Off-camera flash is a trick I pull out of my back pocket every single wedding. I guess, at that point, it’s not much of a trick anymore- but you get the idea 😉
As you probably know, between low-light and moving subjects, dancing shots are not easy to capture. Usually I’m sweating, and laughing, and thankful I have super fast batteries.
But all in all, dancing shots are a great part of the wedding reception, so many fun memories involved, and well worth knowing how to capture.
So here goes.
Â
My recipe for dance shots:
1. Off camera flash triggered wirelessly to my camera. Set the flash on a stand or table where desired, acting as a backlight.
2. On camera flash to expose the subjects with a medium shutter speed, set on manual. The flash will freeze the motion so you don’t have to worry too much about blur.
3. Persevere. Sometimes it feels like it takes 30 shots to get one keeper, but that’s the nature of candid dancing shots. Guests typically aren’t thinking, “I should be photogenic right now”, so you keep shooting, keep checking if the images are sharp, keep sweating 😉
Here’s a smattering of dance shots from the past few weddings- I noticed a tangible difference when I upgraded my speed-light, but the technique is the same.
**These were all shot on digital vs film
