Recent fashion shoot

[peterw119]

Hi Guys

First attempt at photographing a clothing line. Constructive criticism appreciated. Shot on black seemless 5ft octobox front and right, one light with gel, rear left on models. Large black polyboard either side.












Pete

[mcherry]

Most of these are very nice. Just remember you are photographing clothes not the model, the model is merely a self-positioning prop on which to display the clothes. The third image looks like you were photographing the model and not the clothes.

From a fashion perspective I think the last two are the strongest. Also, I would be careful using gels for shooting fashion. If you're shooting editorial fashion, that's a different story (although I would still be very careful about doing it), but for straight fashion I would avoid it for the same reason stated above.

Best,

Matthew

[peterw119]

thanks for the comments Mathew.

When I was doing this shoot I was tethered to my laptop so that the designer could view the images as I was shooting them. I tried some on a white seemless but personally didn't like them, so changed to the black and added a gel to make them a bit more interesting.

Any suggestions as to how I could have done this any better/differentlt? Ideally I would have like to have been on location but was limited with the BG.

I see the stuff from Christian and Fish which I love, but the seem to be working on a much grander scale than me. I attempted to use a partial JimmyD set up but without as many lights and a geezer called Aziz! lol

Pete

The full length shots look a little foreshortened. What lens did you use? When I shoot fashion I try to use a longer lens than normal and position the camera either at the model's eye level or below. This usually makes the model look tall and the clothes more dramatic.

[peterw119]

Thanks Bellezza

I used a 17 - 55 2.8 nikon lens. I took most of the shots at waist level to make the legs look longer. that could explaint some of the foreshortening, I'll watch for that next time.

Pete

[mcherry]

Well let's fist look at the lighting. I love JimmyD's photos. He makes some nice glamour images of chicks I dig looking at. His lighting is very good, albeit fairly standard glamour lighting (read that fairly standard "good" glamour lighting). I try to light my glamour images in a similar way.

But you are not shooting glamour here, you are shooting fashion, and fashion is lit differently.

I would suggest picking up some copies of "Vogue" (preferably the Italian Vogue), "W" and "V". This will give you a much better idea of modern fashion lighting techniques. Most fashion today is shot with one or two lights, with an emphasis on one...

Regarding the art direction of the shots (poses, outfits, the use of gels as a creative tool) you did the right thing by shooting tethered. Ultimately your job is to please your client which is what you did. If they like it, that's all that matters. But again I would suggest studying the fashion mags to see what they're doing.

[peterw119]

Thanks for the input Mathew

I did try some on a white seemless, but to be honest, they weren't my favourites. I will have to see if I can get a copy of Italian Vogue in Liverpool!! lol

thanks again

Pete

[mcherry]

I know you can get it in London, don't know about Liverpool... LOL!
My favorite color seemless for this type of work is Thunder Grey (not studio grey, although this can work too but you need distance to darken it). Thunder Grey gives you a nice "vogue-esque" look.

Here's some examples (the seemless looks bad due to the compression here but in the actual images it looks perfect):

[Olli]

Nice lighting. I haven't shot much fashion, but if shooting it in the studio I prefer to use white seamless and a single light, especially with dark clothing. For a black background I use velvet, black seamless reflects too much light. For shorter models I shoot from floor level to lengthen their legs.

Made from Designer lables.
Design by Andrea Lekberg, NYC

[peterw119]

Thanks Mat, buggered if I'm popping to London for a mag!!

Funny that as I was going to get a grey seamless, I'll have a look for a slightly darker one.

Thanks Ollie, I was trying to change the gels to be opposite to the clothing colours. I found that using a pink gel seemed to make the model look wider than she was.

Pete