23rd Jan 2008
dance floor creative exploration
Our job as a documentary photographer is to showcase the mood and ambiance of an event. Often enough, 5-7 hours into a wedding is enough for us photographers to start to get tired and lazy on our feet. Have you told yourself or assistant “hey, we have shot this dancing stuff for hours, I’m going to start shooting less”? Well, I would totally agree that 50 drunk folks on the dance floor can start to look redundant!
I would suggest that the moment this question comes to your mind, OPEN YOUR MIND and start exploring the possibilities of creativity! What a better place to experiment with the flash! Heck, the flash doesn’t even need to be part of your creative exploration as your camera is a wonderful tool to play with.
Because this is flash flavor, I’ve included a few examples of our team using flash to SPICE up our time…
In this photo example, we decided to exaggerate the movement of the dance floor. I chose a moment when the bridesmaids decided to get on the floor and turn circles around each other. The blue color of their dresses helped the photo moment too. I cooled the photo down in PS to blend with the tones in the dresses and such. Our assistant can be seen in the upper right hand side of the frame with a flash stick. The slave was triggered by pocket wizard and set to 1/8th power bouncing off a very tall ceiling, meant to spill enough light on the entire room but not overpower the dragging movement. Its really a mix of the strong ambient and flash.
Canon 5d ISO 250 2.8 at 1/2 second
These two images came from a Greek wedding where they were throwing money at the bride and groom during a traditional Greek dance. I used many different approaches to get some great shots here, but these two occurred when I started “experimenting” with my flash. With the help of an assistant hand holding a slave triggered by pocket wizard, we set the flash to 1/4 power and set the head to a 28mm zoom. The instructions I gave him were to go over to the middle of this chaos and hide from me, aiming the flash in many different places.
For this frame, a 45 degree bounce off the floor, aimed camera left. Notice camera prospective!
Canon 5d ISO 1250 2.8 1/60th
Here, I change camera prospective and the flash is aimed at pretty much the same prespective. Added emphasis to make compositional lines drew your eye to the kid 
Cheers!
mateo
I am diggin’ the second one. I love the contrasty flavor of the single light source. Makes me wish I had more assistants! haha
I love the last picture! You are right, the child really draws your attention and makes the image. That is a great idea to bounce the flash off the dance floor. Thanks for sharing.
Matt,
When you have such high angles like that are you putting the cam on a monopod, ladder? I know some are from stairs and such, but I assume all arent?
Cristobal!
Collins
I am hooked, i got my skyports two weeks ago for my canon flashes, so this weekend we are going to start a whole new creative platform for my wedding images.
Thanks Matt
Great ideas, thanks Matt!
Very nice,
thanks.
Matt-
I met David Hobby of Strobist last week, and he mentioned your blog as a “must read”. So far I’ve been very impressed. Awesome to see all the principles the Strobist is teaching applied so beautifully. I’ll check back often!
Assistants help us do what we do, for sure!
Chris, the photo in this example was up a set of stairs
Changing the angle to get a different photo prospective can be the difference in getting a shot that NOBODY has ever snagged at that certain event.
Nick, I’m humbled that David is talking me up, he is a real genius! We motivated me to start the blog, so all thanks really goes to him!
Cheers!
mateo
Hey Matt, love second shot! is that a the 16-35mm 2.8?
Matt, very nice shots. In the second b&w I’m surprised the backs of the folk closest to camera are so well lit. With only the flash in the circle going off was there simply enough light bouncing around to light these guys or am I missing something?
Similar shots that I have tried with a single flash usually results in extreme contrast of only things lit that the flash hits, as the venues are often so dark that even a 1/20 shutter rarely gives any exposure to the surfaces not exposed to the flash - and then you start getting shutter-drag ghosts, which these don’t seem to have.
Lev,
I thought nobody would even notice / ask about this
You are correct, there is another source of light.
In most cases on the dance floor, we use on camera 580’s inTTL to help our lenses (yes, the 16-35) focus.
we usually dial the flash down a few stops as we didnt want emphasis on the light from that flash
Although, a little fill makes it nice… eh?
Cheers!
matt
Hey Matt,
It was great meeting you and Sol in Atlanta at No Mas. Brandi and I have checked out your site and you have some awesome stuff. I look forward to reading more and seeing the two of you when you are back in the ATL.
KNIGHT - ross oscar knight photography
Cool ideas. Thanks for sharing. I’m gonna have to add some more flava to my photos.
Thanks for sharing your ideas and experiences. I am a big believer in off-camera flash and you have given me some great inspiration. BTW, it is “perspective,” not “prospective.”
Ross, it was a pleasure meeting you as well! Congrats on your upcoming nuptials!
Josh, thanks for stopping by. Flavor speaks loud voices man, good luck with your efforts!
Cliff,
DOH, my spelllling isnt too good and my brain works about 3 -5 steps ahead of my typing hands. Thanks for the kind words
Cheers,
matt