Christopher Grey

If there’s one thing you can count on for the Holidays it’s that there will be an abundance of student-driven ballets, plays and shows. Even if you don’t have a child enrolled in extracurricular dance, music or drama classes you may be pressed into service to photograph an event.

I was recently asked to photograph The Nutcracker, a holiday ballet favorite that sees at least one annual production in many, many cities. I love photographing dancers, even amateurs, so it was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. As with any location shoot, there are problems and situations that must be considered if you’re to get the best possible images. Perhaps my experience will save you some grief and make your job easier.

The first thing you need to critically evaluate is the lighting. When the curtain goes up, take a long look at the stage to check for any “dead” spots, areas that are not evenly lit. Most student-driven productions are presented in borrowed auditoriums, often in local schools. Contemporary school auditoriums are usually well equipped, lighting-wise, and that’s a plus, but productions are lit for effect, not for photographers. You’ll need to determine if there are areas to avoid.

If you have the opportunity to Custom White Balance under the production lighting, do so. If not, the Incandescent setting should be fine. Believe it or not, Auto White Balance is not a viable setting in this case, as Auto will attempt to neutralize colored lights when they dominate the scene, such as an overly blue “night” scene. The Lighting Director will not be happy with you.

Use the highest ISO setting your camera will give you without excessive noise. This is especially true for dance, obviously, as you’ll need to stop action. If you have an older camera, you might want to rent or borrow a newer model. Today’s cameras handle high ISO speeds better than ever before.

Be sure to set the motor drive function for the fastest possible burst rate and for automatic focus tracking. On my Canons, that would be AI Servo. Other manufacturers have different names but the function does basically the same thing by locking on to a moving object and tracking it as long as the shutter or thumb-focus buttons are depressed.

You will be shooting on the fly, especially if you are not familiar with the show. Shoot bursts of frames, rather than single shots, and capture the action as a sequence you can edit for maximum effect. You’ll also get more sales opportunities. This sequence of three was edited from a burst of seven frames.

When shooting dance, there is a peak in almost every motion. It’s the point where positive motion stops for a split second before becoming negative motion and where the dancer’s posture is perfect. Be aware of it, but shoot a burst that begins before the peak and ends after it. This allows you to follow the motion, panning the camera if necessary, so that you can track the dancer rather than trying to coordinate your finger with the peak.

Since you’ll be shooting with a large aperture (to get the fastest possible shutter speed), make the most of it by including scenery or another dancer in front of or behind the target dancer. The focus falloff adds depth to the image and accentuates your primary dancer.

Unless you’ve been hired to simply document the production, you’ll want more than just photographs of the principal actors. You’re on the job, after all, and you’ll want to increase the sales opportunities as much as possible. Spend time in each scene photographing the extras. Single out as many participants as possible and shoot individual images of them. When you make the images available for purchase (these were marketed through a web portal), you may be surprised how many of these you’ll sell. While it’s good to have at least one overall shot of the stage and production, as well as the principals, these are money shots, too.

When you’re initially contacted to do the job, be sure to ask if there’s a dress rehearsal. The rehearsal is a great opportunity to scout the theater for shooting locations and sight lines, to make note of what seat(s) you’d like reserved or just to familiarize yourself with the production. During rehearsal you will probably be able to move anywhere in the theater, even during the performance, (something that’s definitely frowned upon during an actual show). Keep your eye open for special moments that occur between cast members – each is another sales opportunity.

If there’s any subject that deserves to be overshot, it’s theater. Plan on filling several cards and spending extra time editing. It’s worth it.