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<html lang='en'><head><meta charset='utf-8' /><meta name='pinterest' content='nopin' /><link href='../../../../static/css/style.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><link href='../../../../static/css/print.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' media='print' /><title>How I Shoot Dances / Steve Losh</title></head><body><header><a id='logo' href='https://stevelosh.com/'>Steve Losh</a><nav><a href='../../../index.html'>Blog</a> - <a href='https://stevelosh.com/projects/'>Projects</a> - <a href='https://stevelosh.com/photography/'>Photography</a> - <a href='https://stevelosh.com/links/'>Links</a> - <a href='https://stevelosh.com/rss.xml'>Feed</a></nav></header><hr class='main-separator' /><main id='page-blog-entry'><article><h1><a href='index.html'>How I Shoot Dances</a></h1><p class='date'>Posted on February 9th, 2009.</p><p>Last weekend <a href="http://webster.suresong.com/">Gordon Webster</a> came to Rochester, NY to play a dance at The
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Keg. It was awesome (of course) and everyone had a great time.</p>
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<p>I took a lot of photos during the course of the night (around 360 actually)
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and some of them turned out pretty nice. A few people have wondered how I got
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the look I did, so I decided to write a post about it.</p>
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<p>I'm assuming you know what basic terms like aperture and shutter speed mean.
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If not, look for a post over at <a href="http://lindybloggers.com/">LindyBloggers</a> fairly soon about shooting
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dances with a point-and-shoot camera.</p>
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<ol class="table-of-contents"><li><a href="index.html#s1-shooting-dancers-is-tough">Shooting Dancers is Tough</a><ol><li><a href="index.html#s2-we-move">We Move</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s3-the-lighting-at-dances-is-awful">The Lighting at Dances is Awful</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="index.html#s4-what-doesn-t-work-for-me-usually">What Doesn't Work (for Me (Usually))</a><ol><li><a href="index.html#s5-fast-primes-high-iso">Fast Primes, High ISO</a><ol><li><a href="index.html#s6-the-good">The Good</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s7-the-bad">The Bad</a></li></ol></li><li><a href="index.html#s8-bounced-flash-max-sync-speed">Bounced Flash, Max Sync Speed</a><ol><li><a href="index.html#s9-the-good">The Good</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s10-the-bad">The Bad</a></li></ol></li></ol></li><li><a href="index.html#s11-rethinking-my-approach">Rethinking My Approach</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s12-using-everything">Using Everything</a><ol><li><a href="index.html#s13-the-technique">The Technique</a><ol><li><a href="index.html#s14-step-1-dial-in-the-flash">Step 1 – Dial in the Flash</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s15-step-2-dial-in-the-ambient">Step 2 – Dial in the Ambient</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s16-step-3-combine-and-adjust">Step 3 – Combine and Adjust</a></li><li><a href="index.html#s17-things-to-watch-out-for">Things to Watch Out For</a></li></ol></li></ol></li><li><a href="index.html#s18-good-luck">Good Luck!</a></li></ol>
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<h2 id="s1-shooting-dancers-is-tough"><a href="index.html#s1-shooting-dancers-is-tough">Shooting Dancers is Tough</a></h2>
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<p>One of the reasons I got into photography seriously was so that I could shoot
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dancers and musicians. I've since branched out and become interested in a lot
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of other aspects of photography, but dancing is a huge part of my life and
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photographing dancers is still something I absolutely love.</p>
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<p>I (like many others) thought that getting a DSLR would let me take awesome
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dancing photos with a bit of practice. Well, it's not that simple. Dances are
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one of the hardest things I shoot for a couple of reasons.</p>
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<h3 id="s2-we-move"><a href="index.html#s2-we-move">We Move</a></h3>
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<p>Dancing, especially in a dance like Lindy Hop, involves a lot of movement. It
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makes focusing a huge pain unless you've got <em>really</em> good eyes. I don't. When
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I first started out the majority (at least 70%) of my dance photos were out of
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focus. It's much more difficult than shooting a still (or even slowly moving)
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target.</p>
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<p>Moving quickly also means you need a fast shutter speed if you want anything
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to be sharp. You can focus perfectly but that won't freeze any movement. This
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wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for the second main problem.</p>
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<h3 id="s3-the-lighting-at-dances-is-awful"><a href="index.html#s3-the-lighting-at-dances-is-awful">The Lighting at Dances is Awful</a></h3>
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<p>Seriously, it's terrible. It's always fairly dark to set the mood; you don't
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want to dance in a brightly lit place unless you're competing. To make matters
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worse, it's almost always ridiculously uneven. Part of the room with usually
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be two or three stops darker than the rest.</p>
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<p>Only shooting in one place helps, but is fairy boring. A lot of people will
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stay in the same general area for most of the night (damn cliques!) and so if
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you only shoot one section of the floor you'll miss a lot of people.</p>
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<h2 id="s4-what-doesn-t-work-for-me-usually"><a href="index.html#s4-what-doesn-t-work-for-me-usually">What Doesn't Work (for Me (Usually))</a></h2>
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<p>I've tried a couple of different techniques to overcome these problems. Some
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of them work in some situations but most of the time they leave me unhappy.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjl7678/2449590741/" title="GirlJamSunday-5512 by Steve Losh, on Flickr">
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<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2076/2449590741_b47a5ced4c_m.jpg" width="161" height="240" alt="GirlJamSunday-5512" class="right">
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</a></p>
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<h3 id="s5-fast-primes-high-iso"><a href="index.html#s5-fast-primes-high-iso">Fast Primes, High ISO</a></h3>
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<p>The first remedy I turned to was buying a fast prime lens (Pentax 50mm f/1.4)
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so that it would let in more light. With that lens I would turn up the ISO to
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1600 or so to get even more sensitivity and hope for the best. This kind of
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works, but has some issues.</p>
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<h4 id="s6-the-good"><a href="index.html#s6-the-good">The Good</a></h4>
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<p>Shooting with a fast prime means I only have to carry one lens around and
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don't need to change it during the night. They're usually pretty light too, so
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they're easier to work with. 50mm is a nice focal length that lets you stand
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far enough away to not get kicked. You also don't need to annoy people with
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flash.</p>
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<p>The wide apertures let more light in so you can actually get some decently
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exposed photos at workable shutter speeds. The ISO isn't much of an problem as
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long as you expose the photo right (if you have to bring up the exposure more
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than a half stop in post it looks terrible).</p>
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<p>This solution really excels if you're shooting classes or workshops. The light
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there is usually much better than at actual dances but still not ideal. The
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wide apertures let you soak up all of that light and you can get some really
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nice photos. The example in this section was taken at Girl Jam last year
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during one of the classes with my 50mm.</p>
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<h4 id="s7-the-bad"><a href="index.html#s7-the-bad">The Bad</a></h4>
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<p>Focusing on moving dancers is hard enough at "normal" apertures; trying to
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nail the focus when you've only got six inches of depth of field at f/1.4 is
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<em>nearly fucking impossible</em>. Maybe other photographers are better at manually
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focusing or have amazing Canon/Nikon cameras that can focus on a black cat in
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a darkroom, but I'm not and I don't.</p>
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<p>The focal length of most fast primes is generally around 50mm. This isn't too
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bad, but I've grown to really love wide angle lenses. 50mm feels too far and
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detached for my taste. Yours may be different, so give it a try.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjl7678/3256610463/" title="LindyJam-0095 by Steve Losh, on Flickr">
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<img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3400/3256610463_5465877459_m.jpg" width="181" height="240" alt="LindyJam-0095" class="right">
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</a></p>
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<h3 id="s8-bounced-flash-max-sync-speed"><a href="index.html#s8-bounced-flash-max-sync-speed">Bounced Flash, Max Sync Speed</a></h3>
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<p>For a while I was adamant that I would never use flash. I figured it would be
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annoying and that the "unnatural" light from the flash would somehow look
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wrong. I avoided it for a while in favor of fast primes and "natural" light.</p>
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<p>Eventually I noticed that some other photographers shot with flash at dances
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and it didn't annoy me (while dancing) at all. I decided to give it a shot and
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see how it worked, especially since I was getting really into <a href="http://strobist.com/">Strobist</a> and
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studio lighting at the time.</p>
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<p>The basic idea is that you use an external flash (preferably off camera,
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synched with a cord or radio triggers) and bounce the light from the ceiling
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to get more even coverage. You set the aperture to something moderate like f/4
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or f/5.6 and the ISO fairly low. You turn the shutter speed down as low as it
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will go and still sync up and let the strobe do the hard work.</p>
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<h4 id="s9-the-good"><a href="index.html#s9-the-good">The Good</a></h4>
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<p>You get sharp photos! What's more, focusing is no longer something you will
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curse vehemently! When you're shooting at f/4 or f/5.6 you have a good amount
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of depth of field so the focus doesn't have to be absolutely perfect.</p>
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<p>The flash only lasts about 1/1000 of a second. No one moves much in that time,
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so you get perfectly sharp photos despite the movement.</p>
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<p>Now that you're not relying on wide apertures you can start using different
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focal lengths instead of sticking with the fast prime or two that you have.
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You could even use a zoom lens if you don't want to change lenses all the
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time.</p>
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<h4 id="s10-the-bad"><a href="index.html#s10-the-bad">The Bad</a></h4>
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<p>Bouncing from the ceiling is far, far better than keeping your flash on camera
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and pointing it straight at the subjects, but unless the room has obnoxiously
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high ceilings you're still going to get a lot of falloff towards the back of
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the room. You might not mind; it <em>does</em> help isolate the subjects from their
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surroundings but I found myself getting tired of it pretty quickly.</p>
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<p>You also have to carry a flash, sync cord or triggers, and extra batteries
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around which is kind of a pain. I don't mind, but if you like traveling light
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it could bother you.</p>
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<p>This section's example is one of the better results of this technique: Tango
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Cafe's ceilings are very high so the light is pretty even everywhere. High
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ceilings come at a price, however: you need more power from the flash to
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illuminate everything and so can't shoot as fast.</p>
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<h2 id="s11-rethinking-my-approach"><a href="index.html#s11-rethinking-my-approach">Rethinking My Approach</a></h2>
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<p>After using these two methods for a while I stopped and looked at my photos. I
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wasn't as happy with them as I would have liked. I sat down and asked myself:
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"Why is that?" The photos were exposed well and aside from the focusing
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mishaps were pretty sharp. What was missing?</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjl7678/299107896/" title="CIMG0171.JPG by Steve Losh, on Flickr">
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<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/120/299107896_fbec7e2df7_m.jpg" width="240" height="155" alt="CIMG0171.JPG" class="right">
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</a></p>
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<p>Eventually I came up with my answer: "Movement." Lindy Hop is very much about
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movement; it's one of the most important parts of the dance, maybe even <em>the</em>
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most important part. Getting tack sharp photos is great, but it's very hard to
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convey movement with them unless you're a much better photographer than I am.</p>
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<p>Most people are not photographers. Most dancers are also not photographers.
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The majority of Lindy Hoppers will take photos with small point-and-shoot
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cameras, <em>if</em> they can drag themselves away from dancing for a little while!</p>
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<p>The result is that we don't usually see many dance photos (because we're too
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busy dancing to take them) and the ones that we do see are usually blurry
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(because point and shoot cameras in their default modes are just not equipped
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to take sharp ones).</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjl7678/299107792/" title="CIMG0141.JPG by Steve Losh, on Flickr">
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<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/118/299107792_0b4907245f_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="CIMG0141.JPG" class="right">
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</a></p>
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<p>Even with their flaws, <em>we love them</em> because they're the few photographic
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memories we have of some of the best nights of our lives.</p>
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<p>I wanted people to have the same feeling toward my photography as they do
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toward these informal snapshots. I wanted to capture the essence of these
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pictures we're so grateful for but use my experience to make something even
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better.</p>
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<p>I think I've finally figured out how.</p>
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<h2 id="s12-using-everything"><a href="index.html#s12-using-everything">Using Everything</a></h2>
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<p>What evokes the feeling of movement in the point-and-shoot shots we look at? I
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think it's the blurriness. Our culture is used to looking at photographs and
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we know that "blurry photograph" usually means "moving subject" even if we're
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not always 100% clear on the physics of it.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjl7678/3264591984/" title="GW-0453 by Steve Losh, on Flickr">
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<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/250/3264591984_296047fb19_m.jpg" width="181" height="240" alt="GW-0453" class="right">
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</a></p>
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<p>As photographers, we know what causes it. A subject moving while the shutter
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is open produces blur. Longer shutter speeds mean more blur. The little
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cameras that most of our memories come from simply don't have the aperture or
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sensitivity of our hefty DSLRs – all the poor little things can do is
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leave their shutters open a bit longer to get the light they need. That's why
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those cameras make blurry photos with their default settings.</p>
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<p>So how can I add some blurriness to my images? Use a slower shutter speed! I
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also want to keep some sharpness though, so the dancers are more recognizable.
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To do this, I use flash <em>at the same time</em>. The flash freezes the subjects
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enough to make them look good and then slow shutter speed and ambient light
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take over to add some movement.</p>
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<h3 id="s13-the-technique"><a href="index.html#s13-the-technique">The Technique</a></h3>
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<p>What do you need to do this kind of thing? You can get by with any modern
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camera with a built-in flash, but to really have the flexibility that will
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make you happy you need the following things:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>A camera with a hot shoe or PC jack and manual controls</strong>. I use a Pentax
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K20D when I feel like lugging it out and a Canon G10 when I don't.</li>
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<li><strong>An external flash.</strong> I use an $80 Vivitar 285hv which will work with
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anything, so no complaining about how your camera maker only sells $400
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speedlights.</li>
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<li><strong>A way to sync your flash with the camera.</strong> Some of the more expensive
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flashes have a wireless mode. If not, you can buy radio triggers for $60 or
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so, or buy a sync cable for $15 to $20. Trust me, having the flash <em>off</em> of
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the camera makes things so much easier.</li>
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</ul>
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<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjl7678/3264540604/" title="GW-0290 by Steve Losh, on Flickr">
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<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/195/3264540604_f4665b50e6_m.jpg" width="240" height="181" alt="GW-0290" class="right">
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</a></p>
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<h4 id="s14-step-1-dial-in-the-flash"><a href="index.html#s14-step-1-dial-in-the-flash">Step 1 – Dial in the Flash</a></h4>
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<p>The first step to getting this look is to figure out what kind of exposure you
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need with <em>the flash alone</em> to get a well-lit shot.</p>
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<p>Turn your shutter speed down to the fastest it will sync (1/180th is usually
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fine) and use trial and error to find a nice combination of aperture, ISO and
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flash power. The actual numbers will depend on several things: how low the
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ceilings are, how powerful your flash is, etc.</p>
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<p>Aim for the lowest flash power you can while still keeping a good exposure, a
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narrow enough aperture to make focusing easy, and modest ISO noise. Once you
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figure it out you can probably keep those settings for the rest of the night,
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unless the ceilings are higher on one side of the room or something else
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equally annoying.</p>
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<h4 id="s15-step-2-dial-in-the-ambient"><a href="index.html#s15-step-2-dial-in-the-ambient">Step 2 – Dial in the Ambient</a></h4>
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<p>This is the step that adds the movement. First, tone down your flash-only
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exposure by a half or whole stop. Do this by reducing the ISO, aperture, or
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flash power; any of those is fine.</p>
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<p>Now that your photo is underexposed, turn off the flash. It will probably be
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completely black now. <em>Do not touch the ISO or aperture to fix this.</em> Lengthen
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the shutter speed until you're about two stops underexposed; it will be blurry
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and dark as hell but this is what you want right now.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjl7678/3263800481/" title="GW-0580 by Steve Losh, on Flickr">
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<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/196/3263800481_9ebf0a47f3_m.jpg" width="240" height="181" alt="GW-0580" class="right">
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</a></p>
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<h4 id="s16-step-3-combine-and-adjust"><a href="index.html#s16-step-3-combine-and-adjust">Step 3 – Combine and Adjust</a></h4>
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<p>Turn the flash back on. Do not touch any other settings – flip the
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switch on the flash and start shooting. This will let the flash illuminate the
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subjects (because you dialed in the power, ISO and aperture before and haven't
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changed them) and the ambient fill in and add movement (because you adjusted
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the shutter speed).</p>
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<p>Your first few shots will probably be underexposed or overexposed and have too
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much or too little blur. Don't worry, it always takes me at least a half hour
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to start taking decent photos this way. You really need to play with the
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settings as you go to find out what's going to work for the lighting <em>that
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night</em>.</p>
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<h4 id="s17-things-to-watch-out-for"><a href="index.html#s17-things-to-watch-out-for">Things to Watch Out For</a></h4>
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<p>There are a couple of tricky parts to this style of shooting that I'll
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mention. First I'll talk about the typical problems you'll see right away.
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More than one of these certainly might apply; fix them one at a time.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjl7678/3263819663/" title="GW-0656 by Steve Losh, on Flickr">
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<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/192/3263819663_4f97c18da4_m.jpg" width="181" height="240" alt="GW-0656" class="right"></a></p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>If the background is dark or there is not enough blur,</strong> you need to use a
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longer shutter speed to let more ambient light in.</li>
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<li><strong>If the dancers are not sharp enough,</strong> you need <em>more</em> flash power. Turn
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it up a little bit at a time.</li>
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<li><strong>If people's shirts, faces and limbs are overexposed <em>and not blurry</em>,</strong>
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you need to turn down the flash. Bring it down a bit by reducing the power,
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narrowing the aperture or reducing the ISO.</li>
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<li><strong>If shirts, faces and limbs are overexposed <em>and blurry</em>,</strong> you need to
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shorten the shutter speed to let less ambient light in.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>I'm warning you now, fixing one of these will probably fuck something else up.
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It can be really infuriating, but if you slow down, stay calm and think
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through it logically you'll be able to narrow it down and figure out what you
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need. It's a really good feeling when you finally nail it.</p>
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<p>There are two other tricky problems that I'm still working on myself:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Dances are unevenly lit.</strong> When you walk over to the other side of the
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room to shoot, you'll have to adjust the shutter speed to compensate for the
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different amount of ambient light. You really only have a range of about
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half a stop where the ambient gives you the right amount of blur, so you
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have to be careful and stay on your toes.</li>
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||
<li><strong>Watch where you bounce.</strong> In rooms with low ceilings, where you point the
|
||
flash on the ceiling has a huge effect on the lighting. You need to be
|
||
conscious of what part of the ceiling you're bouncing from to get good
|
||
results.</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<h2 id="s18-good-luck"><a href="index.html#s18-good-luck">Good Luck!</a></h2>
|
||
|
||
<p>I hope this post helped you out. Even if you hate how my photos look and don't
|
||
want to make anything like them, at least it will show you what <em>not</em> to do.
|
||
I'd love to hear comments or advice on what you like or don't like, and what I
|
||
could do better. If you've got questions I'll do my best to answer them too!</p>
|
||
|
||
<p>Now go dance, have fun, and make beautiful photographs so we can all remember
|
||
the fantastic events we make happen!</p>
|
||
|
||
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjl7678/3263760493/" title="GW-0438 by Steve Losh, on Flickr">
|
||
<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/196/3263760493_08c525cfe7.jpg" width="500" height="377" alt="GW-0438">
|
||
</a></p>
|
||
</article></main><hr class='main-separator' /><footer><nav><a href='https://github.com/sjl/'>GitHub</a> ・ <a href='https://twitter.com/stevelosh/'>Twitter</a> ・ <a href='https://instagram.com/thirtytwobirds/'>Instagram</a> ・ <a href='https://hg.stevelosh.com/.plan/'>.plan</a></nav></footer></body></html> |