My best attempt at a "Shane shot". I've been seriously trying for a few weeks to get the impact and emotion that he gets out of his stark lighting dance floor shots, but have get to get it!

Shane, what amd I doing wrong?! Maybe, I need one of his cameras with his mojo or somethin....

Course, this wasn't off camera flash... I cheated and used the videographer's light instead.





Anyone else tried this and want to post 'em? I know a few others have posted 'em in random places, but I thought it would be fun to see what people had come up with in one thread.

Shane, bring on your words of wisdom!

Here's some recent tooling around I did at home. The flash is to the right and behind, and I angled it to shoot down onto the dogs, and I exposed for the ambient, hence a less dramatic look.

From last Saturday. Is this what you're talking about? I had my wife (assitant) hold an off camera flash at various angles on the opposite side of the dance floor and got loads of cool shots.

Click to view attachment

I don't have any. I would have cropped that shot a bit tighter but even as is, it's not a bad shot. I like it quite a bit.

Asside from the shot, I've gotta say - this is the first time I've been to Shane's website and it R O C K S !!!

What a completely fun website. I love it love it love it. It's now added to my bookmarks of sites with fun background music.

I think I'm well past the attempting stage after a few years of doing this, and I know folks have been doing it long before me. Here goes what's handy on the server at the moment. All of these are shot by me:



















Marc

Wow Marc!

Great shots!

Wow... I definitely don't deserve to have a shot named after me! But thanks Chris. I learned this technique from the great Matt McGraw (he really showed me step by step) and by looking at work from Christobal Perez, Sol Tomargo, Matt Adcock, Marc Climie and lots of others. Frank Amodo does this really well too.

http://www.flashflavor.com is a site totally dedicated to using flash to enhance a photograph and create effects.

As far as what I do to get the shot... I set the flash at about 1/4 - 1/8 power either on a light stand or a monopod carried with me. The trick is to mess with f-stop. With most flash photography, the goal is to try to maintain the ambient light... but this works best when you expose for the highlights of the flash instead. When backlighting, I set my f-stop at f/8 or smaller.

It's a great way to draw attention to the subject. But it can quickly take over your photography. I've missed some really great shots because I was playing with the flash. So, be careful to keep the photography real too. But this is a great technique to add unique shots to your client's album! It can create a great sense of intimacy, bringing the viewer right into the heart of a dancing shot.

Have fun!

here are a few past examples:

My wife is standing underneath holding the flash in this one... I didn't even have to clone her out because it was so dark.








This is an extreme high/monopod angle with the flash off-camera.

I agree, cool site Shane.

To the original poster. I think the idea here is pretty simple: Pop a flash at various distances and various angles, against the camera. This "feel" can also be accomplished by working opposite the videographer and using his light to give the effect.

oooooooh! I like this thread...thanks for the insights rock on shane!

This is especially entertaining if you dislike the videographer, as you'll be ducking and dancing in and out of his shot the entire time. The next time some video jocky gives you a dirty look, you just ask him if he'll be using a hot light for the reception, give him a wink and he'll know he's got one coming. Unfortunately *you* don't provide the same drama to his shots. You can always wave, stick your tounge out, or do the "robot" as you take your shots, as this will liven up his shot as a way to return the favor.

LOL. Yes, I think the traditional technique involves keeping some distance and staying low so you don't actually get seen in his shots. Also, I wouldn't do this for more than about a min. He's not going to use all that footage anyway.

I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge that I've been *trying* this stuff this year.

[quote name='Matt Antonino' post='168867' date='July 12 2007, 05:44 PM']I'm pretty sure it's common knowledge that I've been *trying* this stuff this year.

trying? no. succeeding. Great stuff, matt.

I have to admit, as much as I have wanted to try this, I haven't yet. Buuuuuut.... I have done it with video lights and I have accidentally gotten it with another flash! I LOVE Shane's shots and am hoping to rock it at my next wedding!

Here's my beautiful accident from my last wedding


And my fabulous second photographer - Vicki Souza - caught this one with the video light

Autumn, that first shot is KILLER!

What a great accident!

I don't know if these are "Shane" worthy or not, but I'll share a couple from my wedding last week. This was my first wedding or any shoot for that matter indoors, so a real challenge for me. This was also my first time shooting with a videographer there as well. So that had its pluses and minuses. I did find myself being more self conscious than I would like, wondering if I was in their shot; but I also got to use their video light for a little backlight, while they only got it for front light. There was also some cool Christmas lights for ambience. The wedding was at a beautiful hall right on the shore of gorgeous Lake Tahoe.

Loving seeing everyone's shots!

Great thread here. Awesome shots Shawn! Your first indoor wedding wow!!

~Linda

Hey Shane I didn't know that I have been doing your "shots" for years.

Here's a few on the server:








Sometimes I let Mr. Sol "One Light" the shot for me.

I LOVE that shot Autumn - that really came out well. Love the colors / flare. Love those happy accidents.

The second photo looks familiar

i'd like to contribute...

these images are actually pretty hard to get because the subjects are moving on the dance floor. but sometimes, we get lucky... here's what i am able to contribute to the pile.

Thanks, Chris! That means a lot to me coming from a photographer I really admire!

When did I say that?

This is a really inspiring thread. Here's a few more outdoor dance shots from a wedding last month. One with the groom and one with the father.

Wow, Chris. After seeing [actually coveting...(thou shall not. I know)] your shots, I didn't think there was anything you can't do.

Love the thread, thanks to all for posting (keep 'em coming). I'm hoping to try this out soon. Had it all set up at the last wedding and got caught up in the moment and forgot all about the light. (Did I actually admit that ???) Needed you there Shane!

FWIW, I don't think Shane has ever said this is "his" shot - *I* said that in a thread I started when I was testing this out and I don't think it's "his" but he does it better and more frequently than almost anyone's.

Also, when I started testing this, Shane was super helpful, giving me an idea what I'd need to do and what may happen. He didn't "claim" this shot but he's super-helpful in getting others to the point where they can do it.

Great shots everybody! I just got the gadget infinity transmitter/receiver thingies so I'll be trying this more.....but here's one that I did off the videographer's light when I was first playing around with this method....

Oh... and by the way. If you think you guys are tricky with a flash...

Christobal Perez will set up, like, 7 flashes at a reception. And it doesn't look overdone or gimmicky. He just makes stuff real.

Great work everyone!

Chris, Marc, Matt, Shawn... all have killer shots! Ed - Hell yea! I love the last shot! Killer! LOL To all I didn't mention... just couldn't remember your name, but I thought that they were all great shots. I learned this angle from you guys here at the OSP! These are photos from my last wedding...my thrid. I owe these shots to you guys because you showed me where to place myself in angle to the light by posting your photos... Thanks to all of you!

Click to view attachment

Ok, here's mine from my last wedding. Not done with flash, but I thought it turned out pretty nifty. I kept circling around with them trying to catch that disco light! (I've never uploaded here--I hope I do this right)

Here's about the closest I've come so far. Course this is only my 5th wedding I've shot at so I have a long ways to go. Took turns with the other shooter holding a little softbox I have on a monopod with a 580 stuck in it. ST-E2 on camera to trigger it. Works great in small areas.

Super stuff you guys! I'm totally inspired and will have to play with this. I'm gonna sift through my stuff to see if I've done this accidentally hehe. Keep 'em coming, I wanna see more!

I know this thread is getting old, but I'm still working on the same wedding and just found this happy accident. This flash was from one of the guests, but I thought it made an awesome effect!

Click to view attachment

+1 but don't like the double-flash of the images in the slideshow

Yeah, I talked to Bigfolio about that and they said they couldn't fix it. But they did offer to change the template. I just like that template too much... so I live with the little flashes.

These are from this weekend. This was an outdoor reception with NO exterior lights. The only light was coming from tea candles placed on the tables. If I did not have this technique in my bag of tricks, I would have had only boring, dead-on flash for the entire reception. This is another good reason to learn off-camera, and multiple light source techniques.

Totally agree. Having the external light source behind them acts as a rim light. If it wasn't there the hair would fade in with the trees. This adds more depth.

I use this all of the time, coming from a portrait based studio. I was taught lighting and the whole works around it. On the go, I find it hard to expose for rim lighting, or ambient light. This is my hardest challenge!

What type of off camera flash do you use Shane? I know you mentioned on a stand or monopod, but what flash unit?

At this wedding, I used two-three sb800s on lightstands. I also used a handheld sb800 via sync-cord.

so yeah, it's cool and all to shoot like that.... but it's way cooler if you get a shot of Jesus like that!