My daughter has been dancing since she was a toddler (she's graduating high school this year as the captain of a nationally ranked dance team). Six or seven years ago I became fed up with the prices that were being charged by dance photographers that would setup a sky blue backdrop, drag in a plastic Grecian column or a vase full of plastic flowers, plant the kid in the middle with a fake smile on their face and blast them with a single flash in an umbrella.
I convinced her dance school to let me try it for a year and I've been doing it ever since.
The school and the parents loved the look.
It's assembly line shooting for sure, never more than 2 or 3 minutes for a shot. Due to the time constraints and margins (I know how expensive a year of dance can be so my retail costs are kept low) extensive photoshop or lightroom tweaks are out of the question.
All of these were done with a gridded soft box or a gridded beauty dish as the main.
Thoughts?
Images are all wonderful. You're lighting is really well done.
My only nit is, all but the first image have a straight solemn look on their faces. These kids, especially the last, are way too young (IMHO) to be exuding this type of look in their photos. They all look like dance is drudgery, and they're only posing for the image because they have to.
Don't get me wrong, your images are excellent, but there's nothing wrong with a few forced smiles injected into the mix either.
Lovely images. A truly beneficial undertaking I am sure the dancers and their families appreciate. My only quibble is with the vignette in #1 and #2. I would like to see the lower part of the pink dress closer to the lighting of the top half and the same for the off white dress in the second. More like #4 and #5. Images that will be treasured for many years to come.
Your story is pretty similar to my own. I started portraiture as a result of my daughter's dance studio participation. Shooting competitions led to portraiture like these. I completely identify with the time constraints we operate under. So I know exactly how this works. I have two suggestions for you. First, these are lovely, well posed, the dancers are well lit, and well exposed. Processing is good. If I were you, I'd try these without the grid on the soft box or beauty dish, or if you're adding a vignette, back off that a bit. I'd give them some breathing room. Second, if you haven't tried it, I might suggest working on grey seamless paper, rather than a muslin. Seamless, when lit well, puts the entire focus on your dancers, rather than competing with them for attention. Regardless, these are very nice.
I'm curious. You say you only have two or three minutes with your dancers. Within that window, how many looks or poses do you try to give them? My standard schedule gives me five minutes, within which I try to get at least three different poses that I offer.
Thanks for all of your input, it really is appreciated.
To all that mentioned the fall off, I've struggled with that. One day I love it, the next I think it's too dark at the edge. I've never had a complaint but now that other folks that understand the craft have said it's too dark I'll have to look into changing my setup. The vignette is all real light fall off so unless I plan to spend the rest of my life in Lightroom with an adjustment brush I'll have to fix my lighting.
Film_4ever, the not smiling is a funny thing. It's saved for my older girls ballet classes. All of the other classes (tap, jazz, hip-hop, young ballet, etc.) smile.It's like a rite of passage at this studio to do a serious picture. Each year the in-between age classes will ask if they can do a "serious face" this year. Plus, most (if not all) girls are in several classes so they'll have 2 or 3 smiling and one serious look.
Steve, I've suggested seamless and shown them samples of my work on seamless but the teachers like the mottled muslin. Honestly I as big as this school has grown I don't think I could take a group shot of 14 girls on a 9ft backdrop. I'm currently using a 20x20 muslin for everything and I don't think they have room for 2 setups.
And, not to sound defensive (although it might) remember this is a 3 minute shoot with a package (1 8x10, 2 5x7, 8 wallets, and a 5x7 group picture) selling for $30
Steve Wylie wrote:
I'm curious. You say you only have two or three minutes with your dancers. Within that window, how many looks or poses do you try to give them? My standard schedule gives me five minutes, within which I try to get at least three different poses that I offer.
Sorry, our posts overlapped.
Scheduling is entirely up to the school (I only shoot one right now).
How do you handle prints? Do you provide proofs and allow the parents to pick or do you decide which pose to deliver?
How do you handle prints? Do you provide proofs and allow the parents to pick or do you decide which pose to deliver?
Detailed PM sent. But in case anyone else is interested, I cycle CF cards to the lobby of the dance studio, where parents can review on a couple of laptops and select the photos they want. They place orders right there. I then clean them up at home and send the finished files to my lab, and prints are delivered back to the customers at the studio.
By the way, you can get several different looks out of just about any static pose, simply by moving the head, looking at different places, moving arms slightly, and changing the shooting angle. When shooting jumps and leaps, it becomes more complex, unless the dancer is really good.
Re: smiling versus not. It's easy to get two quick hits with the same pose, by simply saying "smile" and "no smile". But more frequently, if the dancer is more than five years old, I'll also ask them to give me "the stink eye". If I get a good stink eye, it sells like hotcakes. If I don't, the next image is almost always a more natural smile. Either way, it makes the shoot a bit more fun, and you'd be surprised how many cool shots come from it.
Your pictures look great. I want to know how you light large groups to avoid multiple shadows all over the background. I do dance pictures, too, and their are always hurdles when photographing large numbers of dancers in a short time. I think every parent would love your photos.
Dave 1234 wrote:
Your pictures look great. I want to know how you light large groups to avoid multiple shadows all over the background. I do dance pictures, too, and their are always hurdles when photographing large numbers of dancers in a short time. I think every parent would love your photos.
I just use 2 42" shoot through umbrellas placed behind my shooting position and off to either side, Probably 45 degrees apart . I set them up and leave them for the day so I never have to reset. I just change flash triggers to the brand (cheap ebay trigger) that I have setup on the group picture lights. My main photo lights use the Cyber Sync /Cyber Commander.
They groups in the following shots aren't more than 3 feet from the backdrop.
I'll look for a setup shot that I think I have on my phone.
Good strategy here. Two points to add: having two sources spread apart is a plus, as each light reduces (not eliminates) the shadow of the other. And getting the lights as high as possible casts the shadow down and behind the subjects, rather than immediately next to them. That's particularly helpful when you don't have enough room to get the groups farther away from the backdrop, as is often the case in situations like this.
The group pictures are beautiful. I have more questions. You mentioned two lights for groups, set 45 degrees apart and positioned for the whole shoot. Do you use those lights only for groups, and are your other lights used at the same time for group pictures? How many other lights do you use? A description of your light setup would be very helpful.
Here's a shot I took of my setup this year. The two umbrellas are only used for the group shots.
Individual shots are done with various combinations of the other lights/modifiers in the picture and a large strip box that isn't visible here.
I move the stands holding the softboxes out of the way when doing the group shots. I mark their positions with a piece of gaffers tape on the floor so I can return them to their positions. That avoids the need to meter every time I move the lights.
I kind of like the light fall off, but then, I usually can't resist adding a vignette to my portraits, if it wasn't there in the first place. The brightest part of shot is on what's most important. Even if the light falls off on the dresses, the faces are well lit, and that is what matters, at least to me. I would have made similar decisions, if I had been in your position.
