Souricette 1 had her ballet recital on Sunday. I love her dance school’s recitals. They’re short (under an hour!) and all classical ballet. The owner gives very specific instructions for hair and makeup. In fact, makeup is optional. If you choose to do it, just a touch of mascara, pink blush, and pink lipstick or gloss. Dancers may have light pink nail polish. Sure, without stage makeup, the faces are a little lost but the kids still look like kids you know? Last year, they did scenes from Cinderella. This year, they did scenes from The Snow Queen. Souricette 1’s group were magical rivers. Full tutu, sequins galore. Someone was happy!
My pictures aren’t as good as last year. Souricette 1 was generally with a pack of other dancers so I couldn’t get any great shots of her alone. And autofocus kept aiming for another girl… Otherwise, I think I’ve figured out the best settings for these performance pictures. I use my telephoto lens to get as close as possible. I stick to aperture priority and keep it as open as possible (which is just a 5.6 on this lens). And I use my highest ISO, 6400. Such a high ISO usually makes pictures really grainy but the high contrast of the stage setting seems to help. The background fades to black and the dancers are sharp.
In case you didn’t recognize her, mine is in the middle!
Creative mommy at home to two wonderful little girls, trying to juggle family, sewing, exercise, family, knitting, photography, and did I mention family?
Deux souriceaux 
I love reading your comments! I will try to respond to every single one.