Bridal Show Advice please

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aprilproductions

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Lee
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Hi All,
This Sunday I have the opportunity to photograph at a wedding fayre, they have a small catwalk, which is lit for ‘Stage lighting’, it is in a large room with a big window opposite – I will work on the assumption that the weather will be ok, so will be bright.

KIT: I have a pair of Elinchroms with diffuser, sb800, remote flash trigger and a Nikon D80.

Can you advise on a good setup to photograph the models, they have all aware of the shoot so will stop and pose to the camera at one corner.
Thanks in advance

:thumbs:
 
Just a thought with catwalk the girls can be funny about what you do with images - they take take the view they are there for catwalk only.

I would keep it simple and just use the sb800 and push the ISO to 800 or so.

www.timothycook.co.uk
 
:wave:

Thanks, I may just do that, mind you, the organisers of the event have told the model company that photos are being taken, and they are being paid!
 
If you can angle the elinchroms with one either side so they are even at the end of the catwalk i'd use them, use the trigger to fire them off

You may as well use them and take some with just the SB as well, also try some with just available light with flash blur. May as well experiment while you've got the chance
 
I tried this reply last night and the site crashed... One more try.

I'm not sure that I or anyone else can offer any real suggestions over the net. If I was doing this shoot I wouldn't have a clue until I actually got there and saw exactly what the lighting conditions, available space and models were like, so my advice is to take whatever equipment you've got available and insist on a dummy run. Why?

Leaving aside space and lighting conditions, how good are the models? If they are experienced pros you can see where they make their turn and rely on them to turn on the same spot every time, and to walk the walk with very similar styles and very similar facial expressions. If they're just wannabees, you can't, and this will make a big difference to the lighting that will work.

If they're good you can set up your lights to produce rim or even a degree of backlighting (very good with wedding dresses) safe in the knowledge that they will be an equal distance from each light, probably with a bit of fill from your hotshoe flash. If they're not good, you will need to light in a very bland, flat way - which will be pretty boring but safe, because it won't make too much difference if they aren't exactly where they should be.

Then you need to consider whether you actually want the models to stop and pose in the first place. Maybe it's worth trying with wedding dresses, if they can do it well, because Brides are supposed to look beautiful rather than sexy. For other clothes, it's the movement of the woman under the clothes that creates the sex appeal,and movement means walking.
 
use aperture priority, set the flash to f5.6 and the camera to f5.6 and then control the shutter speed by using of the iso.

Depending on the available light a low iso will give you a slow shutter speed allowing the background available light to register as well as the flash. Colour balance for the flash as thats what will be lighting the models. A high iso one will give a fast shutter speed, but make sure its slow enough for the camera synch speed and let the background i.e. the background far enough away for the flash not to effect go dark.

You want to balance the light so the background will underexpose a stop or two.

Tilt the camera for some strong angles

stew
 
take everything

from the description I wouldn't use any flash

lit for stage is quite bright really, f2.8/3.2 iso 1000-1200 above a 400th of a second at the last catwalk I did as long as you stayed in the spot and I coulda pulled 2-3 stops of extra light by pushing my camera (would have to push it hard mind you)

if its bright shoot with stage light which O have found to look great and give lovely results as well as letting you shoot along the length of the catwalk

if not have your flashes and pray they're good models as gary said

got a feeling if one's amateur the other will be too
 
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