Dance photos: studio shots

Dynamite Girls. "Itch" Creative shot!

This past May I was asked to photograph some lindy hop and charleston dance teams. The style of dance was incredibly different from my Ballet and Contemporary shots (naturally!) but the whole "formal team photo" added a layer of difficulty and an expectation for a certain look and process that was also new to me.

Jam Crew.

I found it much more difficult to shoot entire groups of dancers, than I did working one on one. That's to be expected. I also felt more restrained by a schedule and client wishes than I did while working on my own dance photos. Again, this is pretty obvious. However, I'll say that I found that the technical aspect, the expectations and the post-processing (foreseeing it) often got in the way of great photo opportunities...

The Coaches formal photo. The lighting and faces are great here!

I found that I was often overly concerned (or not enough) with even and correct lighting. I was stuck with a background that was sufficiently large to accommodate the entire team at a time, which promised lots of post-processing. In turn, I directed models with this in mind, and I'm sure this restricted the more creative poses we could have explored. Then, there is the client's expectations. It is great when team coaches give you clear direction and help coordinate their group while in front of your lens. What complicates things is that there is a technical aspect that they don't quite grasp and a very clear picture in their head of what they want. This means that their requests sometimes contradict themselves; they want something "perfect" but allow you only 5 minutes to achieve it, or they want a specific action pose but not all of the subjects will then be visible, much less adequately showcased. A balancing act for sure.

Move from the famous "Big Apple"

Although I was working with a rough shot list, many people were running late or down right unprepared, which added stress on me as I was well aware of the schedule... did I mention these teams were performing in less than two hours from the moment we started the photo shoot? Yeah. And I had the bright idea of adding an hour as "buffer" but never thought to specify that this may be "too" tight a schedule for a performance day.

The "Fly"

In terms of lighting, it's important to be aware but you should generally do all your tests before hand and only adjust as needed. I set my lighting ahead, but I didn't pay as close attention to subtle lighting and shadows on certain subjects, which meant that many of my shots were rendered useless. In any case but without obsessing, make sure the faces are ALL properly lit (unless it's an artistic decision); that's what people care about most! There is a thing we call "visual weight" and human subjects have more weight than objects and faces, have the most weight.

The "Frankie"

As for expectations; a meeting with your client and a sharing of inspiring images may facilitate the communication and help break unrealistic expectation on either side. This sometimes happens because the client has a precise image in mind (kind of like when you go to the stylist with a celebrity's photo in hand... you're not walking out of there with that new head, just the haircut). Sometimes, however, this happens because the photographer is the one who has a fixed idea of what he/she wants to photograph... it's important to remember your clients keep you in business! Be open, be honest about your abilities but don't sell yourself short.

DBoys in a M. Poppins Inspired dance number

Next time, I will either buy/rent a larger background or shoot in a more suitable venue or "photo friendly" spot. I do not want to relive the nightmare of coordinating in such a confined space that dancers were very limited in their pose options. Live and learn!


I expect that this is only the first of many shoots of this type for me, and it was an incredible learning experience. Nonetheless, the images achieved were surprisingly good, considering the challenges I faced and am better equipped now to tackle these types of projects again soon!


To see some of the photos from that studio shoot, visit my website.