Kelly Pratt, a husband and wife photographic team, had a vision: A vision of a ballet dancer, straight lines and shadows falling across her body. This vision required a large studio space and great lighting techniques. Luckily they had both.
The team wanted to capture an elegant and modern look and to show off the dancer Vanessa’s grace and strength. With everything they had in mind, they realized that it wouldn’t be easy. First off, to create the lines falling across the wall, they needed to make an 8 foot cookie (a device to cast shadows patterns or silhouettes). They set up their trusted Profoto B1 Off-Camera Flash, and by simply moving it around they were able to change the direction and stretch of the shadows.
To be able to create hard and dramatic shadows they needed to place the flash far away and visualize how the shadows would fall on the dancer. “The modeling light on the B1 was especially helpful for this setup”, writes Kelly.
“For our second setup, we shot against a white backdrop, giving Vanessa more freedom for some jumps and larger movements. We stuck with the monochromatic look, using the Profoto Magnum Reflector (sometimes with a 10 degree grid, sometimes without) to create hard, crisp, but very flattering light”, writes Kelly.
Head over to Kelly’s blog for a more detailed setup and more images.
Learn more about the B1 Off-Camera Flash.