Other photographers who don’t have a particular focus on capturing dance photos can’t achieve the specialization that we offer at 530. Many dancers come to us after a previous session with a non-dance-specific photographer. They are left with photos that look great from a photography perspective but are not usable or technically sound from a dancer’s perspective—this could be the difference between portfolio-level images or throw-away shots and thus the difference between landing a job or not. Another huge differentiator is that we do not rush the process. We understand it takes time to achieve the exact images you need, and we are here to guide you through it all.

We only use Photoshop for cosmetic edits like temporary skin blemishes, not changing our dancer’s abilities. We always seek approval of our edits before delivering final images to our clients, as we want every dancer to have complete autonomy and pride in their work. When you see an image, we want you to say: “This is 100% me.”

We combine our technical understanding of dance poses and photography expertise to give directions and adjustments that help translate how movement can best be executed for the camera.

Clothing, costumes, accessories, and props tell part of the story. Our extensive wardrobe is curated to highlight the dancing body best. Each piece in our collection is specifically selected because of how it complements your form and lines. Depending on your body, we can guide you on which costume might fit and look best to the camera. Besides our large selection of commercially available pieces, we also work with a professional costume designer to continuously create custom pieces to make our images stand out. We create our custom dancewear with the dancer in mind by prioritizing your ability to move and maintaining your comfort while dancing. We offer our dancers-of-a-kind costuming so that you walk away with one-of-a-kind images.

We don’t believe in leaving our dancers in the dark on shoot day. We have a big monitor on set, where our dancer has full control over zooming in to compare details, selecting images that are favorites, or deleting images that don’t represent their work. The monitor is very helpful in seeing details in real time as we all work together, perfecting each pose.

We always discuss image goals and aesthetics before the shoot happens, and we make sure to come to every shoot with a collection of inspiration images. We understand these images are only for our inspiration throughout the day, but we like to include them in our creative process. It is simply a tool we use to ease communication and bridge the gap between the dance and photography world. If we like an arm position, a lighting style, or even just the mood conveyed in a photo, it can be helpful for us to include them as part of our mood board so we have something to build off of and strive to make our own throughout our shoot. If you have a “want to capture” list from other dance photography you’ve seen, feel free to bring it for inspiration! Post-shoot, we continue working as a team throughout the editing process. Images are not final until they are approved by our dancers.

I always smile when I hear this question. It’s a funny business model; after all, most dancers don’t have pockets full of cash. Commercial photography is far more lucrative, but the answer is simple. If you know what it feels like to give everything for a performance, to leave it all on the stage, then you already know the answer: it’s love. It’s a challenge to transform your three-dimensional art form into a two-dimensional image. To succeed, we have to work as a team, and we both have to bring our best.

We’re located in Hamilton, New Jersey—easily accessible by train if you’re coming from Philly or NYC.

You’re always welcome to call us at 862-465-8181 or email us at info@530photography.com. The quickest way to get started is to fill out our contact form and the short questionnaire along with it.