DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

On Assignment: Strip Lighting Pole Dancers for Allure Fitness

Jan 17, 2018 by JP Danko 2 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Allure Fitness pole dancing fitness instructors.

Some photography gigs you take to pay the bills, some photography gigs you take because they’re just awesome.

This assignment for Allure Fitness was most definitely the latter.

In this article, I will share the lighting setup I used for this series of photos of Allure’s pole dancing fitness instructors.

Lighting Setup and Camera Settings For Pole Dancing

The lighting setup that I used for the majority of this assignment was super simple. One light to the side and slightly in front, one light to the opposite side and slightly behind. Both lights pointing directly at each other to cross light the model with a very dramatic, edgy look.

The lights I used for the pole dancers were a pair of Elinchrom Quadra 400Ws strobes (now the Elinchrom ELB 400).

One key issue with shooting in a dance studio is that all of the walls are covered with mirrors. Because of this, any light spill bounces all over the room and can ruin your image.

To minimize light spill, I used a pair of 16×55 Impact Luxbanx Strip Softboxes with grids.

The strobes were set directly opposite of each other, so that pretty much any position that the ladies managed to contort themselves into would work well with the lighting setup.

Working with the ladies on posing, we tried to have their face towards the light on the right (slightly in front) for the most flattering look.

Here is the lighting diagram:

Allure Fitness Lighting Setup

The camera was a Nikon D800 with a Sigma ART 50mm f/1.4 set to ISO 100, f/8, 1/125th, strobe white balance. The power of the strobes were set for a proper highlight exposure with both strobes set to the exact same power.

The images were finished off in Lightroom. I ended up delivering a full color set to my client for their promotional material – but I also converted a set to black and white – I just think that the form and action look a little more interesting in black and white.

Here are the finished photos from the session:

Allure Fitness pole dancing fitness instructors.

Allure Fitness pole dancing fitness instructors.

Allure Fitness pole dancing fitness instructors.

Allure Fitness pole dancing fitness instructors.

Allure Fitness pole dancing fitness instructors.

Allure Fitness pole dancing fitness instructors.

Lighting Setup And Camera Settings For Motion Blur

After we were done with the main set of images I though that it might be cool to try something a little different and add some motion blur.

I used a single hardware store LED spotlight on the floor (bottom left below) with a CTB gel (the wall is pink, so appears purple with the blue light). The exposure is set for the LED hot light (a constant light source) and there is a single strobe with the same strip softbox and grid on the left.

My camera settings (same camera and lens) for these photos were ISO 100, f/8, 2s, strobe white balance, rear curtain sync (this is really important so that the strobe fires at the end of the exposure, not at the beginning).

It took a little practice to figure out a smooth two second movement that did not overlap the motion too much and ended in a good position facing the softbox.

Again the images were processed in Lightroom, which was mostly a matter of increasing the contrast and saturation.

Allure Fitness pole dancing fitness instructors.

Allure Fitness pole dancing fitness instructors.

Let Us Know What You Think!

Do you think this series turned out well – what would you have done differently?

Do you like black and white – or do you think color would work better?

Anything not making sense with the setup?

Leave us a comment and share your thoughts!

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Dutch Photographer Shows The Athletic Side Of Pole Dancing In Original Photo Series “Pole Fitness” pole dancer pole dancing fitness instructor jp danko toronto commercial photographerDramatic Lighting for Pole Dancing Fitness Instructors Dancers Bare It All In Streets Of NYC For Striking Portrait Series: Dancers After Dark [NSFW] DIY Studio Lighting – The Strip Light That Won’t Strip You

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: lighting, sports photography

JP Danko: from diyphotography.net

About JP Danko

JP Danko is a commercial photographer based in Toronto, Canada. JP
can change a lens mid-rappel, swap a memory card while treading water, or use a camel as a light stand.

To see more of his work please visit his studio website blurMEDIAphotography, or follow him on Twitter, 500px, Google Plus or YouTube.

JP’s photography is available for licensing at Stocksy United.

« Tattoo fixer Jay Hutton under fire after offering to pay wedding photographer with exposure
Kodak to resurrect their Super 8 camera and here is a sample video »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Samyang adds 100mm T2.3 to its compact autofocus cine prime lineup
  • Build your own DIY night vision camera with a Raspberry Pi
  • This adorable LEGO retro camera set hits the stores soon
  • Here are the cameras that shot Flickr’s best images
  • Meta AI image generator Imagine gets its own website

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy