Dance lighting setup

UPDATE November 5 2020

Because the Saberstrip v2.0s are not available I decided to use several Cheetahstand strip boxes and their Lantern which in checking their site is no longer available. I can understand why retailers discontinue items if they don’t sell well, but it’s a shame. I now own 10% of my lighting gear I use regularly that are no longer offered by dealers; like the Saberstrip v2.0s, the K5600 Big Eye Fresnel, the PCB Retro Laser, etc. Sad…

Here are a few of the shots using this lighting.

I exclusively use Flashpoint strobes and I know in the past Cheetahstand sold Godox lights as well. My personal view is Adorama must have contracted Godox as their primary US retailer of their products which put Cheetahstand out. For my work the whole Xplor line is remarkable.

UPDATE February 11 2019

I realized I had posted some of my lighting techniques under a different blog heading about the v2.0 Saberstrip modifiers, which I consider to be a revolutionary modifier, but had not updated this post. I do so because I find the v2.0 Saberstrips to be almost invaluable for me in creating dance imagery. In some cases I have used three of them to light dancers in studio. As an overhead light on a boom arm and two on each side of the dancers as rim lights. It creates a very dramatic sculpture of their forms as they move. I have also taken to using my 10″ Fresnel to light dancers. I love the light produced by a large lens Fresnel. A hard contrasty light that is unlike any other modifier.

The following images were all created with three v2.0 Saberstrips as shown in my photo above.

The following were shot with a backlight with a cone, three v2.0 Saberstrips and the Fresnel as a fill light.

And finally two v2.0 Saberstrips and the Fresnel as a key light.

For me experimenting with light is one of the most exciting parts of dance photography. Don’t be afraid to experiment, otherwise all of your images will begin to look the same. And what fun is that?

UPDATE October 12 2017

In my review of Cheetahstand’s Quick Stripbox and Lantern I have shown my lighting setups for a different dance troupe. You can view that post here.

Original Post

I was recently hired to do an annual studio dance session by one of my long time clients. I’m posting this to show how I use xPLOR, eVOLV, Cheetahstand, CononMark, etc lights and modifiers in a session. This was an all-day session lasting approximately 6.5 hours of nonstop shooting. I had charged both the Xplor and eVOLV lights to full the day before. I never even ran close to running out of battery power on any of the strobes. All of the strobes showed half full at the end of the day. My Canon 1DXII showed 25% battery life left at the end of the day to give you some reference. I was using the WFT-E6A wireless transmitting dongle on my camera to wirelessly tether my rig to my iPad so the client could view the images as they happened. Using the transmitter uses more battery life than without.

There seems to be quite a bit of ‘talk’ that certain brands of modifiers/lights/etc. must be used in order to ‘be a pro.’ Nonsense. How one uses gear, how one engages with the talent and how one uses their imagination are the most important part of imagery to my clients. So I post this in hopes that it will help other shooters who are interested in multi light set ups, but not hung up on brand names or scientific theories about what makes a true parabola or other talking points. When people ask me what is the one thing I would have for gear over everything else, I always say your imagination. Years ago I was blessed to be able to spend time with Annie Leibovitz and I asked her “How do I shoot more like you?” Her response? “Don’t shoot like me Mark, shoot like you. It’s the only way to develop your own style.”

Some of my final images.