Wedding Photography - Dance Floor Photos
Trying to get motion, moment and timing right on the dance floor at weddings. - Fuji XH-1 + 23mm 1.4 - 1sec | F16 | ISO 200
This is a short post, mainly for fellow photographers about how I take my dance floor photos. It’s a commonly used technique know as dragging the shutter and I’ll go over how I do it and show some results and hopefully show you how you can master dragging the shutter for your wedding photography.
This is about the only part of the day where I will use flash and over the years I’ve favoured this approach to a natural light approach to dance floor photos.
Read on to find out more!
Getting light trails can be hit and miss, after some practice you can start to estimate what will happen. - Fuji XH-1 + 23mm 1.4 - 1/8th sec | F11 | ISO 1000
GEAR
For the dance floor I usually put one of my cameras away and use with one on a strap around my neck, getting close is really helpful here and having only one camera to worry about really helps that.
This is my dance floor flash setup, a Fuji XH-1, 23mm lens (or sometimes the 16mm if the dance floor is really packed or small) and a Godox TT350.
I used to use the Nissin i40 which is great but the numbers started to wear off the dials and having an LCD screen is super useful, they are also really small flashes that pair well with the Fuji X System.
You can achieve this effect with any flashgun and camera, the process and settings are all the same.
Sometimes it helps to pick a wider focal length, especially if the dance floor is tight. - Fuji XH-1 + 16mm 1.4 - 1/8th sec | F10 | ISO 2000
SETTINGS
The settings for dance floor photos like this always change, I’ve added the exposure info on each of the photos here so you can see what they are shot at. Ambient light, artificial light and disco lights all play a part in getting the right shot, luckily once you’ve got the settings nailed they really need to change all that much.
Step 1. - Get the ambient + disco light looking how you want it.
I always start with these settings: F11 - 1/8th sec / ISO 1000 - White Balance: Sunny
Take a shot and see how it looks, keep tweaking that exposure till you have nice light trails and not too much ambient light.
Step 2. - Dial in the flash
Once you’re happy with that it’s time to add in the flash, I keep it on manual for the flash, starting on about 1/8th power pointing straight out in front of me, zoomed in all the way.
Take a shot and dial in the flash only to get the exposure you want, you may need to alter this as you go as being closed to subjects is going to affect the final look.
Step 3. - Shoot and refine your settings
Once these settings are done it’s time to get to shooting, keep the camera moving during the exposure, and if there are lights, point the camera at these at the end of the shutter. This all takes trial and error and all dance floors are different, but this should get you off to a good start.
Timing is everything with dance floor shots. - Fuji XH-1 + 23mm 1.4 - 1/2 sec | F16 | ISO 200
Giving the camera a big ‘swoosh’ during the exposure allows you to paint the light trails. - Fuji XH-1 + 23mm 1.4 - 1 sec | F16 | ISO 320
Once you have the settings in, it’s quick to grab shots of other random happenings - Fuji XH-1 + 23mm 1.4 - 1 sec | F14 | ISO 200
EDITING
Once you’ve got your shots they will need some love in post production, I always start with my general preset for weddings and change it up slightly for editing dance floor photos.
Adding a bit of contrast and upping the exposure is what it normally needs, and sometimes altering the white balance, but I find shooting with sunny white balance give my photos the look I’m after (using auto white balance will make the images very blue)
I’ll include some before and after photos here so you can see what they look light right out of the camera and once they are through the editing process.
(CLICK PHOTOS TO SEE BEFORE/AFTER)
↑ Fuji XH-1 + 23mm 1.4 - 1/2 sec - F14 - ISO 640
↑ Fuji XH-1 + 16mm 1.4 - 1/8 sec - F11 - ISO 2000
↑ Fuji XH-1 + 23mm 1.4 - 1/8 sec - F11 - ISO 1000
↑ Fuji XH-1 + 23mm 1.4 - 1/2 sec - F16 - ISO 200
↑ Fuji XH-1 + 23mm 1.4 - 1/2 sec - F16 - ISO 200
summary
So that’s pretty much how I roll on the dance floor for a wedding, this method keeps it light and simple as well as consistent, which for me is the best way to take dance floor photos and leads to getting some really fun moments!
If you have enjoyed reading this post and found it useful then feel free to leave a comment, or if you have any questions then do let me know and I’ll be happy to back to you.
Cheers,
Col-
