Pro dance studio dancers
I got a very interesting assignment last monday. Pro dance studio needed promo shots, a kind of portfolio of their dancers to forward it to their clients. So the point was not to show their dancing poses, but it was more or less to “introduce” the girls to the clients. So I went for the portrait/fashion approach to the shoot (of course we did also mix up some dancing poses). I had to shoot 15 girls in 5 hours and that included group shots in various outfits as well. So you can imagine what kind of pace I had to keep. I had roughly 5-10 minutes per girl. After shooting with each girl, we viewed the photos on the laptop. If the series was good we moved on, if not I had to take a few more shots (I also took a few more shots if the series was good, but the make up of the girl that was supposed to be next, wasn’t finished yet). The shoot looked like this: show me what you got girls! Strike your poses! Because of the previously mentioned ultra limited time frame, there was no time for me to guide them through the poses and make all the necessary corrections (regarding poses, mimics etc). I did, of course, make a few suggestions and (tried to) make them show more energy and passion. Most of the girls were pretty relaxed and that was a big plus for me. Usually every girl (that’s not a professional model) needs at least a few minutes to warm up. As always some did better than others, but all in all regarding the circumstances, I was satisfied with the results and most importantly, the client was pleased.
Because of the limited amount of time that we had, I used just one light set up. I did want to try out 3-4 various set ups, but there was no time (I’d need at least an hour or so) and I’m glad Mimi helped me out with the lighting, so I didn’t have to waste too much time setting it up. We chose to go along with the more dramatic, hard light. And I’m glad the client went along with it, since I’m just so tired of studio shoots with boring flat lighting (up to date, that was all that I shot in a studio, unless it was a personal project). I also have to thank Mimi, for letting me use her 70-200 2.8. And make my arms almost fall off after 5 hours of constantly using it 
.
Let me just wrap this up in a few sentences. Shooting was a blast. Not only because it was fun to shoot with all those girls, but also because of the pace (you really have to be alert all the time) and the fact that everything was running pretty smoothly, everybody was in a good mood, usually these kind of circumstances would be really hard for the people (meaning the girls) that are not in this “business”.
I’ll post photos in the order they were shot. As always, I recommend viewing them LARGER.
One of the first photos that were taken (I don’t count prep shots as real shots of course). The lighting wasn’t really there yet, it doesn’t have a “meaningful shadow” behind her, nor does it vignette the way it should. But I like the shot as a whole and it was one of the chosen (by me and pro dance staff) ones for this girl (I still haven’t completed the selection).
As you can see, I did manage to get shadows “in order”.
A classic, but photos like this, bring money to the clients…A song, shake that money maker, comes to my mind. I wonder why, hmmm 
.
BW or color?
I like the photo above. Let me tell you why. The first series that we’ve made, didn’t really look good. To be honest, the photos were bad. However, I suggested we make another brief series of shots and she was a bit hesitant, since she was also pretty disappointed after viewing the shots on the laptop. It was a tricky situation. It’s not good to push models, especially if something beats them down. But then we did make another try (to be honest I was quite doubtful of the outcome, because of her mood and state of mind). I cheared her up, pushed her a bit to show me more emotions, energy. And I think this photo shines. It shows energy. A real contrast to the first, completely lifeless and dull series. I must say I’m proud of what we achieved in just a few minutes. Because it’s so hard to turn things around so quickly. If you’ve done a lot of model (portrait, fashion etc) photography, I’m sure you know what I mean and probably also how good it feels to turn things around completely.
Wildcat. I love it when girls get wild! Don’t you?
As you can see, every photo has (a slightly) different post production. The client will, of course, get them post processed in the same style, as it’s logical for a series of photos. But I’ve decided to post process every photo differently for this blog post, to make it a bit more interesting and to get a feedback on what works best for the photos in your opinion.
(17 votes, average: 4.24 out of 5)
Loading ...
mihaaa said
am May 23 2008 @ 9:35 am
no evo pa so slikce
.. se najbolj mi je vsec prva, barvna (od bw/col) in zadnja.. me pa zanima glede senc,.. kako si osvetljeval oz mehcal flese
lp
Peter Bernik said
am May 23 2008 @ 9:40 am
Huh, pa sem le dobil komentar. Glede na to kako nemarno počasi se loada stran, je to uspeh…No hvala za komentar, gor pa itak so, saj sem obljubil hehe.
Glede osvetlitve, pa vas bom pustil še ene par dni tavati v temi
. Kdor pa zadane v prvo (s tem mislim da mi ne naštevati 5 variant, ker tako vsak lahko zadane), dobi pivo.
Peter said
am May 23 2008 @ 10:25 am
Za en pir se mi ne da razbijat glave (hehehe) plačam jaz tebi dva pa nam kar lepo povej
Drugač pa odlične fotografije!
Lp,
Peter
mihaaa said
am May 23 2008 @ 10:37 am
haha,.. torej po moje 2 varianti,.. ce jih nisi risal v ps, je prva prbl 3 izvori precej skupaj (malo mehcani) skupaj in druga 1 izvor ki si ga delil, mogoce kaken velik honeycomb,.. oz z velikimi luknjami?
Peter Bernik said
am May 23 2008 @ 5:04 pm
Ubistvu si povedal 3 variante, le hotel si narediti vtis da le dve
. Eno prjatu, eno. Potem ti pa povem če je prava 
.
Sicer pa bom res kar povedal, če nihče ne bo kmalu ugotovil in si prislužil 2 pera haha. Ok, ne računam več na to, glede na to da še enega nisem dobil, obljubljenih imam pa samo za vse skupince in pač za vso opremo ki sem jo ceneje zrihtal folku toliko, da bi lahko bil “mrtev” vsak preostali dan letošnjega leta…
mihaaa said
am May 23 2008 @ 5:23 pm
aaaaaaaaaaaa prjatu,.. ok pol pa eno
glasujem torej za vec izvorov svetlobe skupaj, ki delijo sence in imajo malo mehcalca.. (kar je v bistu isto kot varianta ce bi dal gor neki ala mrezo ki bi ti iz 1 naredila vec locenih majhnih)
ps varianta, glede na to da si fotkal v plesnem studiu je tud ida si se malo s spegli poigraval in dal npr fles v kot med 2 spegla,.. ampak to smao razmisljanje na temo :D)
Tinchula said
am May 23 2008 @ 5:38 pm
BW!
drgač pa hude fotke!
Žiga said
am May 23 2008 @ 6:20 pm
ufff take fotke bi pa tud js enkrat rd delu:)dobra svetloba…zelo všeč:)
Peter Bernik said
am May 23 2008 @ 6:35 pm
Tnx vsem!
Mihaaa: hehe kaj bi vsi tako radi komplicirali, ko je pa zadeva lahko tako enostavna. Bom povedal točno opolnoči, če nihče ne pogrunta do takrat.
Aleksphotography said
am May 23 2008 @ 9:36 pm
Fotke so vse super, težko bi se odločil katera obdelava mi je najboljsa, recimo prva mi je dobra in pa B&W.
Glede osvetlitve bi pa rekel takole, svetloba deluje zelo usmrjeno prihaja iz enega fleša na keterem je bil softbox, čez njega pa si dal grid oziroma snoot…
lp Aleks
Gregor said
am May 23 2008 @ 9:53 pm
Teksta se mi ne da brat… Fotke pa so zelo dobre. Čuti se energija. Ustrezni styling in makeup. Zraven paše tudi osvetlitev. Fajn, da je trda svetloba. Dobro si porihtal.
Peter Bernik said
am May 24 2008 @ 9:57 am
No glede osvetlitve je takole; Velik lonec in redek grid. In to je to. Mihaaa, ko si napisal 3 variante si zadel, sicer potem zgrešil, ko si se moreal za samo eno odločit. Aleks, tudi ti si bil še kar blizu.
mihaaa said
am May 24 2008 @ 11:19 am
okej pol pa dobim sam 1 pir namesto 3
juhuuuuuu
Aleš said
am May 24 2008 @ 11:26 am
Tam kjer sprašuješ bw ali color, bw definitivno.
Peter said
am May 24 2008 @ 5:16 pm
Hmm Studijsko delo, tega še nikol nisem še počel, tako da težko rečem karkoli :D.
Drugače super slike, čeprav so mi preostale tvoje (z ambientalno svetlobo bolj všeč).
Tomi said
am May 25 2008 @ 3:46 am
Vsekakor črnobela. Drugače pa super slike, a work of art.
Scoop said
am May 25 2008 @ 12:02 pm
Dobre fotke! Zadnja in predzadnja sta mi najboljši. Morda zaradi modela
Peter Bernik said
am May 25 2008 @ 12:21 pm
Tnx še enkrat vsem za komentarje. Torej je BW - meni tudi, samo sta mi bila dosti blizu pa sem vseeno raje vprašal, ker sem pač sam bolj fan čb in so mi zato že avtomatsko bolj všeč.
Peter: Ja je res, samo s tako svetlobo mi je tudi v studiu zakon delat, pač zunaj to ne moreš. In sploh po dolgem času mi je prav pasalo delati v studiu, bolj kot zunaj (itak ni bilo vremena). Sicer pa ja, itak še vedno raje delam nasploh zunaj, bolj imam pogruntano svetlobo in jasno, imaš dosti več “rekvizitov” za uporabit - klopce, štenge, zidove, oboke itd itd. Lažje narediš bolj zanimivo in razgibano fotko. Morda kdaj skombiniram zadevo (torej studijski fleši v nekem ambientu…).
Scoop: Tnx. Pa ni ista punca, če to misliš.
Bine said
am May 26 2008 @ 8:32 am
Čeprav mi studijska fotografija ni najbolj ljuba, se mi zdi da si dobro to izpeljal. BW or color? BW.
grega bohak.si said
am May 26 2008 @ 11:06 am
Super so te sence. Odločil bi se pa za BW..
Sipelpomp said
am May 28 2008 @ 12:17 pm
B/W or color…? For this shot and its purpose, definately the color version. It draws more attention. The only thing not B/W in the color shot is her skin tone which is beautiful, and the color version shows your beautiful lighting on this shot better.
On the first shot: _meaningful_ shadows? Why? There are no rules, this shot diverges from the beaten path, and it is the best of this series IMO. Don’t touch it, it rules.
Peter Bernik said
am May 28 2008 @ 12:28 pm
Tnx man, I always welcome and appreciate constructive comments. Hope to hear from you again in the future.
Jure Dobelšek said
am May 29 2008 @ 10:32 pm
Bravo, super fotke! Za moj okus je barvna boljša…na splošno zlo dobre barve na vseh.
Moja fav pa je ona blont s frufrujem.
Čau!
Ryan said
am June 5 2008 @ 9:10 am
Having photo session with newbie model is a challenge…Need more passion. But, once we get the moment and mood, every will be very easy and smooth.
B5 said
am June 14 2008 @ 6:41 am
Če se odločiš za BW ali RGB, potem moraš vse tako narediti. Dobre fotke. Škoda, da nisem imel prej tvojga bloga na RSS feedu, ker bi seveda uganil iz prve. Vprašanje je le kakšen je premer lonca. ni hudimano velik. Ugibam cca 30 cm + grid?
B5
Peter Bernik said
am June 14 2008 @ 2:58 pm
Borut: ne vem če si prebral vse ali ne (res je ogromno teksta), ampak jasno gre naročniku vse v enakem stilu, tukaj pa pač zaradi feedbacka malo zmešam. Vem tudi da se sicer serije (za razstave, reportaže itd) vedno dela v eni tehniki…
Lonec je bil okoli 40 cm. A so lahko še večji? Sam večjega še nisem videl, je pa res da nisem studijski fotograf…
No zdaj ko me maš na RSS feedu, mogoče ne boš več tolikokrat žejen
.