Posts Tagged ‘DC Dance Challenge’

Awards plaques

©TimeLine Media - DC Dance Challenge award plaques

I am currently working on finishing the award plaques from the recent 2013 DC Dance Challenge. This event from last month had some great participation from all the dancers. However there were a few that were recognized for their technique in their categories. Although we could not provide plaques for the dancers to take home from the Ronald Reagan Building that evening, I think the results are better now. This is due to me having edited all the photos for the event for color and exposure. The photos that are used from the plaques are made from photos that were made at the event on the dance floor or the surrounding area at the venue.

©TimeLine Media - DC Dance Challenge award plaques
©TimeLine Media – DC Dance Challenge award plaques

I am much more pleased with how these have turned out since they are produced at the same lab that I send print and album orders. The quality of the print is just as good as these since they are optical prints from the digital files, not prints from an ink jet printer. If you see these plaques up close, you can tell the difference. They will last much longer than ink jet prints, and have much better contrast and saturation of color. Here is a scan of one that is completely assembled.

©TimeLine Media - assembled plaque
©TimeLine Media – assembled plaque

The picture is mounted onto a wooden frame, and mounted underneath a clear plastic. The plaque is cut on the back with some holes for easy mounting to the wall. I really like how these come out, and I hope the dancers like the presentation. It’s a great way to show off their accomplishments!

©TimeLine Media - DC Dance Challenge award plaques
©TimeLine Media – DC Dance Challenge award plaques

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

DC Dance Challenge – sale ending

©TimeLine Media - Dancing with the DCDC Star winning routine

The early bird special on all photos for the 2013 DC Dance Challenge will end today at the proofing website:

http://proofs.timelinedc.com/

You will still be able to view and share the photos on there until next February, but the 20% off sale on all products will expire tonight. Thanks to everyone that has visited over the last 2 weeks! We have sent prints and digital images to lots of you. It is so nice to see them pop up on Facebook and other social media. It is so nice to see dancers enjoying their images after working so hard on their school figures and routines to perform for the judges.

One of the highlights of the day was Rie and Fabio’s performance during the “Dancing with the DCDC Stars” competition. It was a fun number with lots of nice moments thrown in the middle of some great dancing. The best routines have both – entertaining expressions for the audience, mixed with good technique. This first photo was one of my favorites from the day:

©TimeLine Media - Dancing with the DCDC Star winning routine
©TimeLine Media – Dancing with the DCDC Star winning routine

Lots of energetic moves throughout the routine – and a few lifts too!

©TimeLine Media - Dancing with the DCDC Star winning routine
©TimeLine Media – Dancing with the DCDC Star winning routine

The judges were really impressed with what Rie and Fabio put together in this piece. Agreeing with the audience, one of the judges awarded them a perfect 10!

©TimeLine Media - Dancing with the DCDC Star winning routine
©TimeLine Media – Announcing the DCDC Star winner at the DC Dance Challenge

It was a fun way to add something different to the competition. Congratulations!

©TimeLine Media - Dancing with the DCDC Star winning routine
©TimeLine Media – Dancing with the DCDC Star winning routine

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

Special Event Lighting – Tech Thursday

©TimeLine Media - DC Dance Challenge

White Balance

When shooting color images, digital photography gives us a lot more flexibility in color balance. This is usually one of the first options that photo applications will let you adjust in your photos. In Adobe Lightroom, they call this “Temperature” referring to the Kelvin setting in degrees. On the lower end of the scale are the “cooler” or bluer settings starting at 2000K. On the other end is going to the “warmer” or yellower settings 10000K to 50000K.

Lightroom - color temperature slider
Lightroom – color temperature slider

Similarly to a previous post which I talked about bouncing the light off of colored walls, having mixed lighting sources will also affect the look of your photos. At events where there is lighting setup to set a mood for the room, you will have strongly colored constant lights. These will usually be tinted with a gel or LEDs that can make every kind of color possible. This can be difficult to balance, as now there are competing sources of color in your frames.

Ballroom Dance Photos

©TimeLine Media - DC Dance Challenge ballroom dance
©TimeLine Media – DC Dance Challenge ballroom dance event lighting

My thought in this situation is to use my flash to get the best exposure I can at the time. Having a good exposure means I can work with the file more easily in Lightroom later. The dance events usually has changing lights, so I cannot do a good white balance for each color, I just have to make a good exposure.

Back in Lightroom, I use the temperature and tint sliders to ensure that the skin of subjects in the frame looks good. It may not be exactly their skin tone as you see it, but neither is their color on the dance floor flooded with colored light. The downside is that the colored light in the background, or the ambient color of the room may change, but skin tones are my only concern. Whatever colors happen to change in the background or other room elements will have to be left as is. Let me know what you guys do when facing these room a wedding receptions, or other setups with special event lighting.

©TimeLine Media - DC Dance Challenge
©TimeLine Media – DC Dance Challenge

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

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