On Saturday I was asked to do a fashion shoot for the posters for the SURHUL Charity Fashion Show.
It was a pretty new experience working with 3 models and using my equipment in a mobile environment by myself for the first time.
All in all I got some great photos from the Founders Building staircase using a combination of high shutter speed to cut down the ambient light, and filling in the models profile with a bare speedlite.
I also experimented with using natural light, positioning my model Marina next to the windows and filling in the shadows with a reflector. The lighting conditions were difficult, with low indoor lighting and a overcast sky outside, forcing me to drop down to around ISO 800 and a slow shutter speed. Thankfully the magic that is RAW processing allowed me to under expose the image and bring it out brighter later, giving me some usable images.
Note: I personally don't like different models doing the similar positions and scenes during a shoot for individual images, which is why you'll notice that all three positions will be different.
Olivia on the Stairs
The final indoor photos were of Olivia sitting on the stairs. This was because we felt that it looked best for her in order to capture the colours in her jacket and also because I ran out of places to position her.
I felt this image needed a stronger rim light behind her, so I places a single speedlite on the floor behind her, mounted to a wireless trigger. A fill flash was also used to expose her front as there was a strong back light.
The final outdoor photo is one of my favourite fashion photos that I've taken. My inspiration for this came from the fact that this shoot was to promote a fashion show, so what better idea would there be than to set up a large catwalk scene on campus grounds.
The initial idea was to have the three models walk towards me in a triangle formation to a point where two bare speedlites would meet, highlighting them against dark background, but this proved difficult as I had trouble judging where the models hit the ideal spot due to me using a long lens and only having a small window to get my image. So instead I opted for a stationary standing position with the models in a walking position and prayed for some wind to give the effect of movement.
Thankfully everything came together for the final images, and the shoot turned out pretty pretty successful, even with a broken wireless receiver and damaged speedlite from one of my stands toppling from wind.