Great shots! What were you shooting with? You are amazing capturing the clarity of the eagle's eye in photo #2.

Smart bunny, sad you!

Drat you, Brent! You challenged me with a lose-lose! If I saw something, you wouldn't be happy; if I didn't, I wouldn't be happy. You won.

Are you going to put me out of my misery and tell me?

Thanks, Brent! I was experimenting in a clear break after we had something between rain and mist. Heavily overcast day.

All handheld, f5.0 or f5.6, AV
Flowers and Aloe (#1 & 4) = 1/250, ISO400
Web and Silver Torch water beading = 1/60, ISO100

Used Lightroom for clarity and some exposure adjustment on #2 & 3.

Don't tell my pups, but I'm in love with yours. That first portrait is irresistible!

How lovely to have that right outside your window!

Love them both, but #1 is spectacular.

Thank you for sharing what looks like a great day out. I love photos like these of places I may never get to see in person.

I think the catch lights on the lips and left eye are fine, but those on the right eye give the model a startled look. I obscured the left side of the photo and found the resulting "half portrait" very pleasing.

The download is truly spectacular!

Artistic capture so beautifully done!

Thanks so much, Sirius and Corolyn! I do love this new camera.

Thank you, ALL, for your wonderful and supportive replies. I am still stunned by the fact I had this fabulous opportunity and that I was able to capture anything worth viewing. I did some online research beforehand about photographing ballet, otherwise, I really would have been "shooting in the dark."

frjack - I shot them all at ISO 6400, 1/250 using a Canon T4i with EF-S 55-250, f4-5.6 IS II kit lens, handheld. I tried other settings, but this was the only combination that got me usable shots in low light, and only after running them through Lightroom.

A long-time friend, Ballet Master and Artistic Advisor at Menlowe Ballet in Menlo, California, invited me to take photos of the ballet company's dress rehearsal. I thought, "no way!," thanked her for the great honor, but explained I knew nothing about shooting in a darkened theatre, especially with the kind of equipment I had. She repeated her invitation saying she was absolutely serious...no pressure...there would be pro photographers there, so my photos could be whatever...but she had seen my photos on Flickr and thought I should do it, if only for the experience. After I got over my intimidation of the pro photographers' $$$$ equipment (you should have seen their lenses!), I was so happy I did it!

Both ballets depicted here are originals, choreographed by Menlowe Ballet's Artistic Director and founder, Michael Lowe. My husband and I went to the full performance the Sunday after the rehearsals. It was amazing, fabulous, enchanting and totally awesome (in the original meaning of the word).

BTW, in order to share these photos publicly, I had to get the approval of the Artistic Director, the Associate Artistic Director and the Artistic Advisor. Talk about being nervous of a critique!

The first three are from
"Legend of the Seven Suns (And How the Swallow's Tail Came to Be Forked)
World premiere - based on a Mongolian legend

The last two are from another of Michael's original ballets, "Plague"

Water Spirits

(Download)

Swallow

(Download)

Journey to the Mountain

(Download)


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I didn't even notice and that is something I usually do. Tells you how much I like it!