Tips fpr phto-shoot style photographs?

[Ben..]

This weekend, a freind of mine has agreed to let me photograph her, she is a fashion student so bight colours etc are a definate, however i also want to do some more emotive style shots as well,
Has anyone got any tips and advice for me, hoping to get some pretty good shots out of this as she will need some for her work, and i need some to expand my skills a bit!


I have included some idea of what im aiming for below (i know they are all a bit different to each other)
All images are copyrighted by their owner (cant remember where most have come from )

1.

2.

3.

Also ...does anyone have any post-processing tips, for photoshop? as im sure theres some ways of adding some great effects to my images

ive managed to talk another gal into doing a sort of practice-day as she too is a fashion student and is up for a day where she get to pretend to be a model......well thats how i explained it to her!


Thanks in advance

Ben

 

[clairemae]

Do you own/access to flashes? I think you'd probably need a few flashes to get results like that above ^ or the images will just look really flat.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

As above, depends on what lighting you have.

What kit are you using too?

 

[Ben..]

i have an olympus e420, will probably be using a 50mm f2.8 for DOF a nikon d80 , couple of external flashes (but think il need remote triggers...anyone local have one????) and a trusty old OM series SLR , quite a few filters, soften etc..
but no umbrellas etc

 

[theduck]

You need a good flash, a diffuser, and to be good with airbrushing

 

[Ben..]

oh yes, and a white spotlamp i was thinking of using (white ligkt at about 5000k)

 

[Ben..]

You need a good flash, a diffuser, and to be good with airbrushing

airbrushing to remove blemishes etc?

 

[Ian]

I can't offer any advice on this, as I don't really know anything about it. However, someone I know who has recently gone into business as a studio portrait photographer has definitely based some of his work around this tutorial:

http://www.zarias.com/?p=71

There's a lot to take in, but it might be of some help? (not the whole studio setup, but the lighting side of it).

 

[JJ!]

If you use the Oly your going to need some really decent lighting as you will need to keep the iso right down due to the high amount of noise the e-420 produces at higher iso's.

 

[Ben..]

yeah, looking to keep it below 400 really i suppose?
like i say though we have a d80 to hand as well
ive noticed that by changing the white balance on the olympus, the colour of "yellow" light changes to a whiter light, would there be many issues with the photos (colour wise) if i did the whole shoot in this white balance?

 

[Ben..]

quick update, i have now managed to source 2 softboxes, any tips on using them?

 

[5parky]

Check out the strobist blog lighting 101, everything you could ever want to know.
http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html

 

[Jungle_Jim]

Start off simple mate then when you have got the basic shots down you can start messing about with the light positions etc.

Most of the above shots use simple lighting set ups. Look at the eyes in the photos above to see the type of light and positions used. If we look at the last pic as its the most obvious its clear to see its lit via a single softbox at slightly lower and left position to the photographer more or less flat to the model. This is confirmed by the lack of shadow under the nose. If this light was higher up aiming down at the model you would get larger shadow areas under the nose and chin.

I would start off with a single soft box at head height to the model and positioned about a foot or two, to one side of you (then angled towards the model). With female models it is often exceptable to have the main light up to +1 stop over exposed. This bleaches out the skin giving a better complexion, but obviously you will need to see how far to push it on the day.

As for backgrounds and gradients it is relatively simple, dont bother using any form of soft boxes etc unless you have a shiney background creating hotspots. for a plain white background to look white you will need two lights either side facing the wall (or whatever you are using) and these lights need to be about +1/2 stop to +1 stop brighter than the main light for the model. If the light on the background is too bright you will get a halo effect. If you want a gradient just using a single light on one side, as the light falls away it goes from white to grey and eventually black.

One last thing to bare in mind is inverse square law which states that if you double the distance of your light between the wall / model etc it quarters the power. so if you move them around dont forget to adjust the power accordingly

hope that helps
James

 

[Ben..]

Soooooo to revive a dead thread, ive had a practice day the other wekend, and have got people coming back on saturday, just wanted a few tips : but only have 2 pictures because my friend has the memory cards

and no, i wont give you all any more pics of anyone

 

[theduck]

Your issue is your models. That first one particularly looks very uncomfortable.

 

[Andy.]

I'd love to have a go at some studio work. I just don't fancy spending a load of cash on something that I may not use again.

The backgrounds on the above images look dirty.
The pose in the first shot has done the model no favours. Her calf looks huge, is it being pressed against the box? The wrinkle in the dress in the middle doesn't help either. There are also fairly harsh shadows, a diffuser of some sorts may have helped?

Just my thoughts, from an untrained eye.

 

[RyanD]

they are not flattering. The poses just make the model look uncomfortable and not exactly great for the figure

background lighting is uneven, and shows lines/yellowness etc