Candid catwalking 1

NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
edited December 30, 2010 in People
A small young ladies fashion wear shop opened in our small city in an ally off one of the main shopping streets. To celebrate and to advertise they put on a party and fashion show after-hours in the ally to show off some of their summer clothes. It was a suitably small affair, about 60 people, including 3 photogs. I have never shot fashion before, so I thought I would go along to get initiated! By the time the girls, from a local modeling agency, began the sun had already set and it was quickly getting dark in the ally where the buildings overshadowed all. There was no lighting. I didn't use flash. It was windy. The ally space was cramped. The girls were moving quickly to get through everything while people could still see them!!.:huh Well, I was certainly getting initiated!:whew I had a 40D and 35mm f1.4L, so I put my trust in them and hoped.:D These were all hand held, shot in RAW, all are heavily cropped, processed in Bibble5Pro and Photoshop with various plugins. I would like to show you them (this is the first small batch) just for fun mainly and to record this initiation, but I would welcome all comments to help me assess how I did!:thumb


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Neil
"Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

http://www.behance.net/brosepix

Comments

  • jirojiro Registered Users Posts: 1,865 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2010
    Nice models if I may say. mwink.gif I think you did good. My only comment is that the cropping is bit too tight (for me). All in all I think you really did a good work on your images. thumb.gif
    Sitting quietly, doing nothing. Spring comes and the grass grows by itself.

    http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/
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  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2010
    jiro wrote: »
    Nice models if I may say. mwink.gif I think you did good. My only comment is that the cropping is bit too tight (for me). All in all I think you really did a good work on your images. thumb.gif

    Thanks jiro! Yeah, the crops are very tight all right, these would be round 40-50%!eek7.gif One reason was that the models came very close and I was angling the camera to get as much of them in the frame as possible, even with 35mm. But afterwards I had to correct a lot of the slant I had, thus losing a good part of the image. Also, in that tight space cropping was the best option to remove some of the other bodies, spectators and other models who were on the carpet. On the plus side, I found the crops captured more of what each model was projecting.

    Neil
    "Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

    http://www.behance.net/brosepix
  • jirojiro Registered Users Posts: 1,865 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2010
    Well, that explains the tight crop then. Your #2 image is a stunner for me. Glad you did it in b&w. thumb.gif
    Sitting quietly, doing nothing. Spring comes and the grass grows by itself.

    http://imagesbyjirobau.blogspot.com/
    http://500px.com/williebau
  • chris5olsonchris5olson Registered Users Posts: 76 Big grins
    edited December 29, 2010
    #2 hands down. that's an awesome shot!
    In My Bag:
    Canon Rebel XSi. Canon 50mm f/1.4. Canon 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6. Speedlite 430exII
    Coming Soon
    Canon 5DmkII. Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L
  • TenThirteenTenThirteen Registered Users Posts: 488 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2010
    I really like #2 and #3 (although I wish you hadn't cut off her foot) But #4 creeps me out, her eyes just look like black holes...
    Canon Fan
  • QarikQarik Registered Users Posts: 4,959 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2010
    all good except for the crops as mentioned.
    D700, D600
    14-24 24-70 70-200mm (vr2)
    85 and 50 1.4
    45 PC and sb910 x2
    http://www.danielkimphotography.com
  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2010
    chris5olson wrote: »
    #2 hands down. that's an awesome shot!

    Thanks!

    I see you like fast glass!mwink.gif

    Neil
    "Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

    http://www.behance.net/brosepix
  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2010
    TenThirteen wrote: »
    I really like #2 and #3 (although I wish you hadn't cut off her foot) But #4 creeps me out, her eyes just look like black holes...

    Haha #4 is a Medusa that's for sure. There was almost totally no light on the face, nothing in the eyes! Proverbial de profundis! But I do like it for that head!

    Thanks for your comments!
    "Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

    http://www.behance.net/brosepix
  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2010
    Qarik wrote: »
    all good except for the crops as mentioned.

    Thanks Qarik. In this case the crops were the life saving surgery, as well as a lot of light transfusion etc!eek7.gif The patient was not a pretty sight on arrival at the ER.:cry

    But you know it brings home that if your subject is giving out that's what's gonna make the shot worth something notwithstanding.

    Neil
    "Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

    http://www.behance.net/brosepix
  • reyvee61reyvee61 Registered Users Posts: 1,877 Major grins
    edited December 30, 2010
    Neil these are all very good my friend.....
    It isn't easy shooting these things on the fly and the tight crops and angles are perfect for this type of work.
    The only thing I would have done differently if possible is incorporate some fill flash, just the right amount to bring out their eyes like needed on your last example....
    Bravo!
    Yo soy Reynaldo
  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited December 30, 2010
    reyvee61 wrote: »
    Neil these are all very good my friend.....
    It isn't easy shooting these things on the fly and the tight crops and angles are perfect for this type of work.
    The only thing I would have done differently if possible is incorporate some fill flash, just the right amount to bring out their eyes like needed on your last example....
    Bravo!

    Hey Rey! Thanks for the boost! You're absolutely right a fill flash would have worked wonders!thumb.gif I would have used the Expoimaging RayFlash that I have. I didn't have it or a speedlite with me (they were a few blocks away in my van) because I didn't want to kind of gate crash the scene by rocking up with a truck of gear and spraying flash all over everything since I hadn't been invited to take photos of the parade and I didn't know anyone involved in the organisation (there turned out to be 3 other photogs there officially). And you know, who can maintain credibility with a pro-looking camera and using wussy popup flash!???rolleyes1.gifwink Besides popup flash is kinda unpredictable in an unpredictable situation and I didn't want to be also checking my shadows and dialing the flash up and down along with everything else!eek7.gifD

    Neil
    "Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

    http://www.behance.net/brosepix
  • reyvee61reyvee61 Registered Users Posts: 1,877 Major grins
    edited December 30, 2010
    You did the right thing for the situation then...

    How do you like the RayFlash adapter btw.....
    Yo soy Reynaldo
  • NeilLNeilL Registered Users Posts: 4,201 Major grins
    edited December 30, 2010
    reyvee61 wrote: »
    You did the right thing for the situation then...

    How do you like the RayFlash adapter btw.....

    I do like it!thumb.gif Money well spent. It's more limited - not surprisingly - than the big-bucks-"real"-thing like a real-light ring flash or a beauty dish strobe (one of my big wants is a full body beauty dish strobe). But superior, it seems to me, to other similar products. It's effective only up to about 10' max with realistic camera settings. A bit more if used as a fill. Also limited by your speedlite characteristics eg recycling time, so doesn't fit into an intense model shoot scenario. The light it produces can be unique and quite beautiful.

    Here are two early tryouts (so not the best that the RayFlash can do for sure!) with it as fill - the central dot catchlight is the RayFlash:

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    Neil
    "Snow. Ice. Slow!" "Half-winter. Half-moon. Half-asleep!"

    http://www.behance.net/brosepix
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