Artistic Dance Photos - Which one?

[mjjgm]

Hello,

Below are two different photos I took at a recent dance concert. I can't really decide which one is better (& why) so I thought I'd post on here to get others' opinions.

Does one work better than the other? Or should I just keep them both?

I'm opening to suggestions as well as critiques. Thanks!





Go here to view images larger (click 'Dim the Lights') & also to see camera info: Lindsay Birmingham | Dance - "Original Works"

[DogHeadGod]

I think the first image is more dynamic with her leg position and the tassles giving a better sense of movement. Both look a little soft though, did you try a bit of sharpening when you post processed?

DHG

[windrider86]

Not so fond of the first one. Only because its right smack dab in the middle of the page.
As stated they both seem soft.
The second one has a black spot in the upper corner that should be cloned out

[rrahim]

I choose the 1st.

[B..]

Um ... neither, sorry.

I see two pictures of bellies.

I don't see any photo of dancers.

[SherifG]

Comparing the two images and having to choose one, I will definitely go for the second.

It's far more better as the second have the body in focus and the wallpaper is out of focus which is not the case for the first one, as both are out of focus.

Aside of choosing, I think if you have made the model do a kind of another pose that shows some action rather than keeping your model standing still.. !! I hope you can have another caption and try this.

All in all you are doing great job my friend. keep it up.

[mjjgm]

Thanks for the replies -- interesting though, two for the first one, two for the second!

I did a little sharpening for both images, but perhaps not enough. Looking at them again close up, the second one is definitely in better focus which makes me lean toward that one. But I do like the tassles in the first one.

A bit more about these photos... they were taken of a dance concert which was on stage so I had to deal with crappy stage lighting and the live performance aspect. This particular dancer was wearing a scarf, removed it and danced with it (that's the background, not 'wallpaper') and then threw it. So she was moving the whole time and this part of the dance was maybe 15 seconds long. I don't know her so I couldn't exactly just get her to 'pose' again unfortunately.

It was really hard to get an extremely crisp photo with the above situation. I used an image stabilizer and a monopod, and boosted my ISO (1600) & shutter speed (1/125) as much as I could. The ap was f/5.6 and when I made it larger, it would then have too much 'concentrated focus' (aka only a tiny part would be in focus & all else would go out.) I think the 'soft' mainly comes from the fact that the dancer was moving so I should've used a faster shutter speed. But alas, when I upped it, the exposure quickly would become too dark. These photos above were actually pretty dark, I tried to fix exposure in post-processing.

Do you have advice what I should do better with my camera settings next time?

Another photographer there used ISO 3200 but that creates so much grain!! I tried it out on some other dancers and the grain was so bad I had to just convert to b&w to 'use the grain' to make it look like it was on purpose.

I'd also agree with the composition of the 2nd being a bit better, but I don't understand the comment about the 'black spot'. The upper left corner fades out to black and wouldn't look right if cloned. The upper right corner shows the edge of the scarf, I could maybe try out cloning the scarf up so it looks like it goes out of frame. Is that the side that's bothersome?

[PowerPix]

Originally Posted by B..

Um ... neither, sorry.

I see two pictures of bellies.

I don't see any photo of dancers.

Same here....

[sbunting108]

I prefer the second one as the first one is right in the centre of the frame making it look rather flat.

[Spiralofourdiv]

I think both need sharpening, however, two considerations:

1. The second is composed better, the subject being on the left third of the shot, whereas the first is right in the center. That can still be fixed in the first one though by cropping the negative space on the left off.

2. The second photo the model is bend backwards a bit, making in stomach and hips seem really slim, on the first photo she is thrusting forwards a bit, getting rid of some of those curves and making it all together less flattering. Contributing to this is the fact that the first profile is almost directly profile angle, while the second she is turned a bit towards you, giving a but more definition.

All in all, I'd have to go with the second one, as all you'd need to do is sharpen it. The first one would require cropping, sharpening, and a bit extra work to make her look as slim as she really is.

-Brian