These are a few shots of dancers from the latest competition I provided sound for.
I tried to incorporate suggestions made on the last set by varying some of the angles and isolating the members of teams using a more shallow aperture.
Also was a little more aggressive in the PP this time than last, but not sure if I am 'there' yet.
Some jumps and such are in the 'K-5 for sports' thread or you can see the whole set here: Troy Red Hot Dance Challenge 2013 Photos by crewl1 | Photobucket

[MSL]

Since it seems like you are looking for feedback, here goes.
1st image - I'd crop to be portrait orientation to focus on the dancer that is in focus and to get rid of the blown highlights on the right
2nd image - If you could have taken it two - three paces further left, it might have been a brilliant image. You did well to capture the action but there is too much distraction on the right.
3rd - very nice -too bad about the dancer on the left being out of the action
4th - nice capture of the intensity on their faces. All the others are good images and I don't have much else to add.

[Bob Harris]

Larry, I think these are all great and changing the aperture settings really made a difference from the last series. I like them all, great job, fun to view.

[crewl1]

Since it seems like you are looking for feedback, here goes.
1st image - I'd crop to be portrait orientation to focus on the dancer that is in focus and to get rid of the blown highlights on the right
2nd image - If you could have taken it two - three paces further left, it might have been a brilliant image. You did well to capture the action but there is too much distraction on the right.
3rd - very nice -too bad about the dancer on the left being out of the action
4th - nice capture of the intensity on their faces. All the others are good images and I don't have much else to add.

Thanks MSL I definitely welcome tips and suggestions as I am very new to all this. I always learn from hearing from those with more experience and different perspective.

[crewl1]

Larry, I think these are all great and changing the aperture settings really made a difference from the last series. I like them all, great job, fun to view.

Thanks much Bob

[MSL]

Thanks MSL I definitely welcome tips and suggestions as I am very new to all this. I always learn from hearing from those with more experience and different perspective.

My pleasure. I'm not sure how much time you put into post processing, but one thing you should perhaps think about a bit more is cropping. I already threw out 1 idea about the first image, but let me pick on a simpler one. The 7th image where you have the line of dancers in white - there are two composition problems. One is the background on the right where there are people milling about, which could have perhaps been solved by shooting from a different position, and the other is the garbage can on the left. Ideally it should have been removed, but as this is the image you have to work with, I would suggest you try cropping out as much as you can, without drastically changing the aspect ratio.

I also think your focus is off - to my eye it is the back wall that is in focus. I only spotted this when I went to look at the aperture you used, as this would have been a good case to try to shoot wide open. But for that to work you need to nail the focus spot on the girls and be on a parallel line to them.

[crewl1]

My pleasure. I'm not sure how much time you put into post processing, but one thing you should perhaps think about a bit more is cropping. I already threw out 1 idea about the first image, but let me pick on a simpler one. The 7th image where you have the line of dancers in white - there are two composition problems. One is the background on the right where there are people milling about, which could have perhaps been solved by shooting from a different position, and the other is the garbage can on the left. Ideally it should have been removed, but as this is the image you have to work with, I would suggest you try cropping out as much as you can, without drastically changing the aspect ratio.

I also think your focus is off - to my eye it is the back wall that is in focus. I only spotted this when I went to look at the aperture you used, as this would have been a good case to try to shoot wide open. But for that to work you need to nail the focus spot on the girls and be on a parallel line to them.

Thanks for the tips. I do try to stick to the out of camera aspect ratio but as in that group shot it does not always work. I'm a bit afraid to use non standard crops because I am unfamiliar with them but I also did not like the trash can and the guy drinking the soda in the back.
That shot in particular was rushed and unplanned as there was a break in the action and I saw them waiting to go on so I asked them to get together for a shot. i didnt notice the can or the background until I uploaded at home. I definitely need to become more aware of the entire frame vs just my central subject.I hope I learn to do that as time goes on.

For that shot I had just switched to a Tamron 28-75 and didn't realize it was back focusing on me until a few shots later when I was reviewing. I have been using it on another body where it needs no adjustment
Good catch.
I'm hoping with time my ability to anticipate and adapt quickly will improve.

[MSL]

That shot in particular was rushed and unplanned as there was a break in the action and I saw them waiting to go on so I asked them to get together for a shot. i didnt notice the can or the background until I uploaded at home. I definitely need to become more aware of the entire frame vs just my central subject.I hope I learn to do that as time goes on.

I assumed as much. While I don't think you need to spend hours working on the cropping before you upload the pictures, for an image like this one or the first one, if you did want to use it further it will be worth spending the time trying to crop out the worst elements. I'm not sure the lens was back focusing as much as the focus spot picked up the area just to the right or left of the center girl's head. Unfortunate though, and one of the things you need to learn about and too often the hard way. By default I often shoot in bursts of 3 images (either to bracket or just to take quick pictures) in the hopes of getting one where the focusing and the smiles correspond.

[kenafein]

These are a few shots of dancers from the latest competition I provided sound for.
I tried to incorporate suggestions made on the last set by varying some of the angles and isolating the members of teams using a more shallow aperture.
Also was a little more aggressive in the PP this time than last, but not sure if I am 'there' yet.
Some jumps and such are in the 'K-5 for sports' thread or you can see the whole set here: Troy Red Hot Dance Challenge 2013 Photos by crewl1 | Photobucket

You took a picture of a man Larry? That's just not your style. These are all quite nice by the way. It's good to see you branching out into both sexes .

[crewl1]

You took a picture of a man Larry? That's just not your style. These are all quite nice by the way. It's good to see you branching out into both sexes .

I don't know what i was thinking

[crewl1]

Here are some updated crops based on MSL's suggestions, they are heaps better in my opinion.
The girl on the floor unfortunately had her foot blocked by another dancer but removing the clutter on the right def helps.
Using a 8x10 crop format the group shot helps remove some of the distractions.
The portrait crop on the first shot is way more attractive.
Thanks MSL! This was a good learning experience.

[MSL]

The first and third of the revised images now look really good - especially the dancer in green. Glad you took the time to experiment.