Dance Photography: Applied Learnings
A former New York Times dance photographer, Andrea Mohin, once explained dance photography as follows: it’s like sports photography in the dark, without the benefit of knowing where the players are headed. There is no end zone, no basket and no way to predict where the dancers will move next.
That was the extent my knowledge of dance photography when I agreed to spend several months photographing the studio rehearsals of a NYC dance company leading up to their public performance in February of 2019.
© Kevin Suttlehan (for Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Co.), NYC 2019
I jumped at this opportunity, however, in order to learn three things:
how to consistently capture publishable photos of fast action in low light,
the limits of my cameras and lenses in such an environment, and
how to use multiple off-camera flashes to freeze action (in those rare situations where flash is permissible).
Why this is Hard
Even modern cameras and lenses have their limits when shooting fast action in low light.
Cameras are limited by the increasing levels of grain in their photos at high ISO’s (the numerical camera setting from about 64 to 52,000+ that controls the amount of light a digital camera lets in).
Even the best low-light prime lenses with wide apertures (e.g., f/1.4) have a weakness: low depth of field when shooting at the widest aperture. That’s ideal for portraits or shooting one dancer in the air, but not a group of dancers where half of the group could be out of focus.
Many photographers also shy away from using off-camera flash. It requires investments in equipment, learning and practice, and it is not always clear when such investments are worthwhile.
Then there is the “timing” thing: how do you freeze a dancer at the peak of their jump— not on the way up or down— especially if you did not know they were about to jump?
Image created with multiple off-camera flashes. © Kevin Suttlehan (for Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Co.), NYC 2018
Until this point, I thought “timing” was the easy part. What I had enjoyed most about photographing people was the ability that I had acquired over many years to capture the instant when key action occurs, whether that was physical activity or, more importantly, the candid interactions between people that can tell a story.
Photographing fast action in low light, however, presented both challenges and an opportunity to learn.
Image created without flash. Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company in Affront at The 92nd Street Y. Choreography by Daniel Gwirtzman.
© Kevin Suttlehan 2019
I created the following image during one of the dance company’s many rehearsals, where I could experiment using off-camera flashes.
For this image I mounted 2 flash units on light stands in the corners of the studio, to the left and right of the camera position, and was able to freeze all dancers in the air while maintaining a low ISO (100), resulting in a very high image quality.
© Kevin Suttlehan (for Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Co.), NYC 2019
The Final Performance
Come the day of the performance, of course, flash photography was out of the question, and the lighting was ever-changing, requiring several changes in equipment and camera settings. The following image was my best of the day: all six dancers were perfectly synchronized and three were frozen without blur at the peak of their jumps.
Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company in The Oracle at The 92nd Street Y. Choreography by Daniel Gwirtzman. © Kevin Suttlehan 2019
Applied Learnings: When Efforts Pay Dividends
Candid and action photography is still very much a mechanical activity— your brain may know how to photograph a scene, but your hands need to be able to manipulate the settings on the camera in reaction to changing lighting, the movements of your subjects and the optimal depth of field.
“Timing” remains the single most important skill in candid and action photography.
For both 1 and 2 above, regular practice is required to keep skills sharp. This sometimes requires venturing into new territory when opportunities arise.
Here’s where these skills matter most in our line of work serving nonprofits and NGOs:
Contact us to learn more about what we can do for your organization.