Lighting restaged live performance dance shots, in the studio?

[Asher Kelman]

These dancers were at the members of the Professional Dance Program at the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute Saturday night. I'm getting to better follow the choreography. I use a 5D Mark II in a Sound blimp with a 70-200 2.8 L IS lens. My range of f stop is f 4.0 to 5.6 and the ISO is at 6400 with shutter speed at 1/200 sec

© Asher Kelman Tableau #1

Colburn School of Music Trudl Zipper Dance Institute Professional Dance Program

© Asher Kelman Tableau #2

Colburn School of Music Trudl Zipper Dance Institute Professional Dance Program
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It's tough to get lights ameliorated in anyway. Telling folk that it's the ration fo lighting that gives the effects falls on deaf ears and a lot of the time there are fewer lumens arriving on the dancers than fat chickens roaming free in the streets of streets of Kabul! So one has to make a lot of compromises. The shutter speed is not as fast as one would like to freeze movement. The aperture is wider than one would wish for optimal DOF and the ISO for sure is way beyond desirable for the best prints to be made.

So, if you had the opportunity to reshoot these moody compositions, how would you approach the lighting. What lights, modifiers, gels etc might you bring into play. Think "reproduce the sensibility of the live stage shot" then "How can this be carried further?"

Thanks for your imaginative ideas and interest!

As always appreciating input!

Asher

 

[Frank Doorhof]

Hi,
When there are also stage lights it's almost impossible to hit the atmosphere of the original setup with strobes.
UNLESS the stage lights are without color (which they hardly are).

If you would light it only with strobes I would choose for a placement on the sides/back and hit it with a slight fill in flash, 1.5-3 stops below the accents.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi,
When there are also stage lights it's almost impossible to hit the atmosphere of the original setup with strobes.
UNLESS the stage lights are without color (which they hardly are).

If you would light it only with strobes I would choose for a placement on the sides/back and hit it with a slight fill in flash, 1.5-3 stops below the accents.

Frank,

You say when there are ALSO stage lights. On stage there are ONLY stage lights. One would get executed for using flash, LOL!

However, in my studio perhaps I can restage the grouping and composition. I don't understand your suggestion of using "fill light". What exactly do you propose?

Perhaps one should use continuous lights?

Asher

 

[Frank Doorhof]

Fill light means a strobe to open up the shadows.
I would not use flat light on the groups, especially with dancers you want to also see the muscles and accent lights are great for that.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Fill light means a strobe to open up the shadows.
I would not use flat light on the groups, especially with dancers you want to also see the muscles and accent lights are great for that.

Frank,

This is just lighting in a totally dark studio, not the stage. So there are no other lights. Before one has fill lights, the group needs to be lit. How would you do that. Would you use stage lights or what?

Asher

 

[Frank Doorhof]

As mentioned before with accentlights, so strobes coming in from the sides and slightly back, the fill in is used to open up the scene a bit

 

[Asher Kelman]

As mentioned before with accentlights, so strobes coming in from the sides and slightly back, the fill in is used to open up the scene a bit

Now I get it! Thanks Frank!, that very helpful. I thought you were helping me light the stage better with a fill flash, LOL!

So, for the second mage,

© Asher Kelman Tableau #2

Colburn School of Music Trudl Zipper Dance Institute Professional Dance Program
Lights needed mainly from the sides
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a black background and a long vertical light on each side perhaps and the an octadome on the front giving maybe just 10 % of the light. Also a long box above and behind their heads pointing forward a tad as the hair light. Is that what you are suggesting?

Now what about the floor? Black linoleum? Lights with blue splash? What s most sensible to make it reflective?

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Now for the fist image, what would you come up with as the light appears to be from above?

© Asher Kelman Tableau #1

Colburn School of Music Trudl Zipper Dance Institute Professional Dance Program
​

What lights would you use? What diameter would the light from above me. I'd think a bare light, to make it specular, in a 7" reflector, maybe with trimming of the light edges?

What else?

Asher

 

[Frank Doorhof]

Ok I did not know you wanted to recreate the lights on these shots.

In that case it's fairly simple.
For the last one one spot like strobe from above down, probably open reflector.
The one before 1.90 octa as main and one accent.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Ok I did not know you wanted to recreate the lights on these shots.

In that case it's fairly simple.
For the last one one spot like strobe from above down, probably open reflector.
The one before 1.90 octa as main and one accent.

Thanks Frank,

I want to try to reproduce their lighting and then start being creative and trying other possibilities with gels and maybe water on the floor n a large pan of swimming pool plastic.

Asher

 

[Frank Doorhof]

Look at the shadows.

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

Dance Light

Asher,

With dance like this and stage light, you will need a large studio - stage sized.
And I think some pretty powerful light on a boom arm for the above light - possibly one for every dancer directly above. I think reflectors on the heads would give a similar flavor. No gels - the light is almost bare bulb or Hollywood style - one light per dancer. Barn doors maybe.

 

[Asher Kelman]

© Asher Kelman Tableau #1

Colburn School of Music Trudl Zipper Dance Institute Professional Dance Program

​

Asher,

With dance like this and stage light, you will need a large studio - stage sized.

Thanks for supporting me upgrading. That's what my idea is. I think it could be managed in an area say 30 ft x 40 ft.

And I think some pretty powerful light on a boom arm for the above light - possibly one for every dancer directly above. I think reflectors on the heads would give a similar flavor. No gels - the light is almost bare bulb or Hollywood style - one light per dancer. Barn doors maybe.

Kathy,

Thanks for poping by to help out!

I have been thinking of getting such a boom for hair lights anyway. So that's no big deal to get one now for this. I was thinking of a light in a globe above the dancers in the "golden" scene. I hope I do not need barn doors. If do, then ' likely go for one light per dancer. I own 8 so maybe I have enough but that's not my preferred solution: too many wires and cables!

What's critical is having the room to alter the height of the light to get the right effect. Before trying 6 or 8 flash heads in a circle, Ill try just one bare light at the right height. I'll work with stand-ins to find the best lighting before I get the dancers to the set.

Asher