fashion photography studio lighting
March 22nd, 2009This is the first photo from a 6 page fashion editorial I recently shot. Just got it back from my retoucher. I shot with my Canon 1 DS and an 85 1.8 lens. For this shoot I decided to use a fog machine for a little added effect. When using a fog machine you must back light it, hence the edge light you see on the bottom part of her arms. The only other light I used was my key light which was camera left about 6 feet away from the model. It was an extra large 6 foot Photoflex soft box. The model is Sarah Bell from Next models in Los Angeles.
Any questions please ask !
Fashion Model Sarah Bell
April 1st, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Love the smoke. Been looking at these machines for a while now. I am having to consider a portable one as my studio is only the great outdoors. Nice work.
[Reply]
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:26 am
Thank you Marie. You know I use a small portable smoke machine that is very inexpensive. They are always for sale around Halloween for around $25-$30.
[Reply]
April 8th, 2009 at 4:33 am
hello, nice photography! i was thinking of doing a similar shoot (with smoke) was it hard to get a good smoke effect? because i would imagine the smoke wouldn’t behave right every time you took a shot.
thanks.
[Reply]
April 8th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Hi Rob,
Thank you for the compliment. You are correct, the smoke does not behave the way you want it to behave right away. So what I do is have my assistant just keep his finger on the button and I shoot when I feel that the smoke pattern looks the way I want it. When the model hits a pose you like, tell her to not move at all.
You can also have another person wave a flag so the smoke disperses in an even way. The bottom line is that you won’t get “the shot” right away because as soon as the smoke starts coming out of the machine you see that slim pattern that looks like it has just started coming out. So you keep shooting. And always remember to back light the smoke.
[Reply]
April 16th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
do you do any major editing on your fashion shots or just minor touch ups
[Reply]
April 20th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Hi Art,
My images are retouched by my crew of retouchers. The ONLY major editing that has been done is when I was hoping for a really cool sky that day of the shoot and the sky ended up just being really boring and blown out. So there are a few shots where a different sky was dropped in.
For the fashion shots all that was retouched was the skin and hair. Same goes for the beauty shots. Now I must tell you that the latest fashion shots with the fog in the shot, the skin was majorly retouched to achieve that really polished “advertisement” look. However, all my other fashion shots come out of the camera with the lighting right on target and colors right on target. There is always some tweaking that you must do and that also is true even with film.
So in conclusion, there really is no major retouching going on UNLESS I want to achieve a look that is OBVIOUSLY a manipulated look.
[Reply]
April 21st, 2009 at 9:39 am
wow!!! that amazing! so do you and your crew of retouchers go over the minor things that you want retouched or do you just let them do there work with out no direction from you.
[Reply]
Jason Christopher Reply:
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:37 am
Oh I direct them. We also collaborate. They will give me ideas etc. It’s a team effort.
[Reply]
June 3rd, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Hi Jason, nice work! How many stops is the back light below your main light? Is there any grids over the back light? Thx!
[Reply]
June 4th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Hi Tim,
Thank you for the compliment. Actually the back light is about 2 stops OVER my main light. That is done so the fog will show and also not get blown out by over exposure. You should think about taking my private photography workshop.
Here is the link http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/private-photography-workshops/
Thank you for asking your question. Please look through the archives and don’t hesitate to ask more !
[Reply]
August 6th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
good read
[Reply]
September 27th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Hi, I’m just starting out. I have a canon rebel xsi, and I want to get into fashion photography, with a canon speedlite 430EX II. Any ideas on lenses and lighting? I would like to not spend an arm and a leg, but I do want value products.
Awesome Shot, BTW…
-JB
[Reply]
Jason Christopher Reply:
September 28th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Hi Jonathan, thank you for the compliment.
For fashion photography I recommend a Canon 85mm 1.8 lens, a Canon 100mm 2.8 lens and a Canon 28-70mm 2.8 lens. The 85mm runs around $300 the 100mm around $600. The expensive lens is your 28-70mm. But you don’t have to get them all at once. Look on Ebay for used lenses. I do want to stress to get Canon lenses and NOT off brand lenses. The glass is good but the electronics don’t communicate with the camera the same as the brand name lens does.
Light kits: I happen to really like the Calumet brand of mono lights. They are very reliable and the amount of light modifiers available is amazing. You can get into a two light kit with everything for around $1,300.
Now, if you have a really large budget go with Broncolor or Profoto.
*REMEMBER TO CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDERS. I HAVE A NEW AUTO REPLY PLUGIN AND SOME REPLIES ARE GOING TO THEIR SPAM FOLDERS*
[Reply]