If you are a Dancer, here's how to get the best results from your Photographer.

Hafla's are enjoyable occasions, and everybody seems to like a 'snap' to remind them of the event and the people they were with. If you just want a holiday snap standard of picture then don't bother with this article - but if you want your pictures to look really good then the hints and tips below will help your friendly, local, photographer to get the best possible pictures of you.

One: Dance in the pools of light.

Most Hafla's are undertaken in very low light levels and the combination of movement and small amounts of light make it very hard for a good photo to be taken. The camera wants to do a slow shutter speed to collect lots of light, but this means that it needs to be held very still. It really wants to be on a tripod, but you cannot compose a good shot of a dancer 'doing their own thing' unless you can move around and get the angles and framing right. Another problem of photographing movement, in low light, with therefore a slow shutter speed, is that you get movement blur. This can be very attractive - the swirl of a dress softened and enhanced by the blur - but too much can just look out of focus. You also get camera shake, tiny movements of the photographers hands that aren't a problem with a fast shutter speed - but which make a photo look blurred in these conditions. If you use flash to suppliment the light levels you then create more problems such as red-eye, and the tendency for flash to flatten textures and create deep shadows that look very unattractive. So, you can help your photographer friend by getting to a position where light falls upon you - either natural light from a window, or artificial light from lamps or spots.

Two: Dance facing away from the middle of the group of dancers.

The tendency of dancers is, of course, to face into the centre of the crowd. This is natural but unfortunately the typical photographer at an event will be on the periphery of the dancing. What they see is a load of backs and bums! There are ways to deal with this to some degree, like the photographer shooting at an angle across the edge of the dance group, but if you're a dancer who wants to see some photographs of yourself then turning round and facing outwards is one of the best ways you can help.

Three: Repeat your moves.

Unless your photographer knows you very well, and knows your dance style intimately, they will find it very hard to take a shot at just the right moment. The right moment is, of course, when you're in a flattering position which will look nice and dramatic in the photograph. The best way to help the photographer to get this shot is to repeat your moves. The photographer will, most likely, miss the moment on the first time through but will recognise that you're doing the same movement again and be ready the second time. Doing the same move about four times could mean three photo's - the best of which can be taken and used.

Four: Dance with energy.

You may feel that you're moving quite a bit when you're dancing but it takes fairly dramatic moves to show up on a photograph as action. One or two shots of you in a calm and relaxed posture are fine, but the best shots have a bit of drama in them. So when you see the photographer then 'go for it!' and put some energy into your movements. There is a side-effect in that this will also make your costume move in a more dramatic fashion, with swirling folds of cloth, and swinging beads and coins.

Five: Dance with a Friend.

Some of the best shots I have obtained have been where two people have been dancing close to each other. The interaction between them, both movement and expression, adds greatly to the shot. So, if you can, dance close to a friend.

If you are a Photographer, here's how to get the best photographs of the Dancers.

One: Get the right film (and decide if you're going to use flash).

Use the fastest film you can get a hold of, and that your camera can use. I use either Kodak Gold ISO 1000 film, or FUJI Fujicolour 1600, both of which are relatively easy to buy at ordinary commerical outlets. My preference is for the FUJI which does well in really appalling conditions. You can use a slower film, but only if you're prepared to use a lot of flash to improve the light conditions. I try not to interfere with the dancing too much - after all the dancers have come to the event to dance, not to be on a catwalk - so I try to avoid flash if at all possible. The problems with flash also include 'red eye' and the tendency to get harsh shadows which detract from the shots.

If you own a digital camera chances are it's fully automatic. Unless you get a top of the range model they're designed to think for themselves. You must remember that a typical digital camera works at the equivalent level of ISO 100 film. In other words it expects lots of light. Without this level of light you may find that the shots you take are clear but lacking in colour saturation - the lack of light producing an effect where all the colours in the shot are muddy and dull. You'll need to use flash to compensate for this, and because flash drops-off in its brightness very dramatically over distance you are better off taking shots of dancers who are no more than six to ten feet away. The advantage of the digital camera is that it often has built-in 'balancing' software to cope with the effects of tungston and fluorescent lighting - one less thing to worry about.

Two: Work around your shutter speed.

Most automatic cameras faced with the typical low light Hafla environment will slow its shutter speed down to a point where it feels that it can get a good shot. It will probably sink - even with a fast film - to 1/30th or 1/15th of a second. At these speeds you should be using a tripod to take your shots, but if you want anything more than a fixed broad view of the dancers this is unacceptable. If you want to frame a single dancer properly then you have to be able to move about. Furthermore camera-shake will cause you to lose detail in your shots at a shutter speed of less than 1/60th. So, if your camera will accept it, then you should override the shutter speed and force your camera to a speed of no less than 1/60th. I use a manual camera so I have no problem with this, but some cheaper automatic 35mm cameras won't let you do this - insisting on taking control. If you own one then your choice is to buy a cheap manual camera for these occasions, or get an expensive automatic that will give you control, or use flash to raise the light level.

When you do force the shutter speed up you will find another problem. The camera will then require a wide aperture which will reduce the depth of field available. The depth of field is the amount of the picture that is in focus. A good depth of field, say from an aperture of f16 will give you everything in focus from close to distant objects. When the aperture is opened up, say to f2, (aperture numbers get smaller the larger the hole) you will find that only objects at middle position are in focus, those closer to and further away from the camera are out of focus. Now under some conditions you will find that this produces a nice effect - a clear dancer against a gently out-of-focus background - but when a dancer moves towards you or away from you then what you find is that you have to re-focus quickly. A camera with autofocus will, of course, try to do this for you - but I warn you, some autofocus cameras have a hard time focussing in low light conditions and you will find the poor thing struggling to get a clear picture. Depth of field however can be improved by a good choice of lens - see below.

Three: Filter out artificial light effects, if you can.

If you know the venue then you can use a filter to correct the colour cast from the artifical light. Most halls are lit by tungsten lamps which will make your shots look orange when they are developed - correct this by a mid-range blue filter (I use a HOYA 80B). If the venue is lit by fluorescent lamps these give a much more natural light, with just a hint of green on the final shot - this can be dealt with by special 'flourescent' filters. The only problem with any filter is that they reduce the amount of light getting to the camera - confounding the low-light problems I've talked about earlier. An alternative approach is to buy an 'indoor' film which has been specially formulated to correct the problem. You may have to order it specially but your local specialist camera shop should be able to order you some 'indoor' film which is formulated to deal with tungsten lighting.

Four: Use a short zoom lens.

The best lens I've found for Hafla's is a short zoom, something in the region of 45mm to 120mm range. For 35mm cameras a 50mm lens gives the same view as your natural eye and a short zoom as described above should allow you to go from slightly wide-angle through to portraits without having to swap lenses. The other advantage is that such a lens at wide-angle should give you a better depth-of-field allowing you to do less focusing and concentrate on getting a good, well framed, shot.

Five: Get a good position.

Find a location where the light is behind you and falling on the dancers. Make this your base but be prepared to move away if required. Behind the drummers is a good spot, if there's room, for many dancers watch the drummers while they dance and this means they're also facing you. If everybody is facing inwards to the centre of the dance floor then your best position is shooting across the edge of the circle - as in the diagram below. This will ensure that you can at least get a profile view of the dancers and as the evening goes on different dancers will come to the edge.

Six: Watch the moves the dancer makes.

Dancers will do some pretty spectacular moves, and the first time they do so they'll probably 'catch you napping' but don't worry. The nature of the dance, and even improvisation, is that some moves are repeated quite frequently. Watch the dancer closely and learn the sequences that dancer uses - this will allow you to be ready when the spectacular move arrives. This technique can even be used when a dancer has their back to you. Watch for the clues that say that the dancer is going to spin, you should then be ready to snap at the moment they are facing you.

Seven: Make contact with the dancers.

My final comment is nothing to do with photographic technique, but important nontheless. Talk to the dancers. Get to know them and let them know who you are and why you're there. Many dancers find it a bit intimidating having someone they don't know taking photo's of them. Don't act like a voyeur, stalker, or member of the paparazzi. Share your results with the dancers and remember that if you intend to use any shots for personal gain then you need the model to sign over the rights to the shot to you. Happy snapping!