I learned to light after years of deconstructing the work of other photographers. And I know from your previous feedback that you guys are fond of these posts, so let’s dig into another one.
How did I make this picture?
Is it a lucky snapshot?
Is it lit?
If so, how?
The camera Settings?
The direction?
Post production?
Whatever details you think are needed to make this image.
Looking forward to you trying to pick this apart… I’ll reveal everything in a followup post. The person who gets the closest gets… …a chest bump and a pizza, or signed book or something. Don’t be shy. Let er rip.
My guess is that only two huge softboxes were use, on directly to the left of the subject, and the other on the right but a little behind. A fast shutter speed must have been used to get rid of any ambient light on the background, and I assume gobos blocked any stray light from the strobes.
I can only imagine that a shot like this was carefully planned, and you had a rough area on the floor where the dancer would do her thing and be in the right light, which would require many takes. Depending on how high she can jump, the camera must have been fairly close to the ground, and the larger size of the front shoe compared with the back shoe indicates to me a somewhat wide angle lens was used.
In post, the blacks level would have been raised to blank out the background, and I’m guessing some contrast was added.
made on stage or in studio. professional dancer is side lit like a wine bottle
– large/broad source on camera left (strobe)
– large/broad source on camera right (strobe)
– black background, possible flags to minimize light spill from 2 main light sources
– possible white bounce fill on front
– posible trampoline for dancer to get height
– fast shutter speed to freeze motion
– f 5.6 thru 11/16 for DoF
– probably handheld to frame dancer in the air
– post, mild photoshop to control highlights, shadows and clean up framing
Definitely not a “lucky shot”. This was a a deliberately and well executed planned photo from concept to execution.
Great job, Chase and team.
First, I’d have to say that the dancer is standing on a clear glass or plastic table.
Camera angle is facing upwards, not quite at a 90 degree angle, forward just a little.
I’d guess 3 lights were used, 2 on her left and on on her lower right, one of the ones on the left is almost in the middle, only slightly to the left.
I’m guessing that the camera settings were f/11 at 1/200 with a 110mm lens?
Looks like you’ve got two lights on either side, a bit behind the model/dancer on the left and a little more on the right. My guess is softboxes. And for a backdrop, either dark gray or black, and the lighting ratio makes it drop out completely. Have the ballerina hit her mark for the jump and there’s the shot.
Of course, I could be completely wrong, and you shot this from the pit of a ballet that happened to have excellent lighting; with enough light from the wings during a practice, it’d look basically like what I described above.
It looks as if the model could actually be doing the splits sitting on the floor and you shot from above. Then in post production you eliminated the floor to give the illusion she was jumping in the air.