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I get hired often to do audition pictures for dancers. When they come to my studio for that, it's always fun because when we're done with the standard (boring, to me, by lighting terms) audition pics, I always invite them to do some artistic shots with dramatic lighting.
This one is Tiffany. First shot is a the standard audition pic. Two lights with medium softboxes at about 45 degrees out from her and pointed inside of her so the light that is hitting her is largely feathered. One light on the black backdrop just to ensure there is separation from her black leo from the back background. I could throw a blur on the black paper backdrop but it matters zero for this sort of thing.
4. I was just playing around with my fog in a can and I don't think it was a tremendous success or anything, but it gave me an idea for a shot I want to do with my next dancer. Just sharing so you can see what I do with it the next time, and where the future image's idea came from. http://c1.staticflickr.com/1/419/32305550685_5a2eb6a144_b.jpg
6. Back against the black flooring and backdrop. You can see the difference the lighting makes (gridded vs softbox) and how dark the backdrop gets with no light on it. To be fair, the gridded lights are perpendicular to her, thus the shadows. http://c1.staticflickr.com/1/399/32306436115_5a677d4441_b.jpg
Very nice! It's nice to see you try new things. #3 and #6 are my favs.
I have a question. I see that in many of the photos, her fingers are splayed. Is that considered good form? Since you are doing this for audition photos, the more knowledgeable you are of the little things, the more you could help them out.
Look at #4 as an example. It may be perfectly acceptable for her fingers to be apart like that, but I know you've made enough friends in the ballet circle that you could get some guidance. On #6, look how much more graceful her left hand looks compared to her right.
dmacmillan wrote:
Very nice! It's nice to see you try new things. #3 and #6 are my favs.
I have a question. I see that in many of the photos, her fingers are splayed. Is that considered good form? Since you are doing this for audition photos, the more knowledgeable you are of the little things, the more you could help them out.
Look at #4 as an example. It may be perfectly acceptable for her fingers to be apart like that, but I know you've made enough friends in the ballet circle that you could get some guidance. On #6, look how much more graceful her left hand looks compared to her right.
I work with a couple dance companies with varying levels of both instruction and talent. This girl is from Ohio but living in Chicago to attend Ballet Chicago, the premier dance school in the city, and one of the best in the country. They get a lot of dancers like that, coming from all over the country and a number of other countries as well.
With the more localized dance schools, I do tend to have to give some direction on the details like that. But in this case, esp with this Ballet Chicago dancer, I don't have to give them any direction. I always show the shots and we look at their fingers, their toes, their hips, the curve of their arms, everything. She did have another dancer here to help her look at the pictures to make sure everything is in place.
But yeah, their fingers are supposed to be like that. Sometimes, depending on what angle I'm shooting, they can look weird.
Familiarity wrote:
Thanks for sharing, Ron. Inspirational!
Fav is #4, beautiful color on the cloth, textures on the background and floor--and the *timing of the shot*!
Thanks! With the fabric shot, I got a couple shots with the fabric floating above her but I wanted one as it came down on her, so I asked her to hold it even as the fabric came down on her -- and this is the shot we got. Really happy with it.
I thought #1 was quite good. I think I like #5 the best, but #1 is probably my second favorite. Perhaps because it shows off the athleticism of the dancer so well.
As to #5, I tried to use a loose cloth like you did in that shot and ... let's just say that I learned several ways not to do flowing cloths. :-/ It worked quite well in that shot for you.
ucphotog wrote:
I thought #1 was quite good. I think I like #5 the best, but #1 is probably my second favorite. Perhaps because it shows off the athleticism of the dancer so well.
As to #5, I tried to use a loose cloth like you did in that shot and ... let's just say that I learned several ways not to do flowing cloths. :-/ It worked quite well in that shot for you.
Thanks for sharing.
Dave
Thanks, Dave. I do like the athleticism shots as well. As for the silk, normally I like to have two other people throwing it but this time I only had one, but I was able to put her up on a ladder, so that helped. It is definitely challenging working with material like that!
