dance

Dance Photography: A Complete Guide

Shooting dancers can be one of the most daunting photographic subjects but also one of the most rewarding in terms of the final images captured. Dance can be an unforgiving subject, and unless one delves deeper and tries to understand the movement, the choreography, the piece, and how to capture the light hitting the dancers, it will prove tough to achieve award-winning imagery.

Ballet on Film

The Story of a Ballet School and the Pandemic Told Through a Yashica 635

When gazing at the photo series Ballet on Film by photographer Lisa Cho, it's natural to become enraptured by its charming conveyance of elegance, perseverance, and depth. The self-taught photographer -- who began her career in her 30s -- aims to translate her love of cinema and "beauty" through the lens of her treasured Yashica 635.

How a Snapshot from 1987 Became a Book Cover in 2020

In 1987, choreographer Margo Sappington came to Houston to set her dance "Rodin, mis en vie" on the world-famous Houston Ballet at the invitation of Artistic Director Ben Stevenson. Not knowing who she was, but attracted by her energy and persona, I introduced myself.

How I Shoot Dancers: 4 Simple Tips

I spent close to a decade of my life as a sports photographer and during this time it never crossed my mind to shoot dance. My dance photography all began when I was asked by a friend who was auditioning for a dance program to help with her audition photos.

Wedding Photographers Show Off Their Dance Moves with the Bride and Groom

Here's something you don't see very often at weddings: a choreographed dance involving the photographers. At a recent wedding in Albania, the bride and groom came up with the idea of doing an organized dance with their sharply-dressed photographers and videographers to open up the dance floor. You can watch the 3-minute routine in the video above.

Dancelapse: One Dance Performed Over One Hundred Days

Timelapse projects involving one photo or video per day have seen a surge in popularity in recent years ever since videos such as Noah Kalina's everyday went viral. Matt Bray wanted to do something similar to Kalina's project... but different. He set up a camera and captured himself doing the exact same dance in his room for 100 days, and then turned it into one impressive time-lapse dance.

Dance-Lapse: Woman Uses Her Camera to Capture a Year of Learning to Dance

How good can you get at something in 365 days? If you're former Microsoft exec Karen Cheng, pretty darn good. Her goal was to learn to dance in one year, and she spent that year documenting the experience and showing her progress right up to her final impressive performance in a San Francisco subway station.

Choros: A Hypnotic Short Film Featuring Single Dancer with 32 “Visual Echoes”

"Choros" is a beautiful experimental film by Michael Langan and dancer Terah Maher. It features a single dancer layered 32 times, which each layer slightly offset in time from the previous one. The "visual echo" technique turns a single woman into a "chorus of women," and transform the dance from single movements into waves of motion. The 13-minute video is set to the song Music for 18 Musicians by Steve Reich.

Dancers Among Us: Photos of People Dancing Through Life

In 2009, NYC-based headshot photographer Jordan Matter began photographing professional dancers performing moves in and around New York City for a project titled "Dancers Among Us". When the photographs went viral online, Matter began taking similar photographs in major cities around the world. The photographs show dancers leaping and holding poses in all kinds of environments and situations, from a picnic in the park to workers shoveling snow.

Slit-Scan Technique Makes Dancers Look Like Human Slinkys

Slit-scan imaging can make for some pretty trippy photos and videos. The technique involves capturing (or displaying) one "slit" at a time through a frame, causing motion to take on a bizarre appearance as each line in the image shows a slightly different moment in time. French filmmakers Adrien Mondot and Claire Bardainne used the technique a couple of years ago for the video above, which makes two dancers look like human Slinkys.

The Beauty and Power of Dance Captured in Photos Using Powder

German photographer Geraldine Lamanna has a great series of photographs titled "Powder Dance" that captures the elegance and powder of dance using white powder. Inspired by the music video for the song "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele, Lamanna coated dance instructor Olivia Maciejowski and two her dance students with powder, and then had them bust out their moves for the camera. The resulting photographs are meant to show "echoes" of the movement.

Faking Slow Motion Through Dance

Who needs an uber-expensive Phantom camera or fancy slow-mo software when you can fake the effect with dance? This doesn't have anything to do with photo gear or software, but we found it interesting since we've been sharing a lot of slow motion work lately. These are music videos for songs from retired MMA-fighter Genki Sudo's album "World Order". The name of the dance group is "World Order" as well.