First attempt at fashion photography

ceejtank · Jan 18, 2013

Ok - so here's the deal. Last night a local hotel hosted a fashion thingy... I've never shot it before. I had to rely on the P setting a lot, which I really didn't like. But the lighting was harsh, there was no where to bounce the flash off of, and I left my diffuser hood at home.. I know.. stupid move. That being said, it went by pretty quick. I'm just starting to edit these, and I've only edited one shot so far, but figured I would ask for C&C since I'm starting the process and I could apply the critiques to the later shots instead of editing like 40 and then needing to re-do them all. I appreciate you guys taking the time to look. Be gentle.. it was my first time.. haha.. and I did't get paid for this, it's not for sale, not submitting it anywhere, this was just something new that I wanted to try, and am using as practice.

Camera Model Canon EOS 7D
Shooting Mode Program AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/60
Av( Aperture Value ) 4.5
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
Exposure Compensation +1
ISO Speed 1000
Lens EF28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM
Focal Length 50.0mm
Flash On
Flash Type External E-TTL
White Balance Mode Flash
AF area select mode Manual selection
Picture Style Portrait

ceejtank · Jan 18, 2013

Also - I know this shot seems KIND of blurry.. i had to have my ISO at like 1000, then when i noise reduced, it increased the fuzziness of it.. Once I nailed the settings down on later shots, I had the ISO down around 200/250, the sharpness vastly increased. I'll just throw that out there now. Also, its a little bright. Will knock it down a step or 2 since I shot in RAW.

jowensphoto · Jan 18, 2013

Well it wasn't outside, so you could have bounced off the ceiling...

ceejtank · Jan 18, 2013

jowensphoto said:
Well it wasn't outside, so you could have bounced off the ceiling...

Yeah.. but it was at the liberty hotel in boston.. which is a renovated prison. The ceiling was over 100 feet up

DiskoJoe · Jan 18, 2013

Why did you use the 28-135 at 50mm and not the 50mm prime lens that you have?

ceejtank · Jan 20, 2013

DiskoJoe said:
Why did you use the 28-135 at 50mm and not the 50mm prime lens that you have?

There were 3 shooting places that i moved between the whole night. Needed to be able to adjust.

ceejtank · Jan 22, 2013

No C&C?

Ashlee_Duh · Jan 22, 2013

It doesn't appear to look blurry to me. The only thing I notice is the photo is a bit bright, and the model has "dear in the headlights" look. Her posing could be less awkward, but that is nothing you can control. :mrgreen: For your first attempt at photographing such an event should make you feel proud. Keep up the good work.

ceejtank · Jan 22, 2013

Ashlee_Duh said:
It doesn't appear to look blurry to me. The only thing I notice is the photo is a bit bright, and the model has "dear in the headlights" look. Her posing could be less awkward, but that is nothing you can control. :mrgreen: For your first attempt at photographing such an event should make you feel proud. Keep up the good work.

Thanks. I noticed the brightness afterwards too, I shot in raw so I was able to dial it back a bit to get it situated correct.

Ashlee_Duh · Jan 22, 2013

ceejtank said:
Ashlee_Duh said:

It doesn't appear to look blurry to me. The only thing I notice is the photo is a bit bright, and the model has "dear in the headlights" look. Her posing could be less awkward, but that is nothing you can control. :mrgreen: For your first attempt at photographing such an event should make you feel proud. Keep up the good work.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I noticed the brightness afterwards too, I shot in raw so I was able to dial it back a bit to get it situated correct.

That's good. I'd love to see more of the edited ones. Seems like there was some nice dresses.

Derrel · Jan 22, 2013

Flash-on-camera and aimed straight ahead looks like that...she's a lovely lookin' lady...

kundalini · Jan 22, 2013

Derrel said:
Flash-on-camera and aimed straight ahead looks like that...she's a lovely lookin' lady...

How do you account for the offset shadow? I'm guessing the OP's flash was hotshoe mounted, but was not the Main light source in this shot.

ceejtank · Jan 23, 2013

Ashlee_Duh said:
That's good. I'd love to see more of the edited ones. Seems like there was some nice dresses.

I have them all on a facebook album.. heres the link. If you dont want to go to facebook to see them I can upload them on flickr when I get home from work tonight. The dresses were very pretty.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.513478812007915.112276.438351296187334&type=1&l=323546293c

ceejtank · Jan 23, 2013

kundalini said:
How do you account for the offset shadow? I'm guessing the OP's flash was hotshoe mounted, but was not the Main light source in this shot.

It was hotshoe mounted. I was with 5-6 of my professional photographer friends. One of them shoots for a fashion magazine.. another gets paid to travel and take pics.. both with 20-30 years experience(and really nice equipment). There was no "main" light. The photogs i was with said this is one of the more difficult locations to shoot because of no ceiling and no main lights set up. They remembered to bring a diffuser for their camera. Which would soften the shadows. I on the other hand forgot mine. But i think im going to get a gary fong diffuser for next time i try one of these. During tge summer theres a free show every thursday.. so i'll get lots of opportunities to practice.