Lena - Dance shoot

I had a shoot with a local Model by the name of Lena. She and I wanted to do some different dancey style posed images. We were able to get a hold of her dance rehearsal studio to use which was really cool! It was nice and big. We could turn all the lights off, even had some available light from a bunch of windows. Except… It had mirrors.. oh yes mirrors. Not just on one side but on both sides. I don't know if I would ever choose to shoot under those conditions again! J There is almost no way to add back lighting without shooting at some ridiculous angles let me tell you.

You can A: shoot up(Didn’t work because the ceiling was ugly) and shoot down. B: Use the available lighting.. which wasn’t very good or enough of it to really get the shots I was looking at creating C: Hang lights from the ceiling.. stands don’t work so hot.. ceiling was 25 feet up and I had no ladder.. and only one super clamp.

So what does this all tell you? Always be fully prepared for each and every shoot that you do. Don’t go thinking you can wing it because you will get sub par results. Have a backup plan.. and as David Harrington have two backup plans. Something will go wrong.

Anyway I did manage to adapt quickly and was able to capture a number of good pictures. This first one being my favorite and is an example of shooting down to try and minimize any reflections of myself or the lights and ceiling. It worked out quite well. This was a standard tri-light. Front shoot through; two unmodified on each 120 degree angle out to try and light the hair a bit.

This next one is interesting. I had her twirl around and capture a decent shot. Then I made it a bit edgy and darkened her dress which is floating out and also turned it sepia. I really like the effect Back tri-light setup

And the last one here is a fun angle using her arms to create a different perspective. Worked out well. No back lighting here. Using my trusty 430ex, 580ex and 580exII on all these images. It's all I have needed thus far. Going strong. :) Oh my other equipment is a canon 40d with 17-55 IS lens and 70-200 IS L lens. RadioPoppers and ST-E2. :)