Belly dance C&C.

rhiannon · Mar 31, 2012

Went to an event yesterday. Couldn't use flash or tripod. Lighting was very low. Used a 50mm 1.8. Wide open. 1/50. ISO 1600. anything else that I could have done? Any post production tips? Editing welcome!

rexbobcat · Mar 31, 2012

rhiannon said:
Went to an event yesterday. Couldn't use flash or tripod. Lighting was very low. Used a 50mm 1.8. Wide open. 1/50. ISO 1600. anything else that I could have done? Any post production tips? Editing welcome!

You could have raised your ISO, but that's about it.

Or you could have used flash, but then you would have lost the ambience.

tirediron · Mar 31, 2012

Moving to the People Gallery.

tirediron · Mar 31, 2012

Having done a LOT of belly-dance events, I can imagine how difficult it would be without flash. I'm afraid that there's really nothing I can offer by way off suggestion for improvement. Next time, perhaps meet with the organizer(s) and seek permission to use flash to cover the event, in trade for which you will provide them a nice selection of images? Sort of become the "officiial" (unpaid) event photographer.

Granddad · Apr 1, 2012

I do a lot of belly dance events without flash and the only way you are going to get half way decent shots with no flash is by investing in a camera that can shoot with higher ISO. I know, I tried. If you can't access the light that's available the only way you'll get a decent shot is if you get lucky with a spot light.

The shot below was in a restaurant in London with "atmospheric" lighting last August and this was my first chance to use my new Nikon D700 and Nikkor 24-70 F2.8 in these circumstances. I then used Lightroom to moderate the coloured lighting, bump up the exposure and add some fill light. ISO 3200 (should have been higher), f2.8, 1/100 at 44mm.

Good luck!

P.S. By the way, I know I cut her off at the elbows and it's not the perfect shot.

Just grabbed this one quickly as a sample of lighting.

subscuck · Apr 1, 2012

No offense, but there really isn't anything to edit. The second pic has so much motion blur due to slow shutter speed that it can't be salvaged. I would imagine most of your shots of the dancers exhibit this. Noise is a huge factor as well. In this case a tripod wouldn't have helped, you'd still have motion blur.

Tiberius47 · Apr 1, 2012

Yeah, such limitations pretty much make this a Kobayashi Maru.

Forkie · Apr 2, 2012

The biggest thing that stands out for me is that there are two photos of a belly dancing event here, but one of them is of a barman/waiter/cleaner and the other has no bellies.