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Posts Tagged ‘Virginia’

Event, Music, Photography | 0 comment

SingStrong 2014 – First post

SingStrong 2014 - ©TimeLine Media

This is the 5th year that I have covered this annual a cappella music festival. In college, I sang in a group and their scheduled performance at this festival 5 years ago spurred me to ask the organizers if I could get access. Now, I volunteer to cover it every year just because it rekindles my love of all-vocal performances. SingStrong donates all proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise, and the silent auction to the Alzheimer’s Association. Singers from across the region, and even farther will travel to attend workshops, and perform in the shows over the weekend.

SingStrong 2014 - ©TimeLine Media
SingStrong 2014 – ©TimeLine Media

It is so nice to cover singers that are sharing the passion for their art with similar minds. The styles that all-vocal groups can take is widely varied. Groups can be choral, or barbershop, they can specialize in covering pop songs, or all original music, and some take advantage of technology to loop voices or use microphone technique to emphasize percussive mouth drumming, or beat boxing. Whatever brings you to a cappella, you will be able to listen to leaders in the genre at SingStrong. I have been introduced to many different groups, and have enjoyed seeing what they come up with every year.

SingStrong 2014 - ©TimeLine Media
SingStrong 2014 – ©TimeLine Media

Here are just a few of the photos from the weekend! I will be finishing up the edit soon. If you were in a group, or are looking for a specific section of photos, please let me know, and I will pass along the link to those when they are ready. It was just another great weekend overall for charity, and for singing. In future posts, I feature other photos either on stage, or behind the scenes. Enjoy!

SingStrong 2014 - ©TimeLine Media
SingStrong 2014 – ©TimeLine Media

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703-864-8208

Ballroom Dance, Event, Photography | 0 comment

Triple Swing – Professional Showcase

Arthur Murray - Alxandria, VA - ©TimeLine Media

Who is ready for a triple swing? In reviewing old blog posts, I found that there are still some professional shows that I have not posted about from the Arthur Murray Fall Showcase. There was a large number of shows from this event! To be sure I do not want to leave any of the dancers out! They are too nice to ask when their featured photos will show up. With this in mind I have gone back to make note of which ones I have not blogged yet.

Arthur Murray Swing

Arthur Murray - Alxandria, VA - ©TimeLine Media
Arthur Murray – Alxandria, VA – ©TimeLine Media

Today’s show was a triple swing performed by the Arthur Murray franchised dance studio in Alexandria, VA. They danced to a popular song at the studios – “Lollipop.” I recall dancing a showcase routine to this a few years ago – it has a quick tempo requiring you to keep steps compact. It is also a challenge to dance at that tempo for the entire length of the song which these two did very well! They even though in a lift in the middle just to up the ante even more. The fun lollipop prop and dress really brought out the whimsical feel of the dance that the audience responded to nicely.

Tysons, Virginia

Professional Dance Showcase - Arthur Murray, Alexandria, VA - ©TimeLine Media
Professional Dance Showcase – Arthur Murray, Alexandria, VA – ©TimeLine Media

After post this, there are only two other shows from this event that I have not posted on the blog. I am thinking about having a Facebook poll about the photos from each show. We only have a limited space to hang posters from the previous event’s professional shows, so we need to narrow down the candidates soon. Stay tuned here to find out more on how we decide to print these. Thanks!

Professional Dance Showcase - Arthur Murray, Alexandria, VA - ©TimeLine Media
Professional Dance Showcase – Arthur Murray, Alexandria, VA – ©TimeLine Media

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

Photography, Technology, Travel | 0 comment

Tech Thursday – Snow Melting!

Melting snow with +1 stop exposure - ©TimeLine Media

We are starting a thaw out from last week’s wintry weather! It has taken a week, but finally we are starting to see some grass peeking out from under the snow. While it was falling heavily, I did not have the urge to take many photos. I am sure that there were some spectacular opportunities to do so. However, it just did not happen for me this time. Perhaps it was the preparation for the big ballroom dance event that stopped me from getting out. I have all the cameras and lenses to make something out there but I missed an opportunity.

Adjusting Exposure

Melting Snow - ©TimeLine Media
Melting Snow – ©TimeLine Media

With the shooting of the event now completed, and the warmer air outside, I wanted to get some photos before ALL the snow had melted. Going out there with the Fuji X100s made it easy to illustrate the first lesson that everyone learns when photographing in the snow. You need to “overexpose” or add more light to the scene than you normally would when taking photos.

The meter built into your camera is designed to measure the light coming in through the lens. It will tell you what settings will make for a balanced exposure. Technical photographers will call this calculating the exposure for “middle gray”. In other words, the brightest areas will not be too bright that they lose detail. Concurrently the darkest areas will not be too dark to lose detail. Unfortunately, these settings will make your snow look like “middle gray” as in the example here:

Melting snow with metered exposure - ©TimeLine Media
Melting snow with metered exposure – ©TimeLine Media

Adjusting Defaults

To restore the snow to its pretty white brightness, I had to add 1 stop of exposure, or overexpose the meter reading by one stop to get a nice white from the snow. Either the shutter speed is slowed down by one stop, or your can close down the aperture by one stop. Because I do not care to see any detail in the snow as it does not add to the photo, go ahead and let it be too bright. It is only a base or background for the frame, and does not need to be as detailed as the branches of the tree.

This technique not only works for snow, but works for window light, backlighting, or any other elements that are in your frame, but are not the main subject. They can be blown out, or overexposed without affecting the portrayal of your subject – the one thing you do want to see.

Melting snow with +1 stop exposure - ©TimeLine Media
Melting snow with +1 stop exposure – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-846-8208

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