First time shoot - advice needed!

WillyWonka

Hi folks,

I've been asked to do a fashion shoot for a friend's fashion store in a few weeks, the photos will be pushlished.
The shoot will be the shop itself with a few shots outside.
There will be several girls modeling, but they won't quite be professional models.

I'm going to suss out the location beforehand and see shots are required, lighting and space.

Kit wise I have a D90, 24-70, 70-200 (both 2.8) and an SB600. Might tether the laptop so that the owner can view the photos real time and make sure they get what they want.
From a lighting perspective I might pick up a reflector to help with the light.

Is there anything else that you could recommend (that I could rent, borrow or buy), such as additional flash, second body, etc.?

Any advise on what Do's and Do Nots I should follow?

I've never really done something like this before so any advise is much appreciated.

thanks,
Willy

gloobag

If it was me, I'd rack the 70-200 out to 200 and leave it there, it'll give you the effect of a shallower depth of field by way of compression, keep your aperture at f2.8.

Try to work in open shade and just adjust your ISO as needed. Or use a white shoot through reflector/scrim to provide the shade.

Put a bit of distance between your subject and the background, at f2.8 at 200mm, this'll blow out the focus of the background making it less of a distraction.

If working in full sun, put your subjects between you and the sun, with them facing you of course. Again, rack out to 200mm at f2.8. You'll get a lovely rim light this way. Make sure to use your lens hood to control flare if doing this, although a tiny bit of flare is nice for these types of shots. You can also just put yourself in the shade to control flare even more or if you just don't have a hood, but as I said, I like a bit of flare myself.

Don't be afraid to use your exposure compensation accordingly. I usually add plus 1/3 of a stop to my images of people. I just like what it does to skin.

The recent shots on my 500px used most of the techniques above, although my lens was an 85mm f1.2

Best of luck with it

P.S. If you haven't done anything like this before, I'd do a bit of research on posing and working with people. This is still the most difficult part of being a photographer for me Especially if the girls aren't models, you're really going to have to give them loads of direction.

Not to be smart, Gloobag, but did you read his post? He reckons the majority of the work will be indoors, with a probable move outside the shop (To include the name of the store/what it looks like, I presume?).



Anyway, OP, my thoughts are that you'll be grand with what you have. A second camera body is certainly not needed for this, as you'll have time to change lenses and such if you wish (I'd only use a second body myself, when at an event where you don't have the time to stop and change lenses).

As above, 200mm would be great, but I'd imagine the shop won't be big enough to allow that focal length to be of any use to you, so I'd probably only expect to use the telephoto for head/shoulder style shots.

Shoot at the longest focal length you can, as the more you zoom, the more you blur the background, but also try to leave space around the people, so you can straighten or crop afterwards in post.


A single flashgun, fired at the roof, should be idea for you in this situation indoors. If you've got money to spend, and enough time to wait around for a Hong Kong knock off, I'd suggest getting a cheap ass lightstand, umbrella and bracket, with some wireless flash triggers. This'll allow you to place the flash to one side for a more three-dimensional look to the images, and will provide a softer looking light all-round.

That said, it's not essential, and the single flash unit fired at the roof should be useful enough (provided the roof isn't too tall or dark).

Avoid shooting the flash directly at them, because doing so, in a small enough interior, will leave horrible shadows on the walls behind your subject.


When you say fashion shoot, I picture a runway and people walking up and down it. If that's not the case, and it's actually just a portraiture session, then try and look for things in and around the store to interact with (chairs, curtains, desks, hanging rails, etc.) so that everyone isn't always just standing up.



Do not tether with a laptop. If this is your first time doing this, then keep the photos to yourself, and zoom in on the LCD on the camera to make sure you've gotten your focus right and you're happy with your DOF etc.

If people want to see the photos, show them the back of the camera, but don't zoom in much/at all.

Personally, I found one of my biggest challenges when starting with indoor stuff, was nailing the focus. Nowadays I'm grand, but I wouldn't have wanted people to be able to see full size photographs because a lot of them looked a bit too soft (most were okay after a bit of RAW sharpening, but i did end up having to delete a few photos when I was starting with indoors/moving objects, because they were unusable).


If you want to tether, go for it, it's a lovely bonus, but I'd advise against it. Give yourself a chance to get home and have a look through the photos to make sure you're happy with them before you show them off.


That said, it's a personal choice and really up to you.

If you plan on shooting RAW, then make sure you've got an extra memory card or two, and take plenty of photographs, to make sure that you don't miss anything, or incase you have a memory card issue.

If you plan on bringing a laptop, whether you decide to tether or not, also bring a card reader, and transfer the images to the laptop every so often to create backups (fair enough, it's massively unlikely anything will go wrong, but most of the photographers I know get jobs from word of mouth, so you don't want to lose images from your first shoot).


If the girls you'll be shooting aren't pro models, then go easy on them. Most people generally have a good idea of how to pose themselves to look their best, so you're probably better off just leaving them to pose themselves, and only get involved if you see them doing something that looks quite poor on camera. If you're going to direct, try to limit it a bit, and don't turn into Hitler on them with demands and directions. Chances are they're gonna want to just have a bit of a laugh and leaving a good impression on them will do you great for future reference, I'm sure.


Finally, clear the background out. Remove any clutter or distracting elements from the background. If you're in a small enough location, you're not gonna be able to blur the background that much (if at all), so removing stuff will make the images look a bit cleaner and crisper.


If you're gonna have two or more people in the shot at one time, then pay attention to how simple it is to accidentally have one person slightly out of focus (I've often been shooting at f/5.6 and had two people beside each other, and one would be slightly out of focus, because I'm squashed in so close to them). So with multiple people, try to keep your distance, and always get people to stand closer together than is comfortable (the camera will make even small gaps look huge. My most common request to people is "can you just move in a little closer please?").


That's all I can think to say. Vital equipment would be wireless triggers (you can get yongnuo ones for about €25 on amazon or ebay, but it's just the time it takes for them to arrive that's the issue) unless the set up you're using already has a wireless mode.



Sorry if I've just been rambling on, but I've done a lot of indoor low light work in the last year so I'm aware of the learning curve involved. Chances are you probably already know lots of what I've mentioned anyway, though, so... yeah. haha.

WillyWonka

Thanks for the input guys. Firstly Gloobag, some lovely images there on your 500px account. Advise appreciated, however as KKV states this will mostly be indoors to will favour the 24-70.

I do shoot RAW and I'm doing some reading up on posing people (digging out scott kelby's books and online). Will have some music and friends of the model there to help and I'm pretty much a people person so should be OK with not insulting people on the day! ;-)

Sound advice on the tethering too.

I have purchased a lightstand and umbrella today, as recommended by a friend. As beyond this shoot it will find good use once I get more into portrait.
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-lastolite-100cm-all-in-one-umbrella-kit-with-hotshoe-tilthead-shoelock/p1522399

Yeah focus could be the one to catch me out I reckon, as I don't have the experience.

I also have a D90 and SB600 so I can fire that wirelessly. I'm happy enough to just bounce the flash off the ceiling and get a decent result with trial and error.
This I'm hoping will give better result with the off camera and umbrella combination...I'll also learn by throwing myself in at the deep end.

Thanks guys, as always any more advice is appreciated.

Willy.

You certainly paid for that umbrella. For future reference, you can get a stand, umbrella and adaptor for £30 with free shipping on Amazon;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photography-Light-professional-studio-photolamps/dp/B0011363NS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316536070&sr=8-1

WillyWonka

Deleted User wrote: »

You certainly paid for that umbrella. For future reference, you can get a stand, umbrella and adaptor for £30 with free shipping on Amazon;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Photography-Light-professional-studio-photolamps/dp/B0011363NS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316536070&sr=8-1

Well buy cheap, buy twice...that's my motto ;-)

The lastolite kit looks to be decent quality and includes dual umbrella and a bag.
Reviews on B&H were favourable so I figured it was worth a punt.

Also I need to make sure I get this on time to use it before the shoot.


....think I've justified it enough?!

Only with the getting it on time part! :P

Honestly, I have three of those light stands, and they're as solid as you could like for majority of uses. They're not the heaviest, so a gust of wind into the umbrella will send it flying, but I reckon that'll happen with every lightstand that's not weighed down.


Just letting you know for future use. Also, photoloving.com, probably the dodgiest looking website you'll ever use, actually do deliver their products (though it takes four weeks) and they have some excellent prices on generic Westcott-style knock-off softboxes.

Surely it's better to have four of something, than one that's only slightly better quality? :P (if you're anywhere near me, you can feel free to let me know and take a look at the lightstands/umbrellas from amazon. I'm in Drogheda/Louth).

WillyWonka

Ok, so light stand arrived and it's good quality. Nice stable hydraulic stand and good quality gear. Happy with it.

I also popped into the shop to see what I was dealing with.
The good:

• Plenty of light
• Decent size
• Long-ish layout, meaning could possibly use longer lens or throw the background out
• Accessories to use, chairs, tables, mannequins, etc.

The concerns:

• Too much clutter/mirrors/rails, etc. No clean space.
• Lights are strong from the ceiling which I'll have to be mindful of

Picture of the shop attached.

Any other advise on how to go about shooting. e.g. height of camera, shoot up or down or level? Useful links?

(I am googling too, however this is by far the best forum for advice IMO)

Thanks,
Willy

melekalikimaka

if at all possible maybe try with just natural light and a reflector, alot of stuff these days is natural light that i've been seeing, and its quite nice, a nice window or corner outside, saves alot of hassle too, alot more natural looking, tho it does depend on the clothes...

WillyWonka

For anyone that's interested the photos are here.

http://henleyal.smugmug.com/Fashion/Serendipity-Boutique/

(Better late than never)

Thanks for all the advice

Willy