, which I try to stay away from as much as possible.
I used my Canon 70-200 F4 IS lens and the new Yongnuo YN600EX-RT flash. I had the flash mounted on camera and the head pointed almost vertically. So I was getting some bounce from the flash, but the ceiling of the venue was pretty high, so I'm not sure how much was actually bouncing.
Evangeline Ballet
There was a black backdrop up for the rehearsal, which ended up being great, but it wasn't completely down to the stage, rather almost all the way down on the left side, but about 18 inches shy of the stage on the right......... ugh. I found that if I positioned myself just right, I could still get my daughters feet in the photo, but not so much of the open space between the stage and the backdrop.
I ended up shooting almost entirely at iso 800, F4 and around 1/160 shutter speed. With the flash, I guess I could have slowed the shutter speed a little and still froze the movement.
Fiona - Some day my prince will come - Ballet
I find that whenever I have to take photos of my children, I really like to experiment, especially when it comes to using flash. I guess its because there is no one to get upset at me if I screw it up............ except for maybe my wife.
All three of Charlees dances had her positioned on the right side of the stage, with the backdrop not completely reaching the ground. It was tough to get her feet in without showing the open space. I did manage to get several that I ended up adjusting that backdrop gap in LR, but this is probably my favorite.
Charlee - Ballet
Overall I think the photos came out great with the added bonus of it being another learning experience for me.
Thanks for reading!
- Chris