Flash, Movement, and Missteps: Photographing Diane & Alvaro Dancing Salsa

Capturing Motion with Style (and the Occasional Lighting Mishap)

For this month’s interview feature, I wanted to do something a bit more dynamic. Diane was the subject, and instead of the usual seated portrait, I thought: why not capture her doing something she loves? So we brought in Alvaro, who also happens to be part of a separate project I’ve just started, and got them dancing salsa together.

It was also a good excuse to revisit a lighting setup I’d first tested years ago while photographing a martial artist mid-kick. It had worked well then, and I’ve been meaning to refine it. Plus, I had a large lite panel I bought in New York that had travelled to more weddings than it had been used at. This was its moment.

Testing the Setup, Solving the Wardrobe

The terrace became our makeshift studio. The main light came from the panel; the second was a bare flash head, occasionally with a grid. I asked Diane and Alvaro to aim for a marked spot so I could roughly prefocus—visibility dropped fast after sunset, and by then, I was shooting at 1/10 sec.

Alvaro arrived wearing a white T-shirt, which is less than ideal under flash—too bright, unbalances the shot. I handed him one of my own jumpers in a better tone, and we carried on. Shooting in manual flash mode means I control exposure, but white still dominates a frame more than you’d think.

Unexpected Ghosts and a Favourite Shot

The most puzzling issue was a kind of ghosting—almost like a double exposure—possibly from flash bouncing off surrounding surfaces. We were outside, so it shouldn’t have been that strong, but photography is rarely as straightforward as it looks.

The image I liked best probably won’t make the article. Diane isn’t clearly visible, which defeats the point for an interview portrait. Still, for me, it’s the most successful frame. There’s always a balance between capturing motion and telling a story. Sometimes, the image that speaks loudest doesn’t show everything.