Been wanting to do this type of a shoot for years. A dance company finally said they want to do it, and the key was that they'd do it at their studio. I had no idea what the mess would be like, but I wanted no part of it in my studio. The owner's husband covered the entire room with plastic, which I thought was overkill -- but by the end of the shoot, I realized what a brilliant move that was.
Since the setup question will be inevitable, I'll say I shot with two Einsteins largely coming from the side with grids. I had another Einstein with a softbox in the front that was largely for fill light. We had 10 dancers, and they had 12 containers of baby powder purchased at a Dollar store.
8. While one of their friends was doing their, the girls would roll around in the baby powder, slap each other, and rub the powder in each other's face, hair, tights, whatever. They were crazy, and had a blast. http://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8639/28513637096_ae20ffe1bb_b.jpg
These are great. Personally I think the lights are a little harsh but that's subjective. Also, I don't know how much baby powder costs. But you can get huge bags of flour at Costco for around $10. I think they're 50lbs and they last a long time.
May I ask, what's going on in #15? I'm not sure if that hair is going through her arm, or what is going on. Looks like a bad photoshop job but i'm sure that's not it
Max_Pain wrote:
Love the execution. Very interesting.
May I ask, what's going on in #15? I'm not sure if that hair is going through her arm, or what is going on. Looks like a bad photoshop job but i'm sure that's not it
Very little PS at all. That's her hair flipping back up into her armpit. Granted, it does look messed up. Hadn't really looked at it before, so thanks for mentioning.
Adam_A wrote:
These are great. Personally I think the lights are a little harsh but that's subjective. Also, I don't know how much baby powder costs. But you can get huge bags of flour at Costco for around $10. I think they're 50lbs and they last a long time.
Adam
Thanks Adam. It was a bit hard to predict the lighting on each shot. Some, I felt like the lighting was pretty good, and others, as you mentioned, it may have been a bit strong. They probably spent a little more than that ($10) for the 12 containers. Does Costco have them in color? Not sure why I'm asking. No way am I ever hosting something like this at my studio. :-)
My first thought: That looks like it must have been a blast both for you and the girls.
I had a question: Did you use high speed sync? I can only go to about 1/200th of a second with my alien bee B400 strobes and simple triggers (radiopopper nanos). I did shoot a few jumping shots, which worked.
In any case, lots of marvelous shots. I have to agree that #7 (tutu) is great. #10 is also a favorite.
ucphotog wrote:
My first thought: That looks like it must have been a blast both for you and the girls.
I had a question: Did you use high speed sync? I can only go to about 1/200th of a second with my alien bee B400 strobes and simple triggers (radiopopper nanos). I did shoot a few jumping shots, which worked.
In any case, lots of marvelous shots. I have to agree that #7 (tutu) is great. #10 is also a favorite.
Thanks.
Dave
Hi Dave,
When you shoot in a studio setting with settings so there is no ambient light coming into your shot, it's not your shutter speed that matters but rather the flash duration of whatever light source you're using. So while your shutter speed may be 1/200, your AB400 at a lower power might have a flash duration of 1/1000 or whatever, and that's what allows you to freeze your jumping shots. With the Einstein, it can be 1/4000 of a second.
High speed sync comes into play when you're shooting typically in bright daylight and you want to add some flash to the shots. For that, I use my Yongnuo speedlights.
Thanks, guys! I'm actually reworking the tutu shot since I've had so many comments about it.
As for the mess, having all that plastic really helped, but it was everywhere. No way would I do it in my studio. Maybe do it outdoors at an abandoned lot at night.
By the way, I've had a couple comments about my lighting possibly being too hot on some of the shots. That may be the case. But it may also be in part to my post-processing. I actually did very little processing on these, but what I did do, I focused on getting the white powder as close to blown out as possible, and then also getting the blacks as black as they could be, but still keeping an eye on the contrast between the black and white.
bbourizk wrote:
Man that's a huge mess...I've thought to myself I'd like to do one of these shoots...now not so sure.
Regarding the shots I wonder what they would have looked like without the main light in the middle.
The main light was barely a fill. It really didn't affect the shot that much. I just didn't want the harsh shadows that cross-lighting sometimes creates. It just softened the shadows a bit.
How much fun was this? You are so much braver than I am. I think I'd go outside . No matter what others say, I like the lighting a lot. Next time try holi powder.
Another vote for #7. Might consider using a different powder next time. Unfortunately late night TV lawyer ads are soliciting for women with ovarian cancer and prior exposure to talc powder. Not commenting on whether it's an actual risk or not, just mentioning it as one more thing to consider. Other powder dusts may trigger breathing distress etc.
