Dance photography is an elegant genre. Capturing the movement and energy of the human body can produce stunning images, but you’ll need to have both action and portrait photography skills to photograph it successfully.
From posed studio images, to live performances, there’s plenty to keep a photographer busy in the dance world. In this masterclass, I’ll show you how to photograph dancers in all their different guises.
EQUIPMENT
The equipment you need is going to vary depending on where you’re shooting, but at the very least you’ll want a camera that you can set to fully manual. A prime lens, such as a 50mm or 85mm gives you a wide aperture for less money than a zoom with a fixed wide aperture throughout its range and allows you to photograph individual portraits.
However, if you’re photographing a group of dancers, you’ll need a wide-angle to fitcan be useful here, as it lets you cover a range of focal lengths, but you’ll pay a lot more to get one with a fixed aperture throughout its range. You can start out easily with a zoom lens with variable aperture, but just be aware that you’ll be a little more limited in your aperture range.
