On Jan 21, 2013, at 6:09 PM, Collin Brendemuehl wrote:

> The studio where we are taking dancing lessons may hire me for their annual
> gala event.

Very cool.  What sort of dance?  Ballroom?  People dancing argentine tango will 
be moving slower and easier to keep focus on than folks dancing polka.

> I'm going to do some test shots on Thur. after our class to see about
> getting the poses that they would like to see.
> My question is:  Do you think the on-camera flash is adequate or should I
> use something more powerful to capture dancers?
> If so, manual or auto, dedicated or non-dedicated?

Which body do you have?  What is the lighting there like?   I've seen about six 
stops of variation in lighting at dances.  How big is the performance area?

If you have a K-5 and a reasonably fast 28-35mm lens, you may be best off 
shooting without flash.  If you shoot with flash, be particularly aware of 
mirrors, windows etc.  

Also, will these be couples performances or group performances?  If you are 
shooting a group and your flash is at the edge of the dance floor, It could be 
five feet away from the nearest dancers, and 20 to 40 feet away from the 
furthest.  Inverse square law on a 6x difference in distance is 36 times, or 
about five stops.  Do everything you can to minimize this ratio, which usually 
means moving the flash as far back as you can, possibly bouncing it, or using 
several flashes.

Painful experience has taught me to push the ISO harder than you think you 
should.  Noise is better than too much motion blur, or too little depth of 
field.

 
--
Larry Colen [email protected] sent from i4est





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