Camera and flash settings : high-speed flash sync & off-camera lighting
I recently had the pleasure of photographing a remarkable young dancer from Slovakia, Sara Sobolova, who was visiting New York on a 2-week long training event for ballet dancers. Her mom arranged for a photo session in New York since this is her first time here, and because, let's face it, New York is a big deal! This is one of my favorite images from the sequences we shot in various spots in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Below is the pullback shot to show the lighting -- a Profoto B10X flash Read more inside...
While photographing dancer, Anna Russell, in this side-street in New York, I noticed those splashes of light against the wall. These little pools of light were from sunlight reflecting off nearby windows. I wanted to see if we could have Anna hit one of those in mid-air. What also helped was the general direction of light in this area - it mostly came from the main road to the left of the frame, since we were shooting in a narrow street with tall buildings.
The main splash of light on her was sunlight reflecting off this window of a building Read more inside...
Following on the article showing the Outdoor photo session with a dancer, Ella - here is a studio photo session with another dancer - Grace. For this particular sequence, I decided on using gels to add a splash of color to the images. Grace is impressively elegant, with powerful movements when she jumped.
As far as the poses and movements were concerned, I again let myself be guided by the expert here - the dancer herself. Similar to how I described the collaborations with Ella (previous linked article), and with Anna Russel, and Read more inside...
Photographing a talented dancer / model, Anna L Russel (Instagram), in the studio, I wanted to think further than just sequences. Recently I have moved more to thinking in terms of larger projects or longer-term projects, even if just over a single photo session. I liked the results from the first few jumps Anna did - explosive movements within which she momentally holds a pose before landing again. I don't know much about dance movements or what would be the perfect execution of a dance move ... which would then affect my timing Read more inside...
