Archive of ‘Photography’ category

Cameras – Tech Thursday

Nikon D4-TimeLine Media-www.timelinedc.com

Equipment Matters

One of the photography mantras that is repeated on blogs and forums has to be “It doesn’t matter the equipment, only the operators behind the cameras that matters in making photographs.” There are so many examples of this from the collection of iPhone photographs, to Instagram superstars that create wonderful imagery with humble, accessible gear. With digital photography you can experiment with angles, lighting, time exposures, almost any variable you can imaging using the controls built into DSLRs or the slides built into smartphone apps. This has helped me to understand the functions of my camera and allowed me to quickly grow as a photographer much faster than I could have with film. This can take you only so far as a hobbyist or advanced amateur.

Nikon D4-TimeLine Media-www.timelinedc.com

Professional Consideration

As a professional, my growth was also tied to the equipment that I was carrying in my bag. My first digital camera was a Nikon Coolpix 5700 that exposed me to RAW file capture, and some exposure control. My first DSLR was a Nikon D100 which I used with old camera lenses my father had from the 1980’s. They still worked on the D100, and I learned about full manual control using these old optics. I secured my first photographic jobs with this body because of my skills in composition, technique, and post processing.

But I soon ran into a technology wall. The Nikon D200 was released, and there had been a jump in quality. Whereas I could be interviewed after showing my portfolio, when my equipment list was discussed, I was turned away. It is not just that your images must look good, but your equipment must look the part as well.

That sounds controversial, but I see its merit especially in a time when everyone has a DSLR and standing out from the crowd is essential for your business. The upgrade to the Nikon D3 really took my images to the top of the heap. There was no comparison between this camera and any previous camera body. The images looked 3-dimensional to me both on the back of the camera, and in the prints. And the construction of the body of the camera with a built-in grip really looked the part. Knowing what to do with the camera in your hand is important, but in today’s marketplace, the kind of equipment you carry with you definitely plays a part in getting you noticed, and in the door.

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Dance – Studio photography

Alexandria, Virginia

These photos were from a dance company studio shoot at Union 206 studios in Alexandria, VA. This took place at their previous location in Old Town. The studio was set up with a white cyclorama wall that gives a lot of flexibility when photographing portraits, couples, or larger groups of people. The cyc wall makes a very clean background to shoot against much like shooting against paper or vinyl backgrounds. I found that shooting against this wall was very easy. In this case, there was no trampling on the background materials, no fear of the background falling. Additionally, the light was really even across the frame.

Dance – Studio Photography

Most of the photos were three light setups. In the photo below, I had one light overhead lighting just the background wall. In addition, 2 lights on either side of the dancer. This lighting is good for male subjects which highlights edges of the body. It brings out more detail and pops the subject out from the background. Looking at the image on the blog now, there is quite a falloff of light on the left of the frame. I should have seen that and adjusted either the background light or the position of the camera. Or I should not have been lazy and fixed it in Photoshop before posting!

Dance Studio photography - TimeLine Media - www.timelinedc.com


In this photo I experimented with some of the colored gels that were available at the studio. This was a one-light setup with a monolight covered with a blue gel. I pointed the light to fire on the background only, with a flag to minimize the spill of light onto the dancers. With the blue gel on the light, it probably would not have been flattering, and probably confusing for the viewer. The light is on the background only so it makes a nice silhouette for the dancers as they make some moves that become nice graphic shapes as the subject. If I get the chance to try this again, I would like to try another light in front without a gel, but with a grid, so that I could get a little light onto the dancer’s faces. It would be a different goal for the image, but would be a great promotional pieces for dancers looking for something different. Hope you enjoyed the images – if you have a need for similar images, let me know!

Dance Studio photography - TimeLine Media - www.timelinedc.com

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

UPenn Classic

2013 UPenn Classic

We are finalizing our plans for the first ballroom dance event for TimeLine Media this year. We are returning to cover the event for the Penn Latin and Ballroom Dance at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. This is an event that we first covered in 2009 when we were very new to photographing ballroom dance. Like us, it has changed and grown, and we look forward to this year’s event!

Ballroom Dance photo - www.timelinedc.com - TimeLine Media
Ballroom Dance photo - www.timelinedc.com - TimeLine Media

The last times we covered this event, there was so much energy in the room from all the dancers! With many college team in attendance, there were many friends cheering on their teammates. There were also some flags in the crowd to represent the sections from each school which makes the event unique compared to most others that we cover.

Ballroom Dance photo - www.timelinedc.com - TimeLine Media

Venue

It will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, a venue which we have not been to previously. I hope to get in there early to get setup lights, and get an idea of where we can position to get the best photos. My style has changed much since the first time we went up to cover the event, but I’m interested to see how things have changed for me – both in lighting, and in composing photographs. I did use images from this event for a long time in my portfolio, and I hope to get more this year.

Event Details

With a full day of dancing scheduled, I’m estimating between 6000 and 9000 photos which will take about a week to process. Hopefully I can still post some blog posts during that time! To keep up with details as the competition approaches, you can follow the competition on Twitter – @UPennClassic13

After I finish editing the photos from the event, I will post them to the proofing site where I put all my other ballroom dance events-  http://proofs.timelinedc.com

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