Posts Tagged ‘event’

Arthur Murray – ballroom dance photos

Arthur Murray ballroom dance photo - www.timelinedc.com

Photo Collages

Although these photos are from Arthur Murray events, I have a different dance event on the schedule. We are really getting excited to get back to another ballroom dance event this weekend. We’ll be at the UPenn Classic in Philadelphia, PA. Come by to see the dancers – we’ll be there to make some great photos! I really like the collages for posting on the blog too. I’ll keep tweaking the settings on here. Let me know what you think!

Arthur Murray ballroom dance photo - www.timelinedc.com
DC Area Arthur Murray Spring Freestyles

Arthur Murray posters

Of course, I enjoy making these little collections, but there is a website – reason for creating them. Although most of our photos from dance events are made in portrait orientation, there is a penalty for posting these online. As an illustration, try viewing a portrait-oriented photo versus one made in a landscape orientation. Overall, the landscape one will fill the screen more. Especially on widescreen computer monitors, this makes a larger impact. With this in mind, these little collections allow me to show off some vertical photos across the screen. Let me know if this works on how you view these!

Summer Showcase collage of dancers on a black background with white frames
Summer Showcase collage of dancers on a black background with white frames

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USA Dance Mid-Atlantic Championships

Ballroom Dance photos - USA Dance - www.timelinedc.com

Bethesda, Maryland

Here is another set of photos from the USA Dance Mid-Atlantic Championships, a National Qualifying Event. The majority of photos that I take at ballroom dance events are in portrait orientation as opposed to landscape. This fills the frame much better with dancers. Landscape photos leave too much of the surrounding background empty unless the floor is very full with other competitors. This does make for some good photos, as that is what I have been posting up until now.

Landscape orientation is the best for web use. In this case you don’t have to scroll your screen to take in the entire photo. This is an idea I have come across while reading some of the best photojournalism blogs on the web. In particular the Big Picture or In Focus come to mind. These blogs keep me riveted in each post from beginning to end. The large presentation, and the beautiful photos keep these on my RSS feed. It is as if you are holding a print in your hand while looking at the computer. It is comparatively closest thing to a daily newspaper I have seen on a tablet.

Photo Collage

Ballroom Dance photos - USA Dance - www.timelinedc.com

For portrait photos, there is a chance that the photos will not fit on one screen. Addtionally scrolling is needed to see the entire picture. This takes away from the experience of seeing the entire frame at once. The alternative is to create smaller versions of the photos. This does work, however, it takes away from the presentation with such a small size. The compromise I will start to use is to make a collage of portrait photos. This will fill the space on the blog. Addtioanlly, it gives the viewers more to look at as they are reading. This post is the first of this type – let me know what you think of the presentation. If you have any other suggestions as to how I can post these, I’d love to hear it!

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703-864-8208

Arthur Murray Fall Showcase

Professional Showcases – DC Area Arthur Murray Fall Showcase

These were some of my favorites from the professional show dances at the end of the 2012 Fall Showcase. The next Showcase event from these studios will be on June 22, 2013. At this time, it will be held at the Hilton McLean in Tysons Corner, VA. For the professional shows, I experimented with using the flashes at the four corners of the room. In short, all are pointed directly onto the dance floor. There would of course be some flare with the flash sometimes being pointed towards the camera. I tried to be patient, and wait for someone to block the lights. Additionally, I sometimes got lucky with the light not firing at the time a shot was taken. Here is an example of the backlight providing a nice rim for the lady.

Ballroom dance photo - www.timelinedc.com

Reston, Virginia

The following photo was probably my favorite for the entire event. These two from the Arthur Murray studio in Chevy Chase, MD. They have danced many of these shows before, and they always play nicely to the audience. The main light is coming from the two lights behind the camera lighting their faces. The two lights facing more directly into the lens provide a nice rim light to separate them from the background. With all these lights facing away from the walls, there is also a nice falloff to the back wall.

Ballroom dance photo - www.timelinedc.com
Ballroom dance photo - www.timelinedc.com

For the last performance, the dancers did a Swing to Psy’s “Gangnam Style” and got the audience to join them on the dance floor at the end! It was an unexpected development – I have never seen the dancers encourage the crowd to join them at the end of their dance. With help from some of the other teachers and brave souls that went out there first, the entire space was filled.  Here the back lights showed through some of the crowd. I think it really helps to convey the excitement and energy of the crowd at the end of a great day of dancing!

Ballroom dance photo - www.timelinedc.com

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