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Archive 2013 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!

  
 
SweetMk
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


The local Photo Club is having a fashion shoot training session this weekend. I walked through the session area a couple weeks ago, and from memory, there is no ceiling to bounce off of (black), and the walls are covered in dark (steam locomotive!!) pictures. Actually one entire wall is a pic of a steam locomotive.

Can you say black?

I am hoping to not take a trunk load of gear for lighting. I have a light stand, I ordered a Manfrotto 026 Swivel Umbrella Adapter to hold my SB-700.

I have a Honl strap, a LumiQuest ProMax System, and a Gary Fong Lightsphere Universal System Cloud.

I have never used the LumiQuest or the Fong, they were acquired in a KEH Grabbox used, but beautiful condition.

I would rather not take a softbox (mine is 22x22 inches) as there will be 50 photographers there, I am sure it would get knocked over.

Anyway, I have a couple days to practice and get ready what would you recommend I try to light with?

The camera is a Nikon D7000, I will use either a 50mm f1.8 AF or a 20mm manual focus lens, unless I get a different recommendation. ( I have a 105mm f1.8 manual focus and a 18-70 AF)

Do I need a tripod? I have a big Manfrotto, again, seems to big.
Thanks



Jan 23, 2013 at 05:29 AM
Mark_L
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


Shouldn't the Photo Club be supplying gear? They should really rent some strobes and modifiers for people to use. 50 people bring their own speedlights and things will be chaotic.

Edited on Jan 23, 2013 at 11:59 AM · View previous versions



Jan 23, 2013 at 07:45 AM
basehorhonda
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


If this is a training session like you said, usually most photo clubs provide most lights and modifiers and everyone gets their turn to shoot. Also, most fashion shoots Ive seen, bouncing light isnt something that is used a bunch. The strobes are the main source of light and the ambient is really non-existent.


Jan 23, 2013 at 08:18 AM
SweetMk
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


Thanks for the replies, I really do not know what to expect, this is a free club, I do not expect them to fund much in the way of equipment.

The site is free, the models are volunteers.

It is a meeting to teach you to use your gear, so I am expecting somewhat of a free-for-all!! There are 6-8 very skilled photographers/instructors that put this on.

I guess I will find out this weekend. I posted a similar question on the club forum page and got some responses of people bringing "the kitchen sink also"!



Jan 23, 2013 at 10:13 AM
Wobble
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


Go have fun. With the dark walls this should be an excellent opportunity for subject isolation with a pitch black background. Take a small step stool and see if you can get a shot of a model getting onto the train.


Jan 23, 2013 at 10:48 AM
cordellwillis
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


Black (or grey) is what the walls should be for this. Typically you don't want to bounce a whole heck of a lot with a fashion shoot anyway. The purpose of learning this is controlling the light. Bouncing isn't really a good way to learn unless there is some specifics that you are trying to do. Softbox, umbrella, etc with black/dark walls is best.

As noted, I would believe lighting gear is provided. Can't you simply ask?



Jan 23, 2013 at 11:48 AM
SweetMk
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


cordellwillis wrote:
As noted, I would believe lighting gear is provided. Can't you simply ask?


I did ask two days ago, the only response so far is that individual photographers are bringing everything.

I think this is as much about learning your own gear as fashion shooting.



Jan 23, 2013 at 12:23 PM
cordellwillis
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


SweetMk wrote:
I did ask two days ago, the only response so far is that individual photographers are bringing everything.

I think this is as much about learning your own gear as fashion shooting.



Well that's kind of strange then. Learning your own gear Who's going to teach everyone their own gear if everyone is using different types of stuff?

Shooting with a speedlight bouncing off walls is a complete different situation than using a softbox with a pack and head or mono flash. You can flag the light here and there but now there is a different element to the learning your own gear (EG,if you don't have anything to flag with). At least it's free.

Sorry, a little off there

Anyway, seems me you're going to need to pack your trunk.



Jan 23, 2013 at 12:38 PM
ChrisDM
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


Put SB700 with little softbox on a monopod, in your other hand. Or bring a friend to hold it.


Jan 23, 2013 at 12:57 PM
SweetMk
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


ChrisDM wrote:
Put SB700 with little softbox on a monopod, in your other hand. Or bring a friend to hold it.


I take it these things are rather informal, mostly lead by college professors that are skilled at teaching multi cameras', and so far I have seen them control the chaos very well!!

I do have a monopod!! That is in the "pile" now also. Thanks

A small soft box will be on my "short list" for the next shoot if the others have success with them. My soft box is rather large, but, it never goes anywhere.I use it for "object" photography, rather than "subject" photography.

They do this 3-4 times a month. Somebody loves teaching.

I am pretty good at getting the object pics I want, subject pics still baffle me.

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h332/sweetmk22/Photography/2012-12-14223049800x797_zps36cf90de.jpg



Jan 23, 2013 at 01:17 PM
cgardner
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


In terms of lighting strategy two flashes, one in front on a bracket or stand hitting the faces at a downward angle with a second OCF as rim light is a very effect one for flattering light on a full length subject and one that creates even flash illumination of the space:
http://super.nova.org/XP/Subjects/Alex/Alex_54.jpg
This shows the light placement for the shot above:
http://super.nova.org/XP/Equipment/10_22%20samples/10mm_ActionB.jpg

Ideally you want to get the frontal light 45 degrees above the eyes and keep it centered on the nose to avoid any unfilled sideways shadows. The frontal lighting on the examples above was a 580ex on a camera flip Stroboframe bracket with a DIY "scoop" style diffuser bouncing the light forward but also spilling it off the celing. WIthout the ceiling for bounce you'll get a darker background and more of a stage lighting look.

If the show has an elevated runway you'll want to take that into account for both the facial angle and lighting to the face. If using a bracket bringing along a 3-step ladder solves both problems. If putting the lights on stands you'll need taller stands to keep the frontal lighting 45 downward and still want a higher POV so as not to shoot up the nose of the models from below.

Edited on Jan 23, 2013 at 08:27 PM · View previous versions



Jan 23, 2013 at 01:48 PM
SweetMk
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


cgardner, great concept, I guess I gotta get out the SB-600 and the SB-700. I have an unused camera flash bracket that extends up. I will test that out tomorrow when the UPS truck gets here.


Jan 23, 2013 at 03:54 PM
kenyee
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


cordellwillis wrote:
Well that's kind of strange then. Learning your own gear Who's going to teach everyone their own gear if everyone is using different types of stuff?


Gear is gear...it's not that hard to help people get what they're trying to get if you understand lighting...

SweetMk: what you have is fine...bring that larson softbox...has a nice deep lip. Try out some of the gear that other people brought (hopefully it's dim enough so you can try modeling lights on the studio strobes which is a big reason they're more useful than speedlights). Watch, learn, try, ask for help if you have a picture in your head and are having problems achieving it and someone will help. Have fun



Jan 23, 2013 at 04:36 PM
Gregg Heckler
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


If it's a fashion show and it's properly lit with tungsten lighting you should find that there will be quite a bit of ambient light. So, it will depend on if you are going to move around and shoot or maybe at a fixed spot at the end of the runway. If you are going to shoot from the end of the runway I like to shoot with a 70-200VR on a monopod with one or two Speedlights high up on stands for "fill" not as the key. I can shoot at ISO 400 to 800 at 1/125 to 1/250 sec at f/4 and get sharp images as the models are walking toward you. I also shoot on continuous auto focus to increase my rate. With your 50 you'll just have to get a little closer and if you only have the SB-700 just crank up your ISO a little more or go rent an SB-900.


Jan 23, 2013 at 06:20 PM
BrianO
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


SweetMk wrote:
...I have a Honl strap, a LumiQuest ProMax System, and a Gary Fong Lightsphere Universal System Cloud. ...I have never used the LumiQuest or the Fong, they were acquired in a KEH Grabbox used, but beautiful condition.


The Lightsphere will be worse than useless if there are no bounce surfaces. It doesn't enlarge the light source enough to be effective, other than by bouncing light off walls and ceiling, which isn't an option in your case; so you'd be sending light off into space with no return, wasting your batteries.

The ProMax is a little better, if you use a solid panel. It'll raise the flash a little higher off the lens axis if you're using a hot shoe-mounted flash. (Getting the flash off camera would be better still.)

For fashion, a hard light can be a good choice anyway, because you'll get lots of texture and shape revealed. A single flash, on a cord or controlled wirelessly, should be fine, although using a soft box to get a little wrap for fill might be better. If you can do seperate key and fill lights, that's the best bet.

I wouldn't use a tripod or monopod, probably. When doing fashion shots I like to move around as much as the model does.

One idea for the softbox, so it doesn't get knocked over, is to enlist one of the other photogs to hand hold it during your shoot, moving around under your direction to "get the angles" you want as you and your model move. Then when his or her turn to comes around you can be the "photo assistant" and hold it for him or her (assuming that your flash will work with his or her camera, or that his or her flash will work in your box).

Anyway, it sounds like a fun day, so...well...have fun!



Jan 23, 2013 at 10:56 PM
Steve Wylie
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


If I were in your shoes, I'd get a small convertible umbrella, one that enables you to take off the black cloth, revealing a white, shoot-through umbrella and mount it to your light stand (you didn't mention a light stand, but you did mention an umbrella swivel adapter...you can't use one without a stand, or a person to hold it). You'll also need something to trigger your flash with; if you don't have a radio system, then a long sync cord will do; just get your light off camera. I'm not a Nikon guy, but maybe one of your speedlights can trigger the other off-camera. Gregg above provides advice on shooting a runway situation, but if you're looking at a more static setup (as you would find in a studio or in a magazine) you'll be able to do more things differently. That's why I'd recommend the simplest of equipment that gets your flash off-camera with coverage to spare. Frankly, your Lumiquest tools will be good for headshots, but not much else.


Jan 24, 2013 at 01:51 AM
cordellwillis
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


kenyee wrote:
Gear is gear...it's not that hard to help people get what they're trying to get if you understand lighting......


Yes, I agree to an extent. With as many photographers as stated you never know what to expect gear wise. Lighting with a speedlight and GFong Spear is completely different than using a softbox, using different sized grids, bouncing off a wall with just a flash and index card. Example, if you want a kicker light you probably wont use a LightSpear to get it. That is if you want to teach by way of controlling light. You can teach to light an event but that's not nearly the same as a fashion shoot.

So my point is that one can learn in these sessions but there is a reason light learning situations are broken up. Different gear for different purpose for different results. Hopefully the results the photographer wants.



Jan 24, 2013 at 10:26 AM
Zenon Char
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


If there is nothing to bounce off the Lightsphere is useless. That is it's sole purpose. Waste of light and battery power. If I have nothing to bounce off my flash goes on a bracket and I shoot direct. I crank up the ISO to balance the ambient and flash.

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/Zenon1/DPP07DB0919132005-1.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/Zenon1/_MG_0043.jpg

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d74/Zenon1/_MG_0166.jpg



Jan 25, 2013 at 08:06 PM
Gregg Heckler
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


"If there is nothing to bounce off the Lightsphere is useless. That is it's sole purpose. Waste of light and battery power. If I have nothing to bounce off my flash goes on a bracket and I shoot direct. I crank up the ISO to balance the ambient and flash."

+1. This is the technique you want. Use the ambient light and your IS0 to your advantage and don't be afraid to use the flash with no diffusion.



Jan 26, 2013 at 01:57 PM
dennishh
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Fashion Shoot, no walls or ceiling to bounce off of!


You can build a white studio out of 4x8 sheets of foam core. Use lightstands to hold them up. Most studio's use 4x8 wood flates to do this.


Jan 26, 2013 at 06:02 PM





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