I think a basic knowledge of how to work with a flash is a very powerful tool in any dance photography. I had to rely on it during the chase festival's first and last evening dances so I'd like to share some of the photos and some of the links that I found very useful.
I had my flash in a fixed spot on a remote trigger and I would bounce the light off the ceiling. This allows for a small unit to create a big apparent light source and let the light be soft. Having the flash in a fixed spot meant I had to choose the dancers I wanted to photograph based on where they were in relation to my flash.
If you are interested in learing to use your flash I can highly recommend reading the Lighting 101 tutorial series. It goes through the concepts and builds you up very nicely. I would say it's the thing that both got me excited about flash and gave me the confidence I needed to get started. Can't recommend it highly enough!
As a bonus if you get through 101 and 102 in not too long Lighting 103 is coming out soon and I'll definitely be following.
As the flash is practically instantaneous it gives a lot of choice to show movement with how much ambient light we let in. In all of the photos here you can see that parts of the people are sharp and in focus and parts of the people are moving and ghostly. This balancing act of how much of what light to let in is very tricky and also very subjective. To get to grips with it this video from Adorama goes into the basics nicely.
Let me know if you liked this article in the comments below! Tell me if you want to know about my gear, more about my techniques, or more of the stories behind the photos.
I've also decided to start a newsletter for the people that want to hear about my posts but don't want to have to keep checking my website and my facebook. I won't put out a mail more than once a month and I'll keep it clean. I don't like spam so I'll try to not push anything crap your way ;) The first one will go out in January so sign up here:
chasefestival.com - Chase festival website
strobist.blogspot.no/2006/03/lighting-101 - David Hobby's Strobist lighting course
strobist.blogspot.no/2016/07/lighting-102 - The second Strobist lighting course
strobist.blogspot.no/2016/12/lighting-103-starts-in-january - I'm very excited for this!
youtube.com/watch... - Adorama video on Flash and ambient with Mark Wallace
SeanBeardMoose.com - My website and portfolio
facebook.com/SeanBeardMoose - My facebook page