Tangents

photography tutorials, reviews & workshops

tangents photography blog
learn : discuss : share
subscribe today
  • Tangents
  • Tutorials
    • Flash Photography
    • Wedding Photography
    • Studio Photography
    • Posing People
    • Understanding Your Camera
    • Exposure metering
    • BFT
    • Best Photo Books
  • Workshops
    • Info: Workshops
    • In-person
      tutoring sessions
    • Online
      tutoring sessions
    • Video tutorials
    • Workshops in
      New Jersey (NJ)
    • Workshops in
      New York (NYC)
    • Studio Workshop
    • Workshop results
  • Books
    • On-Camera Flash (revised ed.)
    • Direction & Quality of Light
    • Off-Camera Flash Photography
    • Lighting & Design
    • On-Camera Flash (1st ed.)
  • Reviews
    • Nikon
    • Sony
    • Canon
    • Fuji
    • Profoto
    • lighting gear
  • Projects
    • Two Perspectives
    • B&W Infrared
    • Vintage lenses
    • Time-lapse photography
  • Info
    • About
    • Contact
    • My Photo Gear
    • Books by NvN
    • Newsletter
    • Join us on Facebook
    • Acclaim
    • Success Stories
    • Photoshop Actions
  • Forum

Outdoor photo session with a dancer

June 30, 2018 Neil vN 8 Comments

Outdoor photo session with a dancer – Ella

An additional challenge when photographing dancers in movement, is the exact timing. That fleeting pose in mid-air needs to be captured at the exact moment when their feet, hands and the entire body is positioned in ideal way. Some advice about this was given in a previous article on photographing dancers – tips on photographing dancers and ballerinas – but much of it relies on constantly conferring with the dancer, who will know exactly what they want.

Ella is a dancer, with a delightfully confident personality – especially so for someone who is only 12 years old. Ella and her mom were visiting New York for a dance contest, and at the same time, wanted photos of Ella with New York as the setting. The Brooklyn Waterfront immediately came to mind – lots of space to shoot in (which is rare in Manhattan), and there is the magnificent view of the Manhattan Skyline.

To make the most of the photo session, we steadily worked according to a plan I had as we roamed around the Waterfront area. I didn’t want the photo session to feel rushed, but there also had to be a certain efficiency.

In terms of the photography, there were certain techniques that just made sense:

 

Lighting: 

I had to work with Ella’s schedule, so we had a time slot of 9am – 12pm on this semi-cloudy day. With that, the light changed as the clouds slowly moved in and out. To punch up the overcast light, or to help balance the harder sunlight, I relied on my workhorse lighting setup:  Profoto B1 TTL flash  (B&H / Amazon), with a 36″ octabox – the the Westcott Rapid Box 36″ Octabox  (B&H / Amazon). I like how the octabox collapses and sets up quickly. And of course, the Profoto B1 flash has enough juice to give me high-speed flash sync in bright light, while using a softbox. A speedlight just can’t match that.

Of course, I positioned the light in the direction that Ella wanted to do her movement. But I also had to be cognizant of the light when the sun broke through. Lighting is seldom a static decision when working on location.

The camera settings for the photos on the boardwalk ranged around:  1/1250 @ f/3.5 @ 100 ISO, depending on the cloud cover or the sun.

 

Composition: 

For the photos on the dock here, I mostly worked with the 70-200mm lens, at 200mm (or thereabouts), to really compress the perspective. For these long shots, I also lay down on the boardwalk so that I reduced the amount of “floor” in the photo, accentuating more of the background. It is important to note that I mostly shot these by zooming to 200mm, and then step back to find my composition.
–  Nikon D810 with the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II

For the other images shown here, where we used more of the scene to show context, I used a 24-70mm lens.
–  Nikon D5  with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8E VR

 

Posing:

As mentioned at the start of the article, the decision on the movement and posing was up to Ella and her mom. Then I had to concentrate on the timing – not to trip the shot too late or too early. I would pre-focus on a spot, and then lock the focus. The timing is too crucial to wait for the camera to first respond by focusing.

In a sense the posing was a collaboration between Ella and myself, depending on the location and the lighting … and what she needed photographs of, with the actual pose depending on her.

 

 


 

 


 

Camera settings and photo gear used

  • 1/1250 @ f/3.5 @ 100 ISO, depending on the cloud cover or the sun.
  • Nikon D810 with the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II
  • Nikon D5  with the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8E VR
  • Profoto B1 TTL flash  (B&H / Amazon)
  • Westcott Rapid Box 36″ Octabox  (B&H / Amazon)

 

Related articles

  • Tips on photographing dancers and ballerinas  (dancer: Anna L Russell)
  • Outdoor photo session with kids, using off-camera flash
  • Lighting for on-location photo sessions – pick your battles
  • On-location photo session in New York – BTS video  (model: Marco)
  • Checklist for portrait photography on location  (model: Anastasiya)
  • More articles on Off-camera flash

 

 

Filed Under: Dance photography, dancers, off-camera flash, photo shoot, Profoto Tagged With: photo session, photo session New York, photo session with a model, photo session with off-camera flash


 

Help support this website

If you find these articles of value, please help support this website by using these B&H and Amazon affiliate links to order your photo gear.

I also offer photography workshops and tutoring sessions, whether in person, or via online video tutoring sessions.

Stay informed via the monthly newsletter.

Please follow me on Instagram for more.

You can also join our thriving photo community in the Tangents group on Facebook, where we show our photos and discuss all things photography.

Thank you,

Neil vN

Books by Neil van Niekerk


 




8 Comments, Add Your Own

  1. 1Shannon says

    June 30, 2018 at 11:33 pm

    As an ex-dancer it is refreshing to see you taking the time to get the poses correct. I see a lot of dance photos where the pose is clearly taken when the dancer is moving in or out of a particular pose. And while the image could be beautiful , if the pose is not right it makes the whole image a fail. Makes me want to scream! These are beautiful! And so is your subject!

    Reply
  2. 2Michael says

    July 2, 2018 at 9:16 am

    Hi Neil,

    Love your pics and articles.

    Shooting at f3.5 on a 200mm you have little dof.

    Can you please tell me how you arrive at your ideal focussing point for shots like the dancer.

    Reply
  3. 3Neil vN says

    July 2, 2018 at 10:17 am

    To prefocus where she would be for the peak of the movement, I had her step into the spot where she anticipated her peak movement would be. Then I would focus, and lock the focus for that spot. Then she’d step back and do her move.

    Reply
  4. 4Callie Beale says

    July 2, 2018 at 1:15 pm

    Neil- I adore reading your posts… they are filled with beautiful and skillfully created images and I always learn something along the way! Great work per usual!

    Reply
    • 4.1Danielle Watton says

      August 11, 2020 at 4:47 pm

      Hi, how do you get to work with such a fast shutter speed with the flash ?
      I can only get to about 1/320 then black band shows up at the bottom.
      Thank you

      Reply
      • 4.1.1Neil vN says

        August 11, 2020 at 6:15 pm

        Some flash systems allow you to go into High-Speed Flash Sync, which is a mode where you aren’t limited to the camera’s maximum flash sync speed.

        This is entirely dependent on the specific gear you have. Let us know what you are using, and perhaps we can still give you further advice.

        Reply
  5. 5Ivan says

    July 5, 2018 at 10:01 am

    These, along with the in-studio with gel sessions, are superb and lovely. I absolutely love the composition, her beautiful extensions, color, and just the way she looks in all of the pictures. Thanks for sharing this!

    Reply
  6. 6Augie De Blieck Jr. says

    July 8, 2018 at 8:05 pm

    Heh, I just spend some time taking pictures with my dancing daughter this weekend, but I had to work without the extra light. We were in local parks, so we took advantage of sunset-ish times to get the orange light from the side and lots of shadows to keep the lighting even everywhere else. My pro-tip for that: Don’t white balance the orange away. That’s too boring.

    I could have used the external light when we tried something a few hours earlier and it was all not so good. ;-)

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

categories

Articles & Tutorials

  • • About myself & this site
    • Books by Neil vN
    • Best photography books
    • Black foamie thing
    • Spinlight 360
    • Photographers’ success stories
    • email newsletter
  • • Flash Photography Techniques
    • Natural looking flash
    • Flash + Ambient light
    • Dragging the shutter
    • Bouncing your flash
    • On-camera flash outdoors
    • Exposure metering
    • Flash exposure compensation
    • Bounce flash examples
    • Which is the best flashgun?
    • Flash brackets
    • Off-camera flash photography
    • Flash photography basics
    • Using video lights
    • Flash photography tips
    • Photography books
  • • Photography workshops NJ / NYC
    • Models @ photography workshops
tutorials:
flash photography
Photography
Workshops

Recent Comments

  • Pat: Right up front, I’ll say I would NEVER buy a Sigma lens. That out of the way, and referring to these...
  • Stuard Santana: Poor Garret Shaw! he should know better, lol I got another one today with the same exact wording and...
  • Mohd Zamri Mohd Zan: In my country are even worst, most guest asking professional photographer to take their photo...
  • HenkW: Thanks for this review – one of the very few I could find on this most interesting topic. So, the...
  • Rachel Abi: Thank you so much for this guide!! There are some many options and you made this really clear :D

All rights reserved. Copyright © Neil van Niekerk 2023 · Customization by The Traveling Designer

Copyright © 2023 · NvN on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in