Fashion Photography workshops on location
June 7th, 2009The third day of our fashion photography workshop involved learning how to light on location mixing the sun with your off camera flash and really using it off camera instead of mounting it on your camera. One of the really cool things we did was mounted Dave’s Canon flash on a c-stand bounced into a Photoflex umbrella ! One of the benefits of mounting the flash to a c stand with the arm is that you can boom it out at any angle you want and of course you don’t end up with a photo that looks like you used harsh on camera flash.
We spent the whole day experimenting and just shooting, shooting and shooting. I would observe Dave as he photographed the model and suggest different things to say to the model as he was shooting. We had a nice lunch and ended up with great photos. Dave is a great guy and learned so much. Dave gave his testimonial however if there is something specific you would like to ask him about his three day workshop please don’t hesitate to email him. His email is dave@daveclee.com and as always I encourage you to email or call me if you would like more information.
June 7th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
fashion
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[...] fashion photographers la. Jason Christopher captures the beauty of fashion from all over the world. From high fashion couture to the lifestyle of southern california. [...]…
June 9th, 2009 at 5:55 am
Hi Jason,
How does “fashion photography” differ from “beauty photography”? And how would you say either relates to “portrait photography”? I am a portrait photographer in a small town, and I shoot a fair number of high school seniors, who all want to look like models and rockstars. I think my work has a bit of an editorial fashion look( maybe, I hope!!) but I am looking to hone my skills and improve my work, but first I want to get clear in my own mind what that “look” would be. Am I making sense? I am considering your workshop, and hoarding my pennies, but I don’ t work with models or makeup artists, just kids who want to be special for a couple of hours.
I do want to say thank you for your insight and willingness to share your talent and skills with others! ~ Laura T
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Jason Christopher Reply:
June 10th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Hi Laura ! I went to your site and you do very beautiful work.
These are great questions and I have been asked this many times. With fashion photography the model is wearing clothes and is usually a full or three quarter body shot. The poses are fashion oriented as well. With beauty photography the framing is usually shoulders and up or sometimes just the face. However, a beauty photograph could be a three quarter shot where the model is wearing nothing. You might see this for body lotion.
How does either relate to portrait photography ? Oh it does very much. Whether you are shooting fashion, beauty, portrait or any photograph, what is the one thing that draws the viewer into the photo ? I have said this a million times. EMOTION EMOTION EMOTION ! It is the photographers job to evoke some sort of feeling from their subject.
You shoot high school seniors that are tired of the same old typical portrait look. What about throwing some fashion lighting in ? Or fashion poses. I was hired by a portrait studio back in Massachusetts to come teach their photographers how to shoot fashion because the seniors were expressing that they didn’t even want to take a senior portrait if it’s gonna look the same as always. So they flew me out and I taught them some very different techniques that they had to get used to. So as you can see, my workshop isn’t ONLY about fashion. I create your own custom workshop based on your needs in order for you to enhance your business.
If you shoot senior portraits you should be using a make up artist. I am going to make a separate post just on this subject right now. Thank you for asking question and you are very welcome
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June 22nd, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Hi Jason, thanks for visiting my blog
You have an awesome website! You already on my bookmark list. Looking forward to share tips and idea with you.
Cheers!
VanillaSeven
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Jason Christopher Reply:
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:09 am
Hi Vanilla !
thank you for the compliment. Yes please stay in touch !
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June 23rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Pretty cool post. I just came across your site and wanted to say
that I have really enjoyed reading your posts. In any case
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
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Jason Christopher Reply:
June 24th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Thank you Katy. I look forward to seeing more comments from you !
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June 23rd, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Hi Jason – What I’m interested in is definitely along the same lines as Dave apparently. I don’t have a clue about the business side of it, since I’m an Art Director by trade, I can probably guess my way through.
But for fashion photography, do you use ambient light a lot? The sun as backlight on the model, creating the rim-light effect and an umbrella with camera flash or tend to use studio lights with umbrellas?
Also, when there isn’t any great ambient light, do you create it yourself, like in your studio with the bearhead strobe? I’m used to 3 point lighting setups, but they don’t necessarily show a fashion vibe, so I’m wondering what kind of settings are used to obtain shots like Dave’s above. Would be great if that could be shared because I love the fashion look and I have a hunch it’s just opening the shutter speed / iso but id like to be spot on and experiment on my own from there.
Thanks!
Bram
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Jason Christopher Reply:
June 24th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Hi Bram. I apologize for calling you Brian. So it’s Bram like Bram Stoker
For my outdoor fashion photography I do use ambient light most of the time. That means ambient light mixed with either a reflector or a fill card. There are also times when I mix ambient with strobe. One thing I do the 99% of times and consistently is use the sun to back light the model to achieve that nice rim effect.
When I do use a strobe it could be an actual strobe or sometimes just my off camera Metz flash with an umbrella or sometimes no umbrella. It all depends on the look I am going for which is very subjective.
In Southern California the sun is really always out and I don’t mean that to sound like a joke lol. I mean sure we get rain once in a blue moon or we do get cloudy days but it is so rare it has never been a problem for me. Being that you are in a place where it can rain alot or be very overcast there are ways to get around that.
When there isn’t much ambient light what you can do is use two strobes or flashes and just recreate the natural light look. You would mount the second flash on a boom with an umbrella or without and place it above and behind the model just like where the sun would be if it was out. And you would use your other flash either on an umbrella or bare for your key light. Now you could put some warm gels over your strobes or I guess you could change the color temp i post. But I would use gels because I am old school and that was how it was done back in the good ol days.
Now, the fashion vibe doesn’t always have to do with lighting but I think I know what you are talking about since I don’t have a reference photo of yours. In that shot, I showed Dave how to incorporate flare in a shot without ruining it. That flare look is something I use alot mainly because I like the look of it. If you want to email a sample photo of yours I would be happy to write you back.
Thank you for joining my blog and participating Bram. Go through the archives and please comment and ask questions. There is much more information to soak up. I made this blog to help everyone !
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June 24th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
No worries on the Bram vs Brian thing, happens all the time! Bram isn’t you average name in these parts so Bran/Brian/Brad get tossed in the mix a fair bit.
Anyways, photos I was referring to with the backlighting and how to achieve that special lovely awesomeness of a look are your http://jasonchristopher.com/gallery/1243707138_desert-beauty.jpg and http://jasonchristopher.com/gallery/1214850023_desert-fashion.jpg
They both have similar look and feel to it, but it’s just so awesome and I’d love to shoot that way, just need a few pointers before I buy some extra gear
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June 25th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Ahhhhhh ok. My fiend you will be pleased to know that all that was used for those shots was a 6 foot tall gold reflector. It was kind of windy that day so both of my assistants held it as it was a bit flimsy. These are techniques you can learn and then apply to your own shoots when you take my workshop. It would be great to have another Canadian come down. You guys are so cool !
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June 26th, 2009 at 8:37 am
I’ll certainly think about it
I gotta get out and buy me some new toys today, including an on-camera/off-camera flash, umbrella, and probably a stand or 2 with a massive gold reflector 
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Jason Christopher Reply:
June 26th, 2009 at 8:45 am
Nice ! Some new toys lol. When you buy a flash get the same brand that your camera is. I use a Metz however, I did not know at the time I bought it which was a long time ago, that if I had bought a Canon flash I would be able to high speed flash sync.
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June 29th, 2009 at 5:17 am
Hey Jason…
I have a photo shoot coming up in a couple of weeks where I would like to use natural light. I will photographing an infant actually. Some of the shots will need to be in front of a black backdrop, and I am finding this difficult. How can I shoot in front of a black backdrop using natural light?
Thanks!
Wendy C. Photography
Nashville Tennessee
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Jason Christopher Reply:
June 30th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Hi Wendy !
To make a black background truly black on the set and NOT in Photoshop, what you need to do is put up a backdrop that soaks up light. Black velvet works well as does black canvas. The next thing you need to do is place your subject at least 8 feet from the backdrop. The farther away your subject or model is from the background the darker your background will be. This is true of course if you do not put any light on to your background. Let me know how it comes out for you !
Cheers !
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July 2nd, 2009 at 8:53 am
Well, I’ve done what is my first test after reviewing some of the blog posts and grabbing some new toys. It was mid-day, so sun wasn’t exactly pleasant to work with and I was at my family’s place, but all I was trying to do was to eliminate the harsh shadows on her face/neckline. I left the sunglasses in place so I can refer back to lighting scenarios later.
so… http://www.aside.ca/test/
1st one is just gold reflector + direct sunlight
2nd one is gold reflector + our setup (flash 430EXII bounced into umbrella as you can see on her glasses) and I couldn’t get it to make a significant difference at all as you can see, thoughts?
3rd one is gold reflector and i used my umbrella without the reflective surface to diffuse the sunlight, so here she sits in the shade of my umbrella
4th one is gold reflector, diffuse umbrella, and added the flash to give her a rim on her neck/hair
I’m not sure how I’d go about getting that blown out look you see in fashion. I’m a bit disappointed with the rig, it really just got blown out by the sun it seems, hard to tell it made a difference other than it giving a bit of a whiter tint to her face.
Anyways, feedback time!
Feel free to pick it apart any way you’d like when you get a minute. What I did wrong, how I should approach it next time around. I’m glad I tested it out on family first.
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Jason Christopher Reply:
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:05 am
Hi Bram !
Ok so first thing I want to say is I love that you are trying out my technique. Second thing is if you can avoid shooting mid day, then avoid it. Of course there are many times when you HAVE to shoot mid day because of scheduling. So what does a photographer do when he or she has to shoot mid day ? You make it work !
I want to start with your sample photos first. When using flash or strobes, you don’t need a reflector as well. It’s overkill. So just the flash with the umbrella is all you need. What I do is meter the ambient light facing the model. If you don’t know how to use a meter then LEARN ! At mid day you’re probably gonna get an F/16 which is VERY bright. So that means your flash needs to output at least F/11 and that is asking alot from an off camera flash. Also remember that when using a light modifier whether it be an umbrella or soft box you lose 1-2 stops of power. So you need to place your light source very close to your subject. Remember this is if you are shooting mid day. I would place the light source about 3-4 feet from your subject, just out of frame. You also should be using a battery pack that attached to the flash because you are going to be pumping so much power double AA won’t do it for you. I use a Quantum compact battery that sells for $150 USD.
Now in your examples it is difficult for me to see if you filled the eyes with light because your subject was wearing sunglasses. Do this – shoot again same time location etc. only don’t have your subject wear sunglasses. And of course don’t use a reflector as well. Show me the results afterwords.
Then after this exorcise I want you to shoot towards the end of the day or at least when the sun is BEHIND your subject. I guarentee your results will be much more pleasing. But remember, you won’t always have the luxury of shooting at golden hour so we need to get you to be able to master this lighting at any time of the day.
So to sum up:
1. Don’t use a reflector when using a flash.
2. Place your light source 3-4 feet from your subject.
3. Lose the sunglasses.
4. Meter ambient light and then take a reading from your flash and the output needs to be at least 1 stop below your ambient or match your ambient.
If you do not have a meter at this moment it’s just trial and error which I hate. That is why I STILL to this day use a meter.
Thank you Bram and keep me posted !
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July 5th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
very nice use of fill in flash into the face and useing the sun as rim lighting!
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Jason Christopher Reply:
July 10th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Tom thank you very much !
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July 18th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Hi Jason
i had been looking for photography workshop in LA when i found your website.
i really interested to improve my self but the problem that i always think abt how i can practice what i have learned from workshops
thank you
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July 28th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Amazing writeup and masterful showing of light good sir. I wanted to also ask you to maybe do a writeup about the business side of photography as in contracts, and even when you start to talk about senior pictures and smaller gigs for upcoming photographers. Thanks again for such a great blog. It truly is helpful in soo many ways.
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July 29th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Hello sir, Great work and awesome info on your site..I would like to know if you are shooting the backlit photos in low aperature..I have seen some photos backlit in what looks to be very low aperature..is this being done with highspeed sync? also I have tried to shoot using backlit and sometimes the photo object is just washed out..so this means I need to bring in some off cam flash. in this case how much would you usually set the off cam flash to? for example if I had a sb800.
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Jason Christopher Reply:
July 30th, 2009 at 11:25 am
Hi Bryan,
Thank you for the compliment. I shoot my back lit fashion photos with a pretty tight aperture whether I am using a white bounce card or an off camera flash. I don’t use high speed sync UNLESS there is color in the sky. If there is no color in the sky then high speed sync won’t make a difference. As far as your images being washed out sometimes that is because you are letting too much flare hit the lens in which case you need to either attach your lens hood and or change your position a bit.
To achieve that beautiful back lit look is really just experimenting. I mean that’s what photography is about to begin with. Try different techniques that work for you and write them down specifically what you did and all your settings. I love that look and I will be the first to admit it is very difficult to master and takes much practice. Sometimes I set my flash to over power the sun, and sometimes I set it to under expose. It all depends on what look I am going for. Sometimes I use just a white bounce card and sometimes I just wear a white t-shirt. Sometimes I don’t use any reflectors at all as in this image of Holly she was moving and I just wanted to capture the “rawness” of a woman. When using an off camera fill flash as your main light the image becomes more dynamic as in this image of Holly. So it really is about what you see in your head and then you experiment to achieve that look. If you go through other posts in my blog I explain in more detail about certain photos where I used an off camera flash. This post is very informative about my use of off camera fill flash http://jasonchristopher.com/blog/2007/10/24/on-camera-flash-outdoors/
Thank you for your question Bryan. I offer private photography workshops where you can learn many more photography techniques with a fashion model and make up artist. You can read about it here.
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July 31st, 2009 at 12:04 am
thanks chriss for the awesome info..I was wondering how to shoot at wide open aperatures with flash and no high speed sync..I tried it out and i would get these black lines at the bottom of my photo due to a high shutter.
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Jason Christopher Reply:
July 31st, 2009 at 10:45 am
You’re welcome Bryan. It’s Jason not Chriss
To answer your question which is actually two questions I will start with the easier one. Yes you are getting the black line at the bottom of your image because you are setting your camera’s shutter speed too fast/ high. Depending on what camera you have it can only sync at a certain shutter speed which is probably 200th of a second. I am gonna take a wild guess here and assume you want a blurred out background but you don’t want to over expose your image. Unfortunately there is only so much you can do with 35mm DSLR camera’s. You’re gonna have to close down your aperture. But you can still blur it out if you bring your model farther away from the background and you shoot with a long lens. Im curious as to why you don’t want to use your high speed sync.
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