Carl Hutzler’s Blog

This week I shot three days of portraits at the ballet studio in Fairfax, Virginia in the Washington DC area. It was a lot of work but very rewarding. The lighting set-up was simple and flattering to the students: two big silver umbrellas at 45° each in front and two bare flashes behind the students also at 45° which added some separation from the black backdrop and some hair highlights as well. The lighting is not “dramatic” but it does the job and provides a lot of space for the students to do all types of positions and jumps. With other set-ups, the photographer has to move lights around a lot and we simply did not have time in the 30 minute slots to do that. Perhaps we will do some more creative work early next year with longer sessions for the older kids. They may want that for their portfolios as well. Lighting diagram