The Girls' Studio Dance Photos

This past weekend was Dance Recital Weekend and it basically consumed the entire weekend.  Which is absolutely fine, but exhausting.  You know I absolutely love watching my girls dance and I'm really enjoying my tap class, but I'm finding that the two together (my tap class IN the recital) is a bit too much.  This year, I had to do my hair for my costume ('80s theme) and the additional running around ate up precious time.  But more on that later.

The dress rehearsal was at 1:30 on Saturday and I had planned to take studio photos of the girls beforehand.  It takes so long to do their hair and make-up, it makes sense for me to take the photos on a day when we actually have to do hair and make-up.  I started the process at about 10:15 and it took over an hour.  Two of the girls can do their own lipstick and I've allowed them to practice but the eyeliner is going to take some time.  My goal is to have them doing almost all of their make-up on their own for next year.

I finished hair and make-up and Rich did most of the work setting up the backdrop.  Then people needed to eat lunch.  And I needed to get ready myself.  So we squeezed in photos when we could.  At one point, I announced, "There are three of you so there should be a constant rotation of kids.  While your sisters are being photographed, you should be changing your costume."  That didn't happen.

(Some kids were on the backdrop for longer than others which is why there are an unequal number of photos by kid.  I basically just pulled and edited the best ones.)

Allie













Anna







Emily















Here's a pullback of my set-up:



This isn't straight out of the camera though.  The exposure has been adjusted.  I purposely underexpose because it's far easier to brighten a photo than it is to correct an overexposed photo.  My only natural light was coming from two windows directly behind me (the photographer) and those don't provide enough light unless the subject is right near the window, which in this case would have been impossible.  So I have to use my Speedlight (turned to bounce off the windows.)

I didn't think of it until afterwards, but I should have taken a couple of photos with my iPhone for comparison.  It seems like more and more people use their phones as cameras and technology has improved so much, but I still find my phone doesn't do the greatest job in certain lighting situations.  Also, with these photos, the flash helps to remove the awkward shadows.  Next time!  

More dance recital commentary and photos coming soon!