For me, the highlight of the Dia de los Muertos Parade is the dancing with the elaborate costumes. While I shot the other non-dancing scenes, I worked hard to get a few high-quality keepers with peak action, expression, and image quality. I upgraded to the Sony A7C II in September. Coupled with the Sigma 85mm f1.4, I had a new tool in my picture-taking arsenal.

Numerous improvements to the A7C II made it a lovely package—a more significant upgrade than expected. The relevant headline feature for this event is the more capable AI-based people focusing.

Beyond capturing the peak action, I also wanted to blur out the background as much as possible, hence the large aperture 85mm f1.4. Unfortunately, with the 1/4000 second shutter speed limitation, some pictures, like the one above, were shot at a slightly larger aperture. These four pictures range from f1.4 to f2.

Freezing fast-action is terrific, but it makes it hard to represent movement. This picture looks almost like a portrait, but the dancer was moving quickly. The 1/4000-second shutter doesn’t make her look like she’s dancing. However, I liked her expression and the composition.

A flowing dress, like the first photo, shows a sense of motion, a technique I couldn’t use in this image.

Even in this still photograph, a big expression and outstretched arms give a sense of movement.

Finally, I like this off-centered framing and her looking outside the frame. It provides a good environmental context with a soft, out-of-focus background.

It is difficult to capture the peak moment with a great expression. I shot a lot of frames but only found a few that I really liked. I am being pickier than before, doing my best to capture the best possible image. I’m aiming for quality instead of quantity, which wasn’t always the case.

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