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“A Dance Photographer is a Collector of Meaningful Images”
by V. Paul Virtucio
www.danzfotog.com
August 2004
Dance photography is about capturing significant, unrepeatable moments of a fleeting art form. Each performance of a dance work is different from the last because stylised movements are difficult to execute exactly the same way, unlike in plays where words can be strictly scripted or in concerts where specific sounds come from specific notes. No two bodies move alike. The same movements have different performance qualities when set on different dancers, and a dancer can’t perform the same movements exactly same way each time. Photographing dance means preserving these unique moments. But not all unique moments are worth preserving.
Storytelling, interpreting, editing -- that’s what I’m doing when I make a split-second decision about when to click the shutter as a dance unfolds before me. If there’s a narrative in the work, I try to make sure to capture key characters and plot points to preserve that narrative in my photographs. Many dance works don’t have stories but do carry some kind of message or emotional content. Is there a light, airy quality or is it ferocious and percussive? Does it feature romantic or combative relationships? On the other hand, some works feature choreography just for the sake of movement, a dance without a deeper meaning other than looking amazing. In these cases, the goal for the dance photographer is to capture the spectacle of the dance and the energy behind the movement.
The biggest choice regarding the content of a dance work that a photographer makes is whether to shoot an intended or a transitional moment. To the untrained eye, those moments are difficult to distinguish. Beginning dance photographers will capture anything interesting to them without any regard for whether the movement was significant or simply preparation for a significant one. However, dancers and veteran dance enthusiasts will know the difference. Sometimes the transitional movements, such as when a dancer is landing from a leap and is about to twirl into another movement across the floor, can be interesting because of the dancer’s facial expression or the shape of the dancer’s body. Other movements are mundane, such as as the first couple steps before a leap with the dancer is simply building momentum. While both might be visually appealing to the photographer, one photograph will have more intrinsic value over another depending the viewer’s dance background.
While deciding when to click the shutter is my biggest decision, the next few that determine how to make the proper exposure of that moment are my biggest challenges in dance photography.
I shoot in 35mm format because of its range of fast lenses and easy portability. I started as a film shooter, prefering film products that render color on the cool side. Stage lighting is typically warmer, so I don’t want to use film that oversaturates warm colors. I made the move to digital imaging in 2003 since the noise level in high ISO digital images look similar to the grain in high ISO film images. I set my cameras to the Single Shot setting rather than continuous shooting because I want to be selective about my shots. I also don’t want my shutter noise to become too much of a distraction to dancers or audience members.
I use fast prime lenses to be able to partner the quickest shutter with the lowest ISO possible. As a rule, depth of field is not as important as stopping action or minimizing motion blur, so I shoot with my aperture wide-open. My slowest lenses have a maximum aperture of f/2.8. Though motion blur can complement a dance piece from an aesthetic standpoint, many works involve a crispness, preciseness or specificity that gets diluted in photographs that lack focus. I never use a tripod or monopod. They restrict my movement too much and are not worth the hassle. I recommend developing a steady, handholding technique instead.
You’ll need a shutter speed of 1/250 or faster to get a stop-action shot of a fast-moving dancer, which usually means there needs to plenty of stage light. That’s rarely the case, particularly in moody works where the lighting designer plays with casting shadows on stage rather than bathing the dancers in bright washes of color. However, if dancers are moving across your field of vision, you can use a slow shutter and a panning technique to try to get at least their faces and torsos in focus if not their arms and legs. Also, you can use a slow shutter speed, such as 1/30 or 1/60, for leaps if you shoot right at its peak -- the point when there’s the least amount of vertical or horizontal travel. And it’s not uncommon to shoot dance with shutter speeds of less than 1/15 given the right situation, when dancers hold poses or move dramatically slowly across the stage. I’m constantly checking my exposures as the dance’s movement quality or the amount of stage lighting changes.
Like in any other kind of photography, you have to earn your subject’s trust to allow them to relax enough to give an honest and sincere performance before your camera. If they’re on edge and more concerned about your presence than about their performance, the quality of the dance work will suffer. I meet with the choreographer and let the dancers get used to seeing me with a camera slung over my shoulder. I describe to them how I work and what to expect from me when I’m shooting. If it’s a paying gig, I make sure to ask them what they want me to try to capture from the dance photography, kind of like a shot list for wedding photographers but without a guarantee since a dance is never performed the same way.
Access is key. I watch at least one rehearsal before shooting a performance just to get a general feel of the work. Is it fast-moving, involving a large ensemble moving through complex floor patterns, or is it a slow-moving, trio that flows through imagistic forms? These general characteristics help me determine what kind of film and what lenses to rely most on.
All else held equal, a fast-moving dance might mean I should shoot with a higher ISO film like 1600 instead of just 800 to make sure I have a shutter speed of at least 1/125. If it’s entirely ensemble work, that might mean I shoot wide most of the time or be ready to focus only on clumps of dancers with a normal lens. A solo, duet or trio might mean I get to shoot with my telephoto or normal lenses from a distance or my wide lenses from up close. These are choices you want to prepare for before a performance so that when it comes time to shoot, you know what to have on and in your camera bodies.
I love shooting the final dress rehearsal before a performance. Without an audience to worry about, I have the ability to move throughout the theater for different perspectives on a dance work. Photographs taken with a wide lens, up close and from a low perespective give a different feel than photos taken with a telephoto lense from a perspective higher than the dancers’ heads.
When I use a wide lens, I look for moments in a dance work that allows me to think front-to-back, building fore-, middle- and background layers in my composition. Typically, I place the focus point somewhere in the fore- to middleground. I also try to let whatever I focus on to occupy a good chunk of my frame. I like to shoot from below the dancers’ eye-level, to build up more dramatic energy in the photograph. What I try to avoid most of all when using a wide-angle lens is a photograph where the dancers look like tiny blobs.
A telephoto lens lets me be more specific with my focus since it has a more narrow depth of field. Backgrounds are thrown wildly out of focus. I tend to focus on one or two dancers or a tight clump of dancers, which means I’m either photographing solo, duets or small groups or I’m consciously deciding to ignore one group of dancers while shooting another group that’s on stage at the same time.
Dancers’ expressions and subtle body language are also very important, and in many cases are nuances that audiences don’t clearly see since they’re seated quite a distance from the stage. So, whenever I have a telephoto out, I’m actively looking for opportunities to focus tightly on faces, hands, legs, feet or any other expressive body part.
If I’m shooting from a vantage higher than the dancers’ heads with a normal lens, I’m looking for ways to highlight floor patterns in the choreography, such as straight lines or diamond patterns. A higher perspective also means I have the opportunity to build fore-, middle- and background layers arranged verticlally instead of front-to-back. When I use a telephoto lense from a higher vantage, I’m trying to create images where the distance between layers seems to be shorter than it really is.
If I’m very familiar with the work and the dancers and choreographers trust me, I even shoot the piece from on stage, giving me the dancers’ perspective of the piece. I prepare for this opportunity by looking for moments when I can get on stage and not be in the dancers’ way, either by shooting from right up front or from inside the choreography as they move around me.
Feel the flow of the dance work. Dance photography is similar to sports photography in this regard. Football shooters can anticipate where the ball is going by watching the formation of the teams on the field. Baseball shooters know when to prepare for a double play based on the a set of parameters. Dance shooters can also anticpate the flow of a performance based on a set of parameters. I watch for repeating themes in the dance or patterns in the choreography. I’m aware of the work’s dramatic or energetic arc. I look for points when dancers move in unison or do the same movements one after another. I know that generally in ensemble dances, choreographers mix in sections of small groups of dancersas well as sections with everybody on stage at once. And I keep in mind that dancers who partner together give a different look than dancers who are just sharing the stage.
If I can intuitively understand how the dance will unfold, I can track dancers or group of dancers, keeping a focus lock where I want and be ready for moments rather than just reacting to what I see and hoping I can determine exposure, compose and focus fast enough. I’ll walk away from a two hour dance performance with 200-250 images worth keeping and maybe a couple dozen images that I consider spectacular. I feel like a collector when I photograph dance. And my goal is to build the best possible collection of one-of-a-kind images each time I train my camera on the stage.