Dancing in the rain
Dancers Juliet and Slawek
Dancers Juliet and Slawek
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Mar, 2017Views
1861
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Awards
Contest Finalist in Dance And Ballet Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
Genius
All Star
Emotions
Happy
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 10 rankTop 10 rank week 1
Top 20 rankCategories
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was my first time inside the historic Monroe Abbey in Phoenix, Arizona. It was originally a church built in 1883 and has been through several remodels, a fire and is currently undergoing a very exciting restoration.Time
We arrived at the Abbey at 10:00 am and it was pretty cloudy over the courtyard. It was raining off and on all morning and we created some images with clouds, some with sun and others during the rain. This shot was taken a little after 12:30 pm with light rain.Lighting
Although shooting outside at noon is usually a challenging option, I think that this worked out pretty well. The sun was high and a little behind the subjects that provided a nice rim light to separate them from the background and show some light through the Abbey's rosette and windows. Juliette closed her eyes and allowed the sun to fall directly on her face. The hard shadows on the walls helped to show the beautiful features and decay.Equipment
This was taken with my Nikon D810, Sigma 35mm Art lens and Manfrotto tripod. We were wirelessly tethered to a Samsung Tablet to allow the dancers to see the details of their poses.Inspiration
Ballet dancers are one of my favorite subjects and I thought the Abbey would provide an interesting background for this collaboration. We had discussed some direction for the poses and the dancers improvised some beautiful options. The light and the rain were happy accidents that we embraced for this session.Editing
I start with Lightroom to import, organize and adjust RAW settings. I adjusted the contrast considerably to get the most drama from the scene. I next used Photoshop for some detail editing and color corrections.In my camera bag
My sessions range from pretty simple to fairly complicated, but you can expect my bag to have 2 bodies (currently Nikon D850 and D750), 3 prime lenses (35mm, 50mm, 85m), 5 batteries, extra memory cards, a Hoodman loupe, ND filters and business cards.Feedback
If you have a chance to work with ballet dancers, do it! Find a background that doesn't compete with the lines of their legs and arms. Good dancers should be able to create some amazing poses that you can incorporate in your composition. Most dance styles are better suited for video, but ballet dancers can create poses that look amazing as a still frame.
