Dance photography

kelack

kelack

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Kelly
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Mainly ballet

Has anyone done this type of photography on here? I was going to approach a couple of dance schools in my area and ask if I could try some photos.

Any tips?
 
Not ballet but I've done partner dance events - modern jive, lindy/swing, ballroom & Argentine tango. A lot depends on the venue, lighting conditions etc. At a venue with flashing lights & no overhead lighting I bounce flash. At a tango festival the walls & ceiling were black & direct flash I felt was intrusive to the dancers so I shot at f/2.8 and higher ISO. At dance workshops where overhead lights are on and some light from windows if daytime, again I don't use flash.

If it's a style of dance you don't know then it's good to spend some time watching to learn to recognise the classic shapes for that style & to know the pattern of movement that leads to those shapes so you can anticipate them & be ready to get the shot.
 
I like B&W (i always like B&W :)) being back-lit by windows so you only have silhouettes.
 
ShoeQueen said:
Not ballet but I've done partner dance events - modern jive, lindy/swing, ballroom & Argentine tango. A lot depends on the venue, lighting conditions etc. At a venue with flashing lights & no overhead lighting I bounce flash. At a tango festival the walls & ceiling were black & direct flash I felt was intrusive to the dancers so I shot at f/2.8 and higher ISO. At dance workshops where overhead lights are on and some light from windows if daytime, again I don't use flash.

If it's a style of dance you don't know then it's good to spend some time watching to learn to recognise the classic shapes for that style & to know the pattern of movement that leads to those shapes so you can anticipate them & be ready to get the shot.
Click to expand...

Thanks Lynn, it was more the studio/workshop setting type of photographs that I wanted.

rjbell said:
I like B&W (i always like B&W :)) being back-lit by windows so you only have silhouettes.
Click to expand...

I do too Robert, but I'm not great at those sort of photos so I need to learn to walk before I run

Thank you both for your replies, I didn't use the search function as I should have done, purely because I was on my phone so it's not always easy for me
 
Wow Matt. Thanks for that link. That's exactly the type of photograph I want to eventually achieve. Shame he's so far away from me
 
he's good I think.
his style, as far as I can see, it honeycomb strobes typically.
he has softboxes but seems to hate them as venture-style photography or very basic photography. he has his style and it seems to work very well for him
 
I like his cycling and running too. I will have a proper look when I get to a laptop. On the phone doesn't seem to do it justice.

I wonder if there's any courses down here
 
rjbell said:
I like B&W (i always like B&W :)) being back-lit by windows so you only have silhouettes.
Click to expand...
I'd love to try that. Any time I've been shooting dancing its been events so I have no control over where the dancers go and I can't direct them at all. But I'd love to use a dance studio with big windows and only one couple and see what I could get.

I did quite like the light in this one but that was a fluke and only because it was the start of the night and not so many couples on the floor. Unfortunately its a bit noisy too.


I did all the images of the social dancing part (milonga) at that event in B&W as the spotlights above were all different colours. (For the performances they put some white ones on as well which helped.)

I'm usually standing at the edge of a crowded dance floor trying to catch poses and moments between couples when there are up to 60 people all up on the floor at once. I love shooting dancing though!
 
kelack said:
Mainly ballet

Has anyone done this type of photography on here? I was going to approach a couple of dance schools in my area and ask if I could try some photos.

Any tips?
Click to expand...

Ive always wanted to do this and actually approached a couple of dance schools that agreed they would use me but they never followed through - makes me think I should ask again!

Good luck :)
 
Funnily enough, I've just posted a plea for contacts on facebook and got several replies from a couple of mates straight away so I'm going to get on it on Monday.

I live in a country park. Well, ok not in but next to. And I had an idea to shoot a ballerina in amongst the trees. Whether I can pull it off, I don't know lol
 
kelack said:
Funnily enough, I've just posted a plea for contacts on facebook and got several replies from a couple of mates straight away so I'm going to get on it on Monday.

I live in a country park. Well, ok not in but next to. And I had an idea to shoot a ballerina in amongst the trees. Whether I can pull it off, I don't know lol
Click to expand...

Ive taken photos of a ballet dancer at her home and outside too and loved the experience, would love to take more if the weather ever improves ;)
 
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