• Home
  • Reviews Index
  • Best Gear
  • Inspiration
  • Learn
  • Disclaimer
  • Staff/Contact Info
  • Media Kit
  • Membership
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Education Field Instructional

How to Create Watercolor-Like Photographs of Dancers

Chris Gampat
No Comments
06/19/2019
2 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer Profoto B10 first impressions Lydia Wei Standard second curtain sync watercolor

A while back I started out with creating a new series of watercolor like photographs of dancers.

Being a legally blind photographer, part of my ambition has always been to tell stories the way that I see them and to let the world understand how I see the world. Something that I often describe it as is looking at the world and seeing it as a painting. I’ve learned more and more about how to make images look like paintings much to the dismay of pixel peepers. But personally speaking, I don’t care too much about those folks and never have. Instead, I’ve embraced creativity since the beginning. And to that end, I decided that I’d take a moment to share with folks how I’ve been doing a series that I’m currently creating.

White Background

To create an image that looks like a painting you need to start like a painting. The great Bob Ross always had a blank white canvas. You could try starting with Grey, black or another color but I genuinely feel like white will make anything and everything stand out against it more than another color.

A Flash or a Monolight

To really make the white in the scene pop, I’ve added flash to the scene. In this case, I used a Profoto B10 flash. The flash illuminates the subject and washes out the color just a bit while illuminating the background. One could theoretically use a two flash system with one light on the background and one stop brighter. But it isn’t always necessary I’ve found. Instead, I tend to do this with one light.

Overpowered Second Curtain Flash, a Fairly Narrow and a Very Slow Shutter Speed

As stated earlier on, overexpose the flash output. But to get the trails that you see with a bit of sharpness you need to use second curtain flash and a slow shutter speed. I’m capable of handling most cameras down to 1/15th and so you might want to use a tripod or some insane image stabilization.

A Dancer with Colorful, Flowing Clothing

Of course, think about your subject. You’ll need a dancer with flowing clothing that will be able to move about on camera. Be sure to discuss wardrobe with them beforehand.

Communication of Your Idea and Empathy

Lastly, ensure that your collaborator has breaks, water, Gatorade, you communicate framing to them, etc.

Of course, there are a number of other more complicated parts to this, but I’ll encourage you to try it out for yourself.

dancer flash monolight painting photographs Photography portrait profoto watercolor
Shares
Written by

Chris Gampat

Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
Previous Post

Olympus Adds M.Zuiko Digital 2x Teleconverter MC-20, Firmware Updates

Next Post

First Impressions: Hasselblad X1D II (Better in Every Way Possible)

The Phoblographer © 2023 ——Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
Bridging Tech and Creative Photography
  • Home
  • Our Staff
  • Editorial Policies
  • Media Kit
  • Membership
  • App Debug