7 Tips from Professional Fashion Photographer Adriana Curcio

1. Preparation

In my opinion this is the most important bit of advice I can give you. In fact, don’t just prepare, over prepare! I never walk on to a set without having a concrete idea of what I’m looking to achieve. I have books, and books of tear sheets of images of lighting, makeup, hair, styling, posing, editing, etc. It’s very easy to become burnt out as a photographer, but if you have these books of inspiring images to glance through, I can pretty much guarantee something will catch your eye, and a concept or story will begin to develop.

2. It’s Your Concept

Working in fashion, there is obviously a team of hair stylists, makeup artists, and stylists I work with, however, I’m involved in all of it from A-Z. I’m always open to suggestions, and ideas, and love to see what others can bring to the table, but I never hand over the reigns. You cannot let someone else take over your vision. If you do, it will read in your images. You need a very smooth execution of your story in order for your audience to grasp it, so be sure to take control of it.

3. Move and Move some more

I experiment from every possible angle when I’m shooting. I shoot and move, shoot and move. You can’t wait for the shot to come to you, you have to go find it.

4. Be a Director

I direct, A LOT. There are some models that don’t need a lot of direction, and I love to be inspired by what they bring to set, however, I don’t lose sight of my direction. Again, you can’t wait for the shot to come to you, you have to create it.

5. Break the Rules

Whomever said “rules are meant to be broken,” was on the right track. I was taught the correct way to light my subjects, and for a long time that’s what I did. After a few fortunate accidents, I realized there’s something to be said about high contrast, and dramatic lighting. Not everything needs to be lit just so, or be perfectly flattering. Bend and break the rules, and see what you find. You will surprise yourself.

6. Never Stop Shooting

Shoot whenever, and where ever. The second you stop shooting, is the second your “photographic brain” starts slowly disappearing and getting lazy. You start losing your creative energy, and second guessing yourself, then you begin to thinki maybe you’re not good enough, etc. If you keep on shooting, you don’t have the chance to fall into that hole. Once you’re there, it’s hard to dig yourself out! Shoot, shoot, shoot!

7. Confidence

You have to believe in yourself, and your work! The best way to learn is to completely throw yourself into it. You can’t be afraid to screw up! The reality of the situation is that inevitably, you will screw up! But it’s ok, it’s actually wonderful because it’s how you learn. Every time I make a mistake on set, I learn, and know better for next time. My first shoot with clients, I almost walked off set because I didn’t trust myself, and I was so scared of making a mistake, and embarrassing myself. I sat there running through all the possible disasters that could occur, then I shut it all out because I knew if I didn’t shoot then, I never would! The images from that shoot are some of my favorite images to date!

Do yourself a favor and check out more of Adriana’s fashion and editorial photography at www.adrianacurcio.com.

from: digital-photography-school.com

ISO Settings in Digital Photography

Grant (a reader of DPS) asks - ‘I’m confused about ISO. What is the best setting to choose? Should I always choose the lowest one?’

Thanks for the question Grant. Before I attempt to answer it let me give a quick definition of ISO:

What is ISO?

In traditional (film) photography ISO (or ASA) was the indication of how sensitive a film was to light. It was measured in numbers (you’ve probably seen them on films - 100, 200, 400, 800 etc). The lower the number the lower the sensitivity of the film and the finer the grain in the shots you’re taking.

In Digital Photography ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor. The same principles apply as in film photography - the lower the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain. Higher ISO settings are generally used in darker situations to get faster shutter speeds (for example an indoor sports event when you want to freeze the action in lower light) - however the cost is noisier shots. I’ll illustrate this below with two elargements of shots that I just took - the one on the left is taken at 100 ISO and the one of the right at 3200 ISO (click to enlarge to see the full effect).

(you can see larger sized images of both shots here for the 100 ISO and here for the 3200 ISO)

100 ISO is generally accepted as ‘normal’ and will give you lovely crisp shots (little noise/grain).

Most people tend to keep their digital cameras in ‘Auto Mode’ where the camera selects the appropriate ISO setting depending upon the conditions you’re shooting in (it will try to keep it as low as possible) but most cameras also give you the opportunity to select your own ISO also.

When you do override your camera and choose a specific ISO you’ll notice that it impacts the aperture and shutter speed needed for a well exposed shot. For example - if you bumped your ISO up from 100 to 400 you’ll notice that you can shoot at higher shutter speeds and/or smaller apertures.

When choosing the ISO setting I generally ask myself the following four questions:

1. Light - Is the subject well lit?
2. Grain - Do I want a grainy shot or one without noise?
3. Tripod - Am I use a tripod?
4. Moving Subject - Is my subject moving or stationary?

If there is plenty of light, I want little grain, I’m using a tripod and my subject is stationary I will generally use a pretty low ISO rating.

However if it’s dark, I purposely want grain, I don’t have a tripod and/or my subject is moving I might consider increasing the ISO as it will enable me to shoot with a faster shutter speed and still expose the shot well.

Of course the trade off of this increase in ISO will be noisier shots.

Situations where you might need to push ISO to higher settings include:

• Indoor Sports Events - where your subject is moving fast yet you may have limited light available.
• Concerts - also low in light and often ‘no-flash’ zones
• Art Galleries, Churches etc- many galleries have rules against using a flash and of course being indoors are not well lit.
• Birthday Parties - blowing out the candles in a dark room can give you a nice moody shot which would be ruined by a bright flash. Increasing the ISO can help capture the scene.

ISO is an important aspect of digital photography to have an understanding of if you want to gain more control of your digital camera. Experiment with different settings and how they impact your images today.

from: digital-photography-school.com

5 Corporate-Style Portrait Techniques

This article exploring Corporate Style Portrait techniques is by Bryan Larson, Liam Richards, and Trenton Lepp from The Binary Crumbs.

Flash photography is a difficult topic to discuss as there are so many different stages where shooters might currently be at.

The process for most people I talk to begins by first learning how to shoot under ambient light, then starting to play with your camera’s built in flash. Soon enough, that special day comes around when you buy your first external flash, which is commonly followed by a long period of shooting with the flash firmly mounted onto your camera’s hot-shoe. A while later, the off-camera hot-shoe cable is purchased allowing the flash to stretch within an arms reach of your camera - most people never get past this stage. For the slightly more aggressive lot, however, the day finally arrives when the tethering bind between flash and camera must be severed.

Much like the severing of the umbilical cord, this will be the day when you are first born into true flash photography. Even here there is room to grow, as another process inevitably starts beginning with wireless, infrared flash communication, and growing into complex studio strobe setups fired by radio transceivers.

As photography exists merely as a byproduct of light itself, it should come as no surprise that the ability to control and manipulate light has grown so far, so fast. Light can now be hardened, softened, bounced, colored, directed, spotted, and widened using a variety of tools readily available in almost every photography store in the country.

If you’re ready to start playing around with multiple flashes, the best place to begin is portraiture as it allows for the most freedom to experiment. There are a lot of lighting guidelines out there that in many cases need to be followed, but I don’t want to rehash the same old setups that have been passed along now for years and years. Today I want to talk about controlling light without constraints; to use your flashes in accordance to your subject, not because a manual told you that that’s how it ought to be lit. To provide some structure though, I’ll narrow the topic down to corporate-style portraiture using two flashes.

Technique #1: The Simple Studio

If you’re using infrared flash communication, most cameras require you to have your master flash locked into the hot-shoe. Not a problem. There’s still a number of possibilities for portraiture that can be achieved by simply moving around your flash slave. One possibility is the ultra-clean, white-background head shot that can be done by bouncing or diffusing your master flash (1) onto your subject, and firing your slave (2) at the wall behind him/her. Paper backdrops are quite inexpensive and work great in these types of instances. The simplicity allows the shots to be easily integrated into promotional material, used on business card templates, for online profiles, and so forth. The example above is one of about 160 shots I took for a single business. The easy setup is imperative when you’re “hammering out” a large number of portraits over the course of days, months, or even years.

Technique #2: Exterior Spaces

Just because you start shooting with multiple flashes, doesn’t mean that your confined to interior spaces and studios. In fact, exterior flash photography can really make your subject stand out from the outdoor background. I personally like shooting at dusk or dawn as it makes for a darker background. Overcast days are good too. For the above sample, you could even use a off-camera shoe cord to pull your master (1) flash to the right with a secondary slave (2) to the left if you were relying on infrared communication. For this shot, two Nikon SB25’s were used - the master flash was angled down on the subject, and the slave was at about head level. If you want your subject to stand out, focus your flash in on them to avoid lighting the background. Alternatively, you could snoot one of your flashes if you really wanted to focus the light. Just expose your camera in accordance to your subject and let the background slightly underexpose.

Technique #3: People and Props

This shot was taken for photojournalism purposes which rely heavily on props and setting to more clearly tell a story. If you’re lighting a subject with a prop, use it to your advantage. Place your subject and prop together in a way that is aesthetically pleasing first and light second. In this case, a relevant scientific machine was used as a prop and placed at an angle to draw attention towards the subject. The master flash (1) was gelled (CTO gel) and reflected into an umbrella to saturate the shot in soft, warm light, while the slave flash (2) was diffused and fired through the machine to cast a slight shadow on the subject in order to further draw attention to his face. Both flashes were Nikon SB800’s and were triggered using Pocket Wizards (radio transceivers).

Technique #4: Confined Spaces, Multiple Faces

Again, this shot was taken for photojournalism purposes. The group was developing a “space elevator” for a NASA challenge. The space elevator couldn’t be photographed, so to further connect with the the story, the team was shot in a real elevator. Now we have a problem: it’s hard enough to fit five guys, one photographer, and a pile of camera gear into an elevator, despite trying to light it and frame it so it’s pleasing to look at. The camera was angled down on the group, and two Nikon SB800’s (1 & 2) were angled up to bounce light off the roof at very low power (1/32 and 1/64). The shutter speed was slowed down to generate motion blur in the background.

Technique #5 - The Close-Up

Corporate head shots don’t always have to be boring studio portraits, and they don’t always have to be head and shoulder shots. If you’re working with a photogenic model, and you have time to do some experimenting, move in for the close-up. In this example, the subject was framed using a fur-trimmed hood. For corporate portraits, I recommend incorporating the business whenever possible. For instance, if you’re shooting a portrait of someone who runs a chain of sunglasses stores, then by all means have them wearing a pair of sunglasses. For this shot, the master flash (1) was used as a soft fill camera right, and the slave (2) was also softened to highlight the subjects face. For close-ups, it’s always a good idea to soften the light as it also makes the skin appear softer and more flawless.

So these are five of literally an infinite number of flash setups. Overall, my intent here is not to explain photographic lighting down to the smallest detail, but to encourage you to think about lighting as something that’s modifiable, experimental and fun without rigid rights and wrongs. So embrace light, play around with it, make mistakes, shoot masterpieces - in the end it all goes to make you a better photographer who’s able to think outside the box. Learn from others, but always be willing to make your style your own. And of course, happy shooting!

from: digital-photography-school.com