What to Expect from a Dance Photo Session

BEFORE

I'm so happy you’ve decided to book a dance shoot with me.

The first step will be to agree on a date and time for your dance photo session. Once we have a date, time and location I’ll send you a contract that summarizes the appointment. 

Once everything is agreed upon, I do require a $200 retainer to hold our appointment. This can be paid in cash, e-transfer or PayPal.

I work with very talented individuals who do professional hair and makeup. Each service can be arranged for $100 per session. If you do your own, please focus on neutral tones and colours unless discussed otherwise.

DURING

When you arrive at the studio the first thing I’ll do is show you around. From there we’ll hang up / spread out all of the outfits you brought for the session. If something is a little wrinkled, don’t worry I have a steamer and I’ll touch it up. From there we’ll start putting together outfits and talk about how the session is going to go.

You are always allowed to bring a friend, family member or choreographer with you to the session. We have lots of comfortable seating. Behind the scenes photos are fine as long as they do not interfere with the safety of the shoot.

I like to change outfits often unless there is a reason to photograph one more than the other. Bring more than you think you’ll need. It’s better to have too much than too little. I’ll try to shoot as many outfits as I can.

If we’re doing a dance portfolio session we’ll start with headshots as hair and makeup will be at its best.

Once we start with dance photography there are a couple of different ways we can photograph.

  1. The first is a technical shoot where we have specific poses and techniques in mind and we work to recreate them while adding our own personalities. We will photograph the same technique or movement multiple times and from different angles to make sure it is both artistic and technically sound.

  2. The second is more of a flow where you would go through a routine or a free dance. You can express yourself, but I’ll probably interrupt have you go back a move, change angles, etc.

  3. We can do both during our session.

The session won’t be like a performance, we will repeat movements until we are both happy with the image. As we review the images during the session I really value your input. If something in the image doesn’t look right let me know and we’ll fix it. If you’re not comfortable with a move or technique please tell me, I would never want to see anyone injured during a shoot.

AFTER

We had a great shoot, made lots of good images, now what?

The first thing I’ll do is download the memory cards and back up the files. From there I will create a proof list of out of the camera, unedited files. The proof list usually take a week to create and send to you.

The proof list will be emailed to you and you will make your final image selections from it. The images might have items like lights, equipment, stray hairs etc. If we choose an image like that as a final all of those things are corrected.

Once I have you selections I will edit the images. It usually takes about 2 weeks to get the final images back to you. I can deliver via email or dropbox. Prints, canvases and books can take 2 - 4 weeks for delivery .