Dance school portrait help??

WingsOfLovePhoto

Hey Dgrinners! Been missing you guys! Haven't had a moment to post, just opened a retail studio this month and have been working hard to make that lease payment! Get occasional few minutes to peruse here and see how everybody's work is progressing... you are all doing great! Anyhow....my challenge of the week is... to somehow photograph 150 dancers individually and in their group during a recital dress rehersal... Is that even possible :dunno should be interesting.... the plan is white seamless, bright lit white background(2 background bees), white tile board on the floor for some reflection.... any suggestions of what to do with the main light(3x4 sofbox)? would it make more sense to put it above and behind me or do what I usually do which is 45degree camera left or right with a rigid reflector on the opposite side or was thinking of trying to get a 52"starfish for above and behind? I want the floor to get some light to bring down the shadow.... as you can see in my example below... (not getting enough light) Help?? Anybody ever shoot a dance school before?

kidzmom

Don't have any advice..just a CUTE shot you have here! Love it!

ARKreations

I haven't done an entire studio like that, but I have seen the setup that my daughter's studio uses. They generally have 2 setups - one for 1-3 people and another for groups. The smaller setup uses the single, higher, centered light (usually reflected umbrella). While the larger group setup uses two reflected umbrellas at 45 degrees left/right. Sadly, they generally are only average quality photos that result from assembly line shooting - much like many school pics.

Caspian

I can't help with the lighting questions. I shot a recital "live" last year and had trouble shooting in near darkness. The pictures turned out OK: http://davidmcpherson.smugmug.com/Cincy-Dance/Cincy-Dance. I do something similar for our high school marching band. I take group pictures of each section and I take head shots of the seniors. I have found that it works best to set up a standard pose for the groups so they know what to expect. I also let them come up with their own "goofy" pose. I take them at the end of two weeks of band camp, so the kids know each other pretty well and have fun coming up with their poses. This is the set I did last year: http://davidmcpherson.smugmug.com/Madeira-Marching-Band/Marching-Band-09-10/Sectionals-2009.

Please let us know what you decide on the lighting and post some samples along with what you learned.

Thanks,
David

D'Buggs

I think you've answered your own question..... IMO, If you want reflected light coming up from the floor, you need light from above. A 3x4 softy up high and feathered down, should do the trick. This way the subject will be exposed w/ the spill of the box and the floor will get the heat of the light, thus bouncing back up and filling in some of those shadows (as per your example).

If that's wat ya want

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> I see nothing 'bad' with your example; I like a little contrast in high key. The only nit I have is that some of the leaves seem to be hot....

WingsOfLovePhoto

Thanks all, I will try to post when they are done! Just guess I am going to wing it! Hard to screw up pictures of cutely dressed and made up little girls!

WingsOfLovePhoto

Since you asked..... here are a few examples of the pictures taken at this shoot! Ended up setting up in a closet with 4 ft white seamless ( the friend who brought it told me it was much wider) so it took alot of post processing but I think all and all they came out ok under the circumstances! C/C always welcome....

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D'Buggs

Soooo, how did you end up, lighting them up?

Fine L00kin' shots, BTW - LUV #1.

ARKreations

Nicely done - certainly much better than anything I ever got offered through my daughter's studio. The variety of playful poses brings out the dancer personality and minimizes the typical assembly line photo environment.

I too am interested in your lighting setup - please do share!

WingsOfLovePhoto

Thanks for the compliments! I had a lot of fun! So the set up... White seamless (but will bring full width and length white with stands next time) 2 small pieces of tile board on the floor over top the background for some reflection. 2 background lights blasting the background metered to F11. a 3x4 softbox vertical and high slight camera right metered at f8. all shot with 85mm lens with girls about 5 feet in front of the background. In post I used lens correction to bring down the floor shadows and lighten the fall off on the corners. That's pretty much it! Thanks again!

jposada01

WingsOfLovePhoto wrote: »

Hey Dgrinners! Been missing you guys! Haven't had a moment to post, just opened a retail studio this month and have been working hard to make that lease payment! Get occasional few minutes to peruse here and see how everybody's work is progressing... you are all doing great! Anyhow....my challenge of the week is... to somehow photograph 150 dancers individually and in their group during a recital dress rehersal... Is that even possible should be interesting.... the plan is white seamless, bright lit white background(2 background bees), white tile board on the floor for some reflection.... any suggestions of what to do with the main light(3x4 sofbox)? would it make more sense to put it above and behind me or do what I usually do which is 45degree camera left or right with a rigid reflector on the opposite side or was thinking of trying to get a 52"starfish for above and behind? I want the floor to get some light to bring down the shadow.... as you can see in my example below... (not getting enough light) Help?? Anybody ever shoot a dance school before?

I shoot with 3 studio lights. One right over my head and 1 each on the left and right corner to eliminate the shadow on the background.

Mitchell

jposada01 wrote: »

I shoot with 3 studio lights. One right over my head and 1 each on the left and right corner to eliminate the shadow on the background.

Zombie thread.

I'm curious, jposada01, how did you come across this post from over 6 years ago and what possessed you to add a (reasonable) response?

I take it you don't see any of the photos from all the OP original posts.

kdog

Mitchell wrote: »

I'm curious, jposada01, how did you come across this post from over 6 years ago and what possessed you to add a (reasonable) response?

The OP is a dance school photographer and undoubtedly googled the topic and revived three old threads without noticing the dates.

reyvee61

Interesting to say the least and without any pics visible.

Mitchell

kdog wrote: »

The OP is a dance school photographer and undoubtedly googled the topic and revived three old threads without noticing the dates.

True, but doesn't it seem a bit odd to make a comment on a post without being able to see the original photos?