Dance is a very interesting subject to photographs. It is dynamic and very natural. But i think it is one of the hardest subject in photography. The main obstacle in dance photography are light condition and it is very fast. A millisecond could make a different. I have been taking dance photography since 2 years ago and shoots around 6-7 concerts. All of them performs by college students with their professors.
Here are some tips that you might finds useful
Don’t let the highlight blown up because if you blow the highlight/overexpose, you will lose it forever.
Many times in the set, the dancers are very well-lit but the background is very dark, this can fool your camera automatic/evaluative metering mode. You can solve this by setting down the exposure compensation to -1 or -2 as desired or set the metering mode to spot metering.
Although using spot metering or center weighted, sometimes you can get under or overexposed pictures too. So my favorite solution is actually using manual mode and adjust the aperture, ISO or shutter speed if the intensity of the light change.
Be familiar with the camera
Dance performances are usually held in dark indoor stage, so you need to be familiar with the camera, especially where the buttons are located. It will be hard to find the buttons in the dark.
Shooting RAW is good, but it could slow you down
Shooting RAW has some benefits such as you get the maximum quality of the picture, you can adjust white/color balance very easily and you can save underexpose or overexpose picture by 1 to 2 stops without degrading image quality significantly.
But shooting RAW also has disadvantages such as it is potentially slow you down. RAW file is huge, and if you do a lot of continuous shooting and you have slow card, it could stop working temporarily while the camera transferring the data. As a result you might lose some great pictures.
RAW photos also need post-editing because a lot of time, it is not enough contrast or too much noise because of the high ISO setting.
To solve this, you need either a very fast and high capacity card, or just shoot JPEG, but make sure that you shoot in correct white balance (WB) and also make sure the exposure is correct at least within 1 stop or less.
Use lens with big maximum aperture and also use fast focusing lens
Lens with big aperture (f/2.8 or lower) is very helpful in dim light, but you don’t have to use the maximum aperture all the time. If the light is bright and/or you need a greater depth of field to cover many dancers in the stage, then you want to set it up to a bigger aperture.
Dancers move very fast, so you also need a lens that focus quickly and lock on object instantaneously. For example, get an USM, AF-S or HSM lens. But also beware that even some lens has those feature, some of them are pretty slow because of the complex lens elements they have. So trying the lens in the store, or doing some research in the internet before buying is recommended.
Use camera with high continuous shooting and low noise in high ISO
Camera with high continuous shooting (5 frames per second or higher) is recommended, so you can capture some of the moments. But this is not everything, your intuition is more important, you need to be able to predict the dance move.
Camera that have low noise in high ISO (800 or more) is also preferable
I personally recommend camera like Canon 40D, 50D, Nikon D90, D300 and full frames camera such as Nikon D700. I am not recommending Canon 5D mark ii because it has slower continuous burst and slower auto focus speed compare to cameras listed above. It does not means 5D is a bad camera, but it is not ideal for this kind of photography.
I personally use Nikon D700 with Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 HSM and Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 HSM.
Check your shutter speed especially when you are in Av mode
If you use semi automatic mode like Aperture priority, don’t forget to check our shutter speed, any speed lower than 1/100 will potentially blur your dance move. Also check your lens focal length. If you shooting at 200mm, then you need to have at least 1/200 to combat shake, except if you have anti-shake mechanism in your camera or lens. In crop sensor camera, you need to multiply it with your camera crop factor. For example, in Canon, the crop factor is 1.6, so 200 x 1.6 = 1/320 minimum shutter speed.
You could also opt to use shutter priority, but depends on the light condition, you might get under exposed pictures. Sometimes, you do want to set slow shutter speed especially if you like to capture motion effects.
In the end, I like to share this quote which i find is very true:
“All dancers are, by and large, a photographer’s dream. They communicate with their bodies and they are trained to be completely responsive to a collaborative situation.” Annie Leibovitz
Happy Shooting!
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Great article – I have shot a couple of indoor bellydance performances with my S3IS and got some shots Im pretty happy with but now I have a 40D Im really looking forward to it.
I might have to hire a lens with suitable aperture for the next one – something like your 24-70 2.8 Sigma sounds good
Thank you! I am doing a dance performance photoshoot tomorrow and I was looking for some tips. Your post is very helpful!
I just bought the Nikon D300S and I have these lenses:
AF Nikkor:
85mm 1.8
50mm 1.8D
28mm 2.8
70-200mm 2.8
18-70mm kit lens (my only wide angle at the moment)
I going to try to shoot with the first two in the list mostly. I will be standing at the corners of the stage. I don’t think I’ll need the 70-200. I am thinking to starting with these settings/lens:
50mm 1.8
ISO 800-1600
Av Mode, play with aperture depending on light and DOF needed
Make sure shutter speed no slower than 1/50
Stop down to -1 or -2 if bright subjects + dark background
Question:
Isn’t 1/50 to slow for dancers? These guys move fast.
Thanks!
Jess
I recommend at least use 1/80 for general dance, for fast dance you might need up to 1/160 or more.
1/50 or slower is great if you want to record motion blur. This could turn into pretty interesting shots if the composition and the moment is right.
Keep in mind that if you use long lens like 70-200mm, you need longer shutter speed especially if you don’t have Image stabilization (VR). You will need 1/125 for 70mm and 1/250 fat 200mm to battle camera shake.
You can also set auto ISO limiter in D300s, I suggest to set around 800 to 3200.
Thank you for your time. Your suggestions are noted, cheers.
Hi, I’m a beginner photographer and going for a few concert photography. Any advice on the aperture and lens type (Canon) ? It’ll be a dance performance, a mixture of slow and fast. Thanks!
Brewks
If budget is a concern, get a prime lens Canon 50mm f/1.4 and use around f/2 – f4. If you still need more light in (in very low light condition, go for f/1.4).
Ideally, I would like to get Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 because it is more flexible.
Hi ,I ‘m a beginner photographer and using Nikon D90 . My son is in high school band . I would suggestion on taking picture at a football game .
I have a canon rebel xs with an 18-55 mm lens and a 75-300mm lens. I am photographing a ballet class inside of a studio. Any tips on how to get the best pictures possible, portrait and action shots? Thanks!
To be frank, you have quite a minimal gear here. It will be hard to get really good pictures. However, I have some tips that might help.
Use a tripod and shoot at 50mm for still portrait, set ISO to 100.
For action shot indoor, you will probably need a better gear for example lens or flash to stop action. With current gear, you might try to raise the ISO to maximum and shoot with Aperture priority mode, set the aperture to the biggest (lower number means bigger).
thanks for the tips, all are subject on familiarization of your camera.
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