Shooting a fashion show might sound glamorous to us as those photographers are a part of an industry which demonstrates new charisma of living and defines the true sense of the faddy world. Also, a lot has to be traveled to cover these events. But, more than that, shooting a fashion show can be quiet challenging as there are no second chances available. The model that walks on ramp is available for a shot for just a few minutes or even seconds. So, before you hit the press button for the photograph, here is a list of tips to help you to get the best shots you need.
1. Position Yourself: Place yourself approximately ten to twenty feet away from the stage or ramp where you can visualize the straight vertical runway. On a good show, there will always be competitors who desire to make their way and will try to capture the best shots by shifting from one place to another to get the best point of view. But for you a pro tip: find a right spot and hold to that place instead of skipping a shot.
2. Check the Lighting: Be prepared with the apt lighting system because moving subjects with low and inappropriate light are not a good combination for a great shot. Therefore, take the required time and understand your environment. Also, if you have the opportunity to talk to the lighting technician, have a conversation with him and find out what the actual lighting of the show will be. For this try and get to the venue ahead of time and catch out all the required details that will help you in your shoot.
3. Use Long Lens: Another important tip of shooting a fashion show is to have the proper equipment carried with you in addition to the required settings done. Shooting with a long telephoto lens is a good option as it is best for fast focus and background compression. In addition to that, it’s nice to have a long range of focal length which will help you to visualize the model walking towards you through the help of your camera with greater clarity.
4. Shoot in Vertical Ways: The viewers want to see the entire clothing, which includes the shoes as well. Till the time you aren’t using a wide angle lens, it won’t be possible for you to capture the whole body in a horizontal way. So, shoot vertically to capture the full body walk of the model.
5. White Balance should be Right: We generally drop the white balance at auto mode on our cameras. But during a fashion show our white balance is one of the most important settings that we need to set right. For this, speak to the lighting electricians beforehand to know the lighting and the entire flow of the runway as I have mentioned above. Set your White Balance accordingly and if you fail to do so; you need to make corrections with the collection of your photographs due to inappropriate captures. This might manipulate the designer’s clothes in terms of colour which is harmful to your brand personality.
6. Increase your ISO if required: Don’t be afraid to increase the number ISO just by noise issues. Some of us are a bit nervous about a fact that if we increase the numbers of the same, there will absurd noises which will be in the scene. But it’s nothing like that. Instead, take every opportunity to pitch on absolute sharpness and accuracy.
7. Autofocus and Continuous Shooting: Autofocus will make the focus automated and will allow you to click the photographs clearly and quickly. You don’t have to manually set it repetitively and henceforth, get a good shot missed out.
8. Get Low: This has two advantages. One, no one likes a photographer who blocks their view and henceforth, the audience skips a design. Two, it will tend to increase the height of the model which will give the most desired and appealing look to your images. This is because the fashionable attires are preferred to be carried by long models.
9. The Three Shots: The most important and versatile shots are: full; three-quarters; and a close-up of the face. Use the feature zoom to the best to get the desired compositions throughout the walk of the model.