Model Fashion Photography: Need help with my camera settings, equipment, and lighting

PaulSanchez · Apr 14, 2014

Hi everyone, i'm getting much better at photography, partly due to the guidance and advice i've received from this forum and other fellow photographers. I'm always trying to improve my shots, and I've finally booked a few paid shoots recently. What I'm having trouble with is shooting full manual and getting the right exposure. Shooting at full auto is never an issue. After this I stepped it up to Aperture priority, and that's been alright, but I was told to really master the exposure, I need to shoot in full manual, especially if I plan to use strobe flashes. When shooting a model against a sky, the background is always white. It does not look like a sky. But when I try to expose properly for the sky, it looks great, but now the model is too dark, almost like a silhouette. I was told that I need to master flash to expose the model and still get the background looking good, but strobe flashes are a bit too pricey for my budget right now. Is there any other way? I have a speedlite hot shoe flash. When I place a model facing the sun, I can shoot with natural light using just my camera. I can figure this out because it's just trial and error with my settings. I usually have my shutter fixed at around 1/400, ISO 100 (as low as possible for little noise), and I just adjust my aperture as needed. The results are great, except that the model will squint from the sun, so I have to count to 3 and take the photo so she can keep her eyes open. But when I turn the model around so the sun is behind her (i'm looking into the sun), I can't seem to get it right. What are the best camera settings for this? Is it possible to do this without flash? If not, will just my speedlite work? I've tried, but the results are never amazing. I feel like the background sky/sun should be more vivid and bold (how I see it with my eye), and the model should really pop and have a glow to her, but the photos just look really flat, and sometimes my lens struggles to focus when I'm facing the sun. I'm able to achieve better photos when it's early in the morning around sunrise, or later in the day around sunset. But it's still not the look I want, it's lacking the "wow" factor. My goal is to get this type of result and reach this level:

Please help. Thank you.

Trever1t · Apr 14, 2014

a $15 reflector

tirediron · Apr 14, 2014

This is Lighting 101 stuff; booking paid shoots when you don't have the equipment or skill to properly discharge them is somewhat less than ethical in my opinion. That said, if you don't want to buy lighting gear you need, then scrims, diffusion panels and reflectors are your next best alternative.

Scatterbrained · Apr 14, 2014

So let me get this straight, you're booking a paid shoot first, and then coming and asking how to do it? Pony up the $25 and go spend a day at Kelby One taking a crash course on shooting models/portraits/fashion.

IronMaskDuval · Apr 14, 2014

Scatterbrained said:
So let me get this straight, you're booking a paid shoot first, and then coming and asking how to do it? Pony up the $25 and go spend a day at Kelby One taking a crash course on shooting models/portraits/fashion.

Can I take one of these classes and start a business selling abstract motion blurs afterwards?

Scatterbrained · Apr 14, 2014

IronMaskDuval said:
Scatterbrained said:

So let me get this straight, you're booking a paid shoot first, and then coming and asking how to do it? Pony up the $25 and go spend a day at Kelby One taking a crash course on shooting models/portraits/fashion.

Click to expand...

Can I take one of these classes and start a business selling abstract motion blurs afterwards?

Yeah, I don't think they cover that over there.

:raisedbrow: :biglaugh:

However, if the OP seriously wants to bone up on "natural light" portraiture/fashion shooting then paying to watch videos by people like Joe McNally, Lindsey Adler, Frank Doorhof and others is going to be much more useful than the kind of back and forth you get on a forum, especially if those paid shoots are coming up soon.

JohnnyWrench · Apr 14, 2014

I have to ask... How much are you being paid for these shoots?

Derrel · Apr 14, 2014

One of the problems you're running into with the bald-white-skies-or-dark-silhouette problem is the limitation of focal plane shutters and electronic flash X-synch speed limitations. It's a very basic, simple issue. Shooting flash + bright daylight, your best friend is a leaf shutter camera. That is why Trevor1's suggestion above, "$15 reflector" earned a Like from me...he's NOT kidding you.

Tee · Apr 14, 2014

Go to the Adorama TV channel on YouTube and spend a few hours watching their tutorials. Honestly, what you're asking is for someone to teach you Mandarin Chinese in 5 minutes. Slow down and practice.

Derrel · Apr 14, 2014

Tee said:
Go to the Adorama TV channel on YouTube and spend a few hours watching their tutorials. Honestly, what you're asking is for someone to teach you Mandarin Chinese in 5 minutes. Slow down and practice.

The answer is ALWAYS, "Combination Dinner E".

One thing about reflector fill: it is a WYSIWYG light source, and the camera's built-in meter can measure it...whereas with flash, the user will need to do more estimating and guessing. I do agree about Adorama TV--the videos are very clear, and helpful.

IronMaskDuval · Apr 14, 2014

Derrel said:
Tee said:

Go to the Adorama TV channel on YouTube and spend a few hours watching their tutorials. Honestly, what you're asking is for someone to teach you Mandarin Chinese in 5 minutes. Slow down and practice.

Click to expand...

The answer is ALWAYS, "Combination Dinner E".

One thing about reflector fill: it is a WYSIWYG light source, and the camera's built-in meter can measure it...whereas with flash, the user will need to do more estimating and guessing. I do agree about Adorama TV--the videos are very clear, and helpful.

I also just looked into Scatterbrained's Kelby. I'm liking what I'm seeing so far. I am doing a beach shoot this weekend, and that was the very first group of lessons that I ran into.

PaulSanchez · Apr 14, 2014

where can I find a reflector for $15? I have not seen any for this cheap, and how will I hold the reflector and shoot at the same time? I will need to have someone hold the reflector for me right? what color reflector do I need? I see there are white, silver, sunlight, and gold. thank you.

PaulSanchez · Apr 14, 2014

$50, for the entire day, shooting in different locations, with unlimited wardrobe changes. the model is doing her own hair and make-up. i've made it clear that i'm still learning, they are ok with this.

PaulSanchez · Apr 14, 2014

thank you. i saw joe mcnally's videos, very informative!

IronMaskDuval · Apr 14, 2014

PaulSanchez said:
where can I find a reflector for $15? I have not seen any for this cheap, and how will I hold the reflector and shoot at the same time? I will need to have someone hold the reflector for me right? what color reflector do I need? I see there are white, silver, sunlight, and gold. thank you.

You can get a 5 in 1 from amazon for $15.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DIHSXRY/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1