How to Photograph Dance

Have your dancer as focus of attention, let them stand out. Another way to photograph dance with a sense of motion in the images, is to move along with the dancer. Pan your camera in the direction of the movement. This way the background will turn into a blur while the dancer is still in focus.

A fast shutter speed is often referred to as the shutter speed that is fast enough to freeze action. Typically, photographers refer to small fractions of a second, such as 1/250th of a second or faster when talking about fast shutter speed.

Dancing with the camera, or screen dance, can be defined as “a unique cinematic experience that merges cinematography and choreography” (Stanford Arts, 2014). The screen dance is then created through the interaction between the camera operator and the dancer.

Video doesn’t lie to you like this, because it isn’t immediate. You do not know what the video you is thinking from second to second, so you tend to focus on the whole picture. So to improve your dancing on camera, always video your practice, and watch it with a critical eye. Always aim higher.

Your head it moving, your eyes are moving. So you do not see the continuous flow. You are dividing your attention between what you are seeing and what you are doing. That video is 100% focused and when you are watching it, you see the entire flow from one vantage point.

While dancing, your focus is distracted by attention to the movement of your body, remembering the steps, your position & orientation in the room, pushing yourself to work hard, thinking of corrections, etc, so the attention you’re devoting to the mirror is necessarily a little sporadic, you’re actually missing a lot

These are known as the seven movements in dancing. These are plier (to bend), etendre (to stretch), relever (to rise), sauter (to jump), tourner (to turn), glisser (to glide), and elancer (to dart).

Most of the time the position of the head and feet can make you look awkward. Timing also plays a major role in how comfortable a dancer looks. If they rush through the movements it can be seen as awkward.

The study, conducted by the University of Northumbria, found that women who displayed a high level of “hip-swinging” wowed the crowds far more than those who kept their hips still. At the less desirable end of the scale, those who remained rigid or took hip, leg and arm movements too far were named bad dancers.