Vibrant colors, amazing energy, and beautiful dancers… I was lucky enough to be able to attend and shoot photos at this wonderful Tahitian dancing competition held earlier this year. The Tahiti Fête is also held in San Jose and Mexico.
Indoor lighting was bad: small stadium, overhead lights, and the sunlight pouring in from the doors/windows facing away from the dancers.
My solution: Off-camera flash (vivitar 285hv) to balance the light, clamped high on the bleachers about 150ft away with a gorillapod (I love these). I set it to 1/2 power to save batteries and used a high ISO (800) for higher sensitivity. The ambient was underexposed a couple stops to make the dancers “pop”. This technique will give you a look that no on-camera flash can get. Awesome flattering light.
Here are my favorites:
