DCypher, two years later
Two years ago, one of the most challenging things I shot as part of my photo-a-day project was a dance performance by local hip-hop company DCypher. The lighting was dim, the action was fast, and I was using a manual focus Series E 50/1.8 lens, which did not meter on my D70. I was quite happy with what I got. In retrospect, most of what I got was junk. This time around, shooting the same group almost exactly two years later, my camera had an extra zero on the end and I had an array of fast autofocus lenses at my disposal. My results, needless to say, were much better.
I favored my 24-70/2.8 for the most part, with some usage of the 80-200/2.8 for some tighter shots; I actually think I should have used the latter a bit more. Breaking out the 50/1.4 might not have been a bad idea either, but I never did. Because I needed shutter speeds of at least 1/200, preferably much faster, to stop the very fast motion going on onstage, I was mostly locked in at ISO 6400, dropping down to 3200 in the rare moments that the lighting brightened up enough. (Considering ISO 6400 is two full stops more sensitive than my D70 was capable of, it’s not surprising my photos were better this time.)
Not much else to say about this; the challenge was purely about nailing the exposure and getting the timing right. Compositionally I didn’t have too many options; I was seated directly in front of the stage and could not move around during the performance. The nice thing about this position - aside from the obvious perk of being close to the action - was that by shooting slightly up at the performers, any jumps or other airborne moves they made were exaggerated by the angle.
Full set here (170 photos), or if that’s completely overwhelming, here’s a smaller set of highlights (34 photos).