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Hi All,

I've got my first fashion parade on tonight.

I'm a bit nervous and wish I had the experience of someone like Wendell to get me through this.

Here's the setup.

I get a designated space at the end of the catwalk to shoot the models when they do their turns.

Here's the gear that I have rented/own to use tonight.

Softbox with multiblitz profulux 600 with infra red shoe and cord
sb800
d200, d70s
28-70
50 1.4
18-70
85 1.4
12--24

Ok so I've been thinking that it might not be a good idea to shoot with the infra red hot shoe or remote flash trigger because there's going to be other photographers there and they will set off the softbox continually with their flashes. I've covered the light sensor at the back of the multiblitz and will use a cord connected to my d200 to trigger the flash. I was thinking I'll use the 28-70 to shoot with on the d200

I'll use the d70s with a 12-24 and swap the flash sync cord when i need to go wide.

I have very limited knowledge of flash and was thinking about using ttl mode.....

I was dissapointed with the sync cord input on the d200 - it doesn't go as deep as the input on the sb800 which seems a lot more stable. I am a bit worried about low light focussing so would it be a good idea to use the infrared on the sb800 for focussing but turn down the flash on the sb800 at the same time so the softbox is my primary source?

Is this way of working going to give me the setup? I would LOVE some tips because I really need the forum to give me a helping hand with this one.

Or maybe I shouldn't even use flash and go for a grainy high iso look

Oh and I have a flash meter thing. If I do go with the whole flash setup should I use that? Why wouldn't the camera metering be good enough? Why do these things even exist

I've just returned from the loungeroom where I did some testing with focussing in low light using sb800 with d200, and then seeing how the d200 focusses on its own.

I think the sb800 was more reliable and gave me a faster more reliable focus.

Has anyone else tested this?

I have something similar to this coming up soon as well.

So ive been doing some reading, and it sounds like at most shows the catwalk is fairly well lit up and they dont really like flash going off.

For the shoot i will be doing we are not going to be using flash but the main photographer is going to be setting up enough light so that we can shoot at ISO 400 or so. From what ive read you pretty much want a shutter around 125, if you can get that without flash that should be fine.

None of this is from experience though so take it as a grain of salt i guess

Hmmm ok. Thanks for your input.

It's not a large fashion parade. It is for a shop in newcastle called Kookla and the are presenting their spring range. They want to use my shots in their posters/catalougs etc, so they wont mind me shooting flash if I need to. It all really comes down to what will give me the best images.

Are there going to be spotlights following the models as they walk or at least some decent lighting?

Try to limit the use of the flash as it will kill the ambience.

Personally I would go for the available light approach and bump the ISO up to 800.

How far are the models going to be from you? Before the show, check out what each pic will look like using each lens. If it's a long runway, then either the 85 or 28-70 would be good. The only issue with the 85 is if the model is walking towards you, you have very limited time to get the full length shot. Then again, you might want to get the tighter shot as well with the 85.

Whichever lens you use, vary it between f3.5 and f4. Only go out wide like f2.8 at the end when they pose for the tighter shots.

If the lighting is going to be really bad, consider bouncing the flash off the ceiling (if it's low enough) or dial the flash down to act as a fill flash.

Shutter speeds should be around 1/200 to 1/250 and towards the end when they pose, usually if the lighting is decent it'll be brighter (particularly if they're wearing white), increase the shutterspeed to compensate.

Forget about the light meter and worrying about all the technical stuff. You'll feel much more relaxed and most importantly enjoy the event.

Ok, sorry i couldnt have been more helpful

I guess probably the best thing is to get there as early as possible and get some test shots done, put them on a computer so you can check them all over before the actual parade starts

I don't think there will be any spotlights. The lighting is going to be fairly basic.

I think its a good idea to forget about all the technical stuff because that way my composition should be better because I'm not thinking about other things.

The ceilings are very high. It is in a glass building, so I have to also watch for flash bounce off the glass if I go for that approach.

I do like going the more natural approach though. Means less setting up as well - assembling this soft box is a pain because it has the wrong bracket.

That being said, I still really like the infra red focus capabilities of the sb800 so i think i'll use that but just use a light sphere so it becomes a softer fill light and I'll aim it up so it doesn't have as much of an affect on the models.

Cheers for the help guys

Hi Jben, I would be hoping you get enough light to not need to use flash. This is how I would setup.

If you have enough light, I'd use the 85/1.4 on the D200 and the 28-70 on the D70s. Use the 85/1.4 for the distant shots as they come down the runway towards you, set it at f4 to get enogh dof because they come at you pretty quick. Bump the ISO to suit on the D200 rather than the D70 as my exeperience has been that d200 handles high ISO better. Use the 28-70 on the d70s, set at 2.8 with lower ISO (no more than 400). If you've got adequate light, go for f4, but don't push ISO past 400 on the d70s. Use the 28-70/d70 combo for the turns at the end of the runway, so dof won't be as big an issue as they won't be powering towards you.

If you don't have enough light and you need to use your SB800, then I guess you're limited to one camera, so D200 and 28-70. Set the sb800 TTL (not TTL BL) and d200 to spot meter and set the exposure off the models face. Set the d200 to flash sync to fp mode and go for about 1/250 sec, f4 manual mode.

Please post some results.

Nice bag of glass you've got there. If none of this works and you want to give the game away, send me your 85/1.4 and 12-24, I already have the rest.

Cheers
John

Hello j-ben

i'm currently travelling o sorry for th late reply

essentially there are two types of runway
shit runway and kick ass runway

shit runway is like low lit, bad staging on a high rise short stage low ceiling, follow spots or just 1 spotlight tracking the model, or no spots at all and just room light. This sort of fashion show is usually held in a nightclub. In This case you need to shoot wide use the 28-70 at f4 minimum because at widest pertre the depth of field is too shallow
if you focus on the breast area if the model arches back in the final pose her head will be out of focus unless you shoot at f2.8 at the long end of the runway, the more distance the more depth of field

If you use flash best thing to do is set it on ttl use matrix metering(only as a guide) and shoot manual exposure. Start of with f4 ISO400 1/250 see what happens then if it's too bright keep fstop constant and increase shutterspeed, dont go under 1/200 models power down the runway with viscious intent and at that speed you will get blur, if it too dark increase ISO, the flash will help gettign a sharpewr image but it's effect is very unflattering, in low light you will get red eye

if there are two follow spots tungsten lights if they cross it will produce a greenish tone on the model the camera's auto white balance will exentuate this greenish tone, so set the white balcnce to irradescent

set your camera to continuous focus, don't use focus tracking
reason, if the model wears a black or white dress with no discernable texture the lens will hunt for focus and if focus tracking is on it won't focus
At times like this change focus point to hit her in the face to get focus

regarding matrix metering opposed to spot or centre weighted
spot and centre weighted are useless for dark garments as the metering will expose for the black dress and blow out the skin tones

kick ass runway if like tungsten lights evently distributed along the runway
and no raiser stage, i.e Fashion Week production
in that case ISO320 1/250 f4 white balance 2900Kelvin
it's formulaic, in lower light same settings but switch to ISO 800