When I officially “became a photographer”, dance performance was one of my first serious subjects. It is still one of my favorite things to shoot. When I’m not under the added pressure of volume shooting, dance photography is an extremely satisfying (and intrinsically artistic) creative endeavor.

It’s rough to shoot. The lighting is significantly challenging and almost always beyond your control. Dancers move quickly and in all directions and dimensions. This makes them far harder to focus on and place within your desired composition than most subjects (like sports photography). Optimal exposures often require shutter speeds at less than 1/focal length, so bring some long-lens technique.

A good knowledge of dance form and anatomy is practically required. I have a great advantage on this front, however. My wife is a physical therapist and a keen anatomical observer. She knows when a dancer is not on form and identify the exact physical deficit and/or improper technique as the root cause. My kids dance so I get to understand correct form first-hand. Then within forms, different styles of dance have different proper executions. A bent leg kick in one style is good, in another bad bad bad. Correct technique for subtle hand positioning is very different between ballet, lyrical and jazz dancing. Keeping track takes some study. Thankfully, I can absorb this knowledge from my immediate family.

A healthy appreciation for music is vital. Understanding the music is key to understanding a well-imagined dance. Once again, I have some advantage here. As a failed rock star (I rapped even, seriously. Stop laughing.), I have some musical ability and an ear for grooves. To get a “front row seat” for the choreography, find the groove where your dancer dances.

And timing is everything.

As I learned to shoot in this environment, I’ve tried to catalog what works for me and what doesn’t. I knew I was improving when was I able to observe and identify what made an image better than the one that came before.

So this is what I know so far.

Exposure

Your typical dance performance venue (performing arts center, high school auditorium, convention center) is dark. Really dark. ISO 1600 is the norm.

I will usually spot meter my subject and set my exposure against that. As a general rule with digital, I like to over-expose slightly. I shoot raw (except for real high volume events) and my camera files have plenty of headroom for highlights. Then I like to pull the exposure down in processing, and this gives me blacker blacks and less noise in the image.

For white balance, I try to find a Kelvin temperature that works for the stage lighting. This is usually between 3000K and 3500K. At events under widely varying lighting conditions, I just autowb.

The scene may be at the bounds of under-exposure, but getting good shutter speeds is vital. I want to get as much I can, up to 1/600. In practice, I don’t think I’d ever go over 1/400 if I get a better iso first (drop from 1600 to 800 for example). If there is room above that, then stopping down the aperture is more beneficial to the exposure. 1/200 is minimum shutter speed for stopping most dance movement, fast hands and feet will blur. 1/250 is more acceptable, though extremities may still blur slightly. 1/400 will stop most dancing movement cleanly.

Good exposure puts us on the hard and expensive end of apertures as well. f/2.8 is acceptable, as the DOF at typical distances exceeds the dancer’s physical depth. f/4 is more comfortable for focus, but I do like shooting fullframe with wide-open lenses. If a larger numbers of dancers (anything more than one!) will need to be in sharp focus, f/5.6 will likely be required. f/2 and lower will yield good results, but require increased focus precision of course – something my 5D doesn’t particularly excel at.

I like to process the images in various ways, with a good number being converted to b/w (lately I’ve added some toned b/w). Split-toning adds a nice dimension or mood to many images. I tend to shoot somewhat crooked, so I straighten most images. I may crop to different shapes on occasion, but I usually keep to my camera’s native 2×3. When I deviate, it’s usually to 16×9, 1×1 or 8×10.

[Text beyond this point is just in note form]

Focus

selecting focus points

head vs torso

Expression

A dance will usually be dominated by a particular attitude. Confident, Melancholy, Devastated, these are all possible expressions. I try to find a way to emphasize whatever is being expressed.

Composition

leave room for hands and feet. A beautiful shot with half the foot missing is still a beautiful shot, but half the foot is missing!

relationship between the visual elements of photographic composition and the physical movements of the dancer.

Horizon

I tend to shoot crooked, I don’t fight it too much. Most of the time, I end up straightening the stage-curtain horizon. Many times though, the tilt has to stay, the movement I was following is related to that angle. Many times I’m shooting from an off-center position, this mucks with the whole thing.

But when the shot needs to be straight – it needs to be straight.

Timing

I had a photographer make this comment on the image below. “1/100-second before or after, and the framing of the hair on the open mouth and everything else would not have been so perfect.”

Timing is a major part of this battle. The most dramatic moments occur for fractions of seconds. When I watch dances that I’ve photographed previously, I’m often amazed – I’ll see a shot go by that I know I’ve shot before (possibly more than once) and that one moment is so fleeting, barely occurring. It’s a totally different thing watching it through the lense.

This image I would single out for timing as well, and it’s all about the dancer’s place in space. Her toes are rolled under and it appears she’s holding there – without any pparent duress. This image is an instant during a move where the dancer is lifting themselves off the ground, she’s actually traveling upwards. That’s good drama right there.

Cropped Dancers

Usually, you want to see the whole dancer – the whole body is involved, it’s a shame to to cut a dancer off at the waist right? Sometimes you just gotta mix it up though, and if a close position allows for three-quarter or head shots, I’m going to try and get some.

key move are jumps, full extensions

intermediate moves are the ones between key moves

forms are the textbook execution of a move, with the “move” being the dancer’s execution of said form.

key moves have an apex, most extension that makes a shape

a key move is visual expression of a dance composition, a shape, like a key frame in an animation.

watch for shapes *between* key moves

or the release shortly after a key extension move
keep extremities in the box, usually

leave room in the box for the dancer

abstract forms

Shooting Position

center vs offset

background/backdrop

height vs dancer

angle and tilting horizon

Critical Elements Beyond Your Control

Uneven lighting

The dancer’s execution

The dancer’s expression

Timing

Must listen to and understand the music

Must understand the anatomy of dance to identify good and poor form

Be familiar with forms to know when a key move is coming. I call this telegraphing. This is easier on less-skilled dancers as their transitions from one move to the next are not as refined. While this makes it harder to anticipate upcoming moves in an unknown routine, this does not make better dancers more difficult to shoot of course, as their moves are more often well-executed.
Music rhythm
Dance moves

getting apex of movement

Capturing Emotion

Lenses and Equipment

70-200/2.8, 135/2
iso noise

Strategy

Groups

Solos

Solo shots of dancers in groups is where it’s at. Solos are good, but purchasing image audience (customer base) is the smallest. Groups have bigger reach, but they want shots of their dancer isolated.

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