How I Shoot Dance

Fete de la Musique Paris - Carla Coulson Chasing a Dream

Moulin Rouge Paris - Carla Coulson

Backstage Lido de Paris - Carla Coulson

Barrio Latino Paris - Carla Coulson

Flamenco Seville - Carla Coulson Chasing a Dream

Francesco  Astypalia Greece - Carla Coulson

Francesco and I were on a remote dirt road on the Greek Island of Astypalia when I took the last pic in this series (see above).  On the way home from a glorious day at the beach we paused to take in the arid beauty and 'the blue' as far as we could see. Salt encrusted from the day at the beach and wind blown from our scooter ride home we were bursting with happiness to have had such a glorious holiday.

While I  was snapping the view my darling broke into his own version of a sirtaki dance, like Zorba from the fabulous Niko Kazanzakis novel coming alive before my eyes. A primal urge overtook him and words could no longer explain what he was feeling. The music came from within and there he was on a deserted road wildly waving his hands in the air and dancing back and forth. I was in photographers heaven..

Dance has always been one of my favourite things to photograph. I love everything about it, the movement, the drama, the music, the costumes, the venues and the emotion. Whenever I hear music I break into a run!!!

Photographing movement or dance isn't quite as easy as it looks especially in places with low light..

Here are some of my tips on how to capture dance:

1. Choose an aperture that will give you a decent amount of depth of field.. ie. at least an F8 if the light permits. If the person is moving around a lot having lots of depth of field will help you make sure that they are in the focal range.  If you work with a really low F stop  ie F2 etc. like I did in the 1st and 4th photos because of the lack of light you will constantly need to check the focus..

2. Consider your ISO or ASA.. Often dance is held indoors which means a lack of light. You will probably have to work at at least an 800 ISO or ASA so that you have some flexibility with your shutter speed..

3. Shutter Speed is very important! Depending on what effect you want. I always try and work at least at a 1/125th of a second knowing that I will still get a little blur from the movement especially if it is fast like in the 5th shot. There are some cases where you may have run out of light like I did in the 1st and the 4th photo so I just used the avaible shutter speed and open the aperture as wide as possible. From memory  I was shooting the 4th image at an 1/8th of a second  and  I was holding on for my life!!!

4. Live the dance. Listen to the music and understand how the dance works. Watch when movements appear beautiful to your eye.. Most dance movements are repetitive so you if miss something watch carefully and don't miss it the second time around.

5.. Get in the front row.. Try and get the best possible position so that no-one or their head is obstructing your view.. Again in the 1st and 4th shots I commando crawled between legs and took the shots kneeling on the ground as standing I had no chance of getting a clean shot.

6. Have fun and let go.. Dance is great fun and uplifting. The more fun you have the more emotions are transmitted in your photos..Bring on the blur!!!!

7. I use Manual Focus.. Most of the above has been shot on Leica's but I think autofocus would loose the plot. Especially in low light situations..

Keep Dancing

Carla xx

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