By Jenn Gidman
Images by Stephanie Elie
It's recital season, when young performers dress up in their dancewear and show off the moves and choreography they've practiced throughout the year. Stephanie Elie's daughter takes classes and participates in competitions for the Wheaton Studio of Dance, a small dance studio in the DC area. "We attended more than eight competitions this year, all hosted by different companies and in different locations," Stephanie says.
Stephanie photographed these performances with her Tamron SP 70-200mm VC lens, which offered her the versatile focal length and image sharpness she needed to effectively capture every plié and pirouette. "That focal-length range the 70-200 offers is necessary at an event like this, especially when trying to capture individuals in a group performance," she explains. "And I know that with the 70-200's image quality, in combination with the Vibration Compensation (VC) feature to eliminate camera shake, my images are going to come out sharp. It's a relief to not have to worry about that as I'm following the movements happening onstage."
Read on for how Stephanie uses the 70-200 to capture the artistry of each recital or competition.
Dance and Photography—Two Art Forms Become One
Vantage points at dance recitals are limited if you're not an official photographer for the event, because you have to stay in your seat. I'm on the shorter side, so I try to find a seat on the end of an aisle so heads don't find their way into my photos.
But this is where the 70-200 really comes through for me. I'm able to capture a photo of a group of dancers on stage and show the whole scene (image below, taken at 82mm, F/3.5, 1/160th of a second, ISO 2000):
Then I can zoom in for a closer view of the group (as shown here, taken at 200mm, F/3.5, 1/320th of a second, ISO 2000):
Finally, I can use the lens to zoom in for a full-frame image of an individual dancer, as I did for this photo (taken at 200mm, F/3.5, 1/1250 of a second, ISO 2500):
The lighting at a dance recital can be challenging, depending on the setup the group uses (it's often overhead fluorescent lights, stage lights, or a combination). I'll often need to bump up my ISOs pretty high, and I typically spot-meter. What settings I use can depend not only on the lighting, but also on the color of the outfits the dancers are wearing, as well as the color of the competition's banner or backdrop used on the stage. What I'll try to do, if my daughter's dance isn't the first one, is get my settings straight by photographing the dance or two before hers. That way I'm ready by the time she comes on to perform. It's important to note that flash isn't usually allowed at the competitions, because it's distracting to the dancers.
It obviously helps if you've been to a dance recital or know something about dance, because it helps you anticipate what's going to happen next during the routine. I can often spot the setup before a turn or a jump, even with the dances I'm not familiar with. I have my camera on burst mode, so when I can see a big move is coming, I just hold the shutter button down—chances are I'll get a good shot out of that series. The Vibration Compensation (VC) feature on the 70-200 also helps get rid of camera shake, which is important when I'm taking all handheld photos like this.
I was happy to capture the image shown below, because I not only captured the action, but also the excited expression on the dancer's face while she was midair (photo taken at 200mm, F/2.8, 1/250th of a second, ISO 3200).
Sometimes the colors of the outfits, stage lights, and backdrops can be too busy, which can be distracting in your images. Converting to black and white allows you to highlight the dancer's lines and form so that that's what the viewer is drawn to visually. It can also help if a dancer is in motion, like the image I show here (taken at 200mm, F/3.5, 1/60th of a second, ISO 2000). Her feet were moving, so they came out a little blurrier than I would have liked. That blur wasn't as obvious when I turned it into a black-and-white image.
When you attend a dance competition, you're naturally going to be focusing on photographing the moves. But try to tell a more complete story of the recital by taking all different kinds of photos. By zooming in with the 70-200 on the dancers' faces, I'm able to really focus on the expressions that show the emotion behind the dance. And while so many of the dances are elegant and graceful, it's always fun to photograph a dancer with a little bit of personality, too, like in the photo below (taken at 152mm, F/3.2, 1/250th of a second, ISO 3200). By blurring out the foreground and background, my focus is exclusively on the dancer's expression, which has so much attitude!
You don't have to stop taking pictures after the recital is over. Pictures of the awards ceremony can capture the pride the dancers feel after their performance. And it's the ideal time, while they're still in costume, to grab a couple of portraits of your kids that you might not necessarily be able to take at home, like the one shown here (taken at 70mm, F/2.8, 1/80th of a second, ISO 3200). You can simply pose them, use a lower shutter speed, and not have to worry about them leaping out of your frame.
To see more of Stephanie Elie's photography, go to www.bizzieliving.com or www.bizziephotography.com.