"Mobile Fashion Week" or "Outside My Comfort Zone"

TangoJuliet

I normally shoot aviation related images from full size aircraft to radio controlled model aircraft. In fact I had just returned from covering an International R/C Scale Jet Competition in Dayton, OH, USA, when I recieved an invitation from the Mobile photography club, "Camera South", to cover the 'runway' at the first annual "Mobile Fashion Week" on Friday and Saturday night.

It was a non-paying gig in which several Coastal and Regional magazines would ask for images in return for 'Photo Credit'. I debated even going, but thought it might be a good excersise for me to try and I really didn't have anything better to do (besides editing the previous weeks images), so I went and gave it a go.

I own a Canon 7D, a Canon 28-135 IS lens, and a Canon 430 EX Speedlite. I normally rent a longer lens from BorrowLenses.com when I do aviation photography, but I didn't have the time or extra cash to rent equipment for this 'assignment', so I went with what I had.

Shooting Fashion is way outside of my comfort zone and I tried to figure out how best to shoot and what camera settings to use. I decided to set the ISO to 'Auto' and use Aperture Priority (Av) set either at f3.5 or f4. The hall where the runway was set was a big caverness room that the promoters had set two trees with large flood/spots to either corner opposite the entry to the runway, other than that the ambient was fairly low. I decided that I would try to use the flood/spots as rim light and use my Speedlite as fill and catch the models as they were on the return trip off of the runway. The other decision i made was to try to pre-focus manually since the Auto Focus was searching too much in the low light.

Now I don't know if my decisions were not good ones, or if my equipment just wasn't really up to the task, or a little of both. Nearly all of my images were soft, a result of pre-focus and shallow DOF at f3.5-4. The rim light didn't play like I'd hoped either. While several of the models asked for copies for their Facebook pages, I don't think any of the magazines will be using my images. I'm fine with that, like i said it was more of a learning exercise for me anyway. For those of you with more experience shooting in this type of environment though, I'd like to hear your feedback and suggestions so that perhaps next year I can attend and produce much better quality images.

Below are samples of what I normally shoot, and the images from the Fashion Runway...



Another example of what I normally shoot...



And from the Fashion Show...



One more from the Fashion Show...

Qarik

1st of all, your direct flash is killing both shots. the light is flat and shadows everywhere. If you need the light then bounce bounce bounce! 2ndly the framing is not so great..the bakc grounds of all the folks are very distracting. Lastly the colors are drab..processing is really not there.

I am people shooter and have done one fashion show for fun as well..it is tough since so much is not not under your control. Link below

http://www.danielkimphotography.com/Events/Pure-Blendz-2010-Fashion-Show/Best-of/12927011_vn8Z6#934306509_Y6NSY

TangoJuliet

Thanks Daniel.

Allow me to explain further...

I couldn't effectively bounce, the ceiling was 30 feet high (Scottish Temple). Also the runway wasn't elevated, so there was no way to get the audience out of the shots. I was hoping the shallow DOF would help with that, but it didn't. I kept adjusting the Flash Exposure Compensation also hoping it would throw the background darker. Perhaps some kind of diffuser would have also helped. As far as the composition, my feeling was, it's a fashion show, show the entire outfit, not just a torso shot.

Again, it was a learning experience, now I just have to learn how to do it better the next time .

Qarik

30 foot ceilings you can definitely still bounce..trust me. I have bounced with 60 foot ceilings. As far as compositions..shoot low or straight or step back further and use longer lens and/or crop to help get rid of the audience/distracting elements. You have to get imaginitive here..it doesn't matter if you got the whole outfit if the background is so busy. Also I'd rather see a clean torso shot then full length shot with all the people.

TangoJuliet

I didn't think my speedlite would last if I bounced that much light (four 'AA' batteries, no external power pack). I was low, on my knees, but I guess not low enough . If I'd have had the 70-200/f2.8, I'd have definitely used it .

All good info. Thank you.