I generally get a chance to shoot these lovely ladies dancing at their burlesque shows, but never really wrote about how i shoot one.
There are a few things you need to think about for shooting a show in low light and a couple of settings i would use to get the shots.
Light, or lack of…
The main thing you’ll generally find that causes problems with shooting is light. The lighting is generally as pretty low, and you have to bump that ISO through the roof. For this show, i generally ran it around ISO2500-3200. This produces a bit of grain, but allows me to use a shutter speed of around 1/125th-160th.
Hardware
For such a low light shoot, without flash, i would always go with a full frame camera, and a lens or two that let a lot of light in.
Shooting Modes
The other thing i change is to shoot in Continuous mode. The dancers do move quite quickly sometimes, and continuous shooting just helps get the shot i want.
White Balance
Get your white balance dialled in before the dancers start. This helps when editing, as you can do a good portion of the editing on masse later, rather than individually.
Getting on with shooting
Now your setup and ready to shoot, you now get to enjoy the burlesque.
This show was put on by Chicas Locas Burlesque and Skytribe Dance Studio.
It’s always a pleasure being at these shows and watch some fantastically talented people.
I think i’ll let the images speak for themselves.
I have a small storefront that highlights a lot of the kit i use.
Gareth Norman Photography Amazon Storefront
Finally, have fun and stay safe, and enjoy shooting.
Any suggestions for future blog posts, drop me an email. I will at some point be going into more detail on future posts.
you can see more of my work at
#garethnormanphotography #portraits #burlesque #eventphotography
About Me
I’m Gareth, a 39 year old IT contractor, Photographer, Eternal Optimist and Blogger. I have been behind a camera for about 4 years now and love shooting the stars, and anything else for that matter. Learning is the main aim for me. I am a family man, and strive to be the best i can be in all fields that i put my mind and heart to.
