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Posts Tagged ‘photography’

Ballroom Dance, Event, Photography | 0 comment

Waltz Professional Show – Spring Freestyles

Ballroom Dance professional show - ©TimeLine Media

Chantilly, Virginia

Happy Friday! After a busy week, I am really trying to get the studio organized. There are some big projects coming up, and I need to clean up a little around here. There is more dancing photos in the future, and we just came back from a dance lesson. Overall, this helps to get the oxygen back into the brain after a day at the computer.

Ballroom Dance Waltz professional show - ©TimeLine Media
Ballroom Dance Waltz professional show – ©TimeLine Media

I think our smooth dancing is getting to be much better and “smoother” (pun intended) and the Waltz is my favorite right now. I feel like I do not have to think as much before starting a new figure, and when things do not line up, we can recover nicely without missing a beat. Looking for photos to post on the blog today, I thought about the Waltz and came across this pro show from the Arthur Murray, Gaithersburg, Maryland studio.

Ballroom Dance professional show - ©TimeLine Media
Ballroom Dance professional show – ©TimeLine Media

Waltz Professional Show

This was a beautiful performance of a dance that can be relatable to everyone that is watching. Whether you have been dancing for 6 weeks or 6 years, you know how to dance the Waltz. The simple three beats and a basic box will get you through any requests to go out on the floor.

Waltz by Arthur Murray Gaithersburg - ©TimeLine Media
Waltz by Arthur Murray Gaithersburg – ©TimeLine Media
Waltz - Ballroom Dance - ©TimeLine Media
Waltz – Ballroom Dance – ©TimeLine Media

Overall, these two took a dance that everyone is familiar with and made it look effortless as they performed solo in front of all the students, their colleagues, judges, etc. This is a tough assignment for all the performers so when they can come out and nail their routine as if they were still in the practice studio with no one watching is outstanding! Everyone was applauded their effort, especially the enthusiastic students and staff from Gaithersburg. They showed their pride in their professionals, and I know they will have many great shows when they dance in future events.

Arthur Murray Gaithersburg Waltz Pro Show - ©TimeLine Media
Arthur Murray Gaithersburg Waltz Pro Show – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-84-8208

Ballroom Dance, Event, Photography, Technology | 0 comment

Changing Backgrounds in Photos – Tech Thursday

Wide angle lens pointed upwards - ©TimeLine Media

Chantilly, Virginia

If you were doing an internet search for this topic, you may expect to have an extended Photoshop tutorial. This is definitely not a selection/replacement background tutorial as I am really not the most creative with software. The post comes from looking over backgrounds in ballroom dance photos. This idea works best from the last Arthur Murray Spring Freestyles event that was held at the Westfields Marriott hotel in Chantiily, VA.

The main ballroom has some interesting lights hanging from the ceiling. They are pyramid shape, and hung with the small pointed side facing downwards towards the floor. Moreover, they have very large plain sides creating their shape which makes them an interesting background element in the photos. They do not have the small, rounded out of focus circles that you get from chandelier or smaller light sources. Here, the entire shape can take on a different look depending on the focal length of the lens used. This first image is taken at a very wide angle of 17mm:

Wide angle lens pointed straight ahead- ©TimeLine Media
Wide angle lens pointed straight ahead- ©TimeLine Media

Working the Angles

This makes the lights clearly in focus along with the dancers on the floor. You can clearly see all the detail, mounting, and edges of the lights. From this angle which was taken from a standing height with the lens pointed towards the dancers. It is possible to drastically change the background in the photo by changing only the angle of the camera. In this next photo, the focal length is still 17mm, but I changed my position by going to my knees, and pointing the lens up towards the ceiling. With this wide angle lens, the lamps on the ceiling become much more elongated looking much larger than in the previous photo!

Wide angle lens pointed upwards - ©TimeLine Media
Wide angle lens pointed upwards – ©TimeLine Media

This can be to your advantage when shooting events. You can to give viewers different looks from the event by changing backgrounds. Once you already have one angle, change where you are shooting and more around the scene to see what different looks you can get when the action is not changing much. It keeps your eyes looking through the frame and avoiding fatigue. It will also make for different looks to see when post processing later.

Spring Freestyles Photos Released - ©TimeLine Media
Spring Freestyles Photos Released – ©TimeLine Media

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

Event, Photography, Sports, Travel | 0 comment

Middleburg 2014 Point to Point

Tailgate Competition judges at the Middleburg Point to Point - ©TimeLine Media

Virginia Horse Country

It was a beautiful April Sunday for the Middleburg Hunt Point to Point this year. Last year, some wet weather put a damper on the festivities, but this year was a cool, sunny day. It was perfect for dressing your best for a tail gate with friends, and watching horses race on the beautiful steeplechase course at Glenwood Park. The overhead sun was strong and bright all day, so there was a lot of strong shadows in all the images.

Tailgate Competition judges at the Middleburg Point to Point - ©TimeLine Media
Tailgate Competition judges at the Middleburg Point to Point – ©TimeLine Media

People commonly think that having a lot of sun is perfect for making photos. It is true that the camera does like to have as much light as possible to make good exposures. The problems with sun in the middle of the day and early afternoon, is that it is not falling in a good direction for good portraits. With the sun right above, there will be hard shadows that darken faces, horses making post processing necessary to bring out details that you want to see. With such bright sun, many people attending the Point to Point were wearing fashionable hats to lessen their direct exposure to the sun which added additional challenges to photos.

2014 Middleburg Point to Point - ©TimeLine Media
2014 Middleburg Point to Point – ©TimeLine Media

Middleburg, Virginia

2014 Middleburg Point to Point - ©TimeLine Media
2014 Middleburg Point to Point – ©TimeLine Media

For all of these, a fill flash was necessary to get the faces lit. If not used the details could not be brought out from the shadows. This is a very blunt light when moving and shooting while walking around the park. There was no time to setup an off-camera flash to get more dimension to the light. You can see some hard shadows where the direct flash was firing towards the subjects. It is not the prettiest, but it did get the job done. Also, it was the easiest way to get quick photos with all the impromptu group poses. Thanks to the weathermen that brought us a great day!

Panorama of Glenwood Park in Middleburg, VA - ©TimeLine Media
Panorama of Glenwood Park in Middleburg, VA – ©TimeLine Media

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

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