This past Sunday, I had my first fashion photoshoot with
The De Lacy Collection for their Spring 2011 line. I've done some minor photoshoots in the past...friend asking for headshots or personal photos etc., but never have done something along the professional lines of photography such as products and the like. It was quite exciting for me to do this and a learning experience to say the least.
The day started off really weird for me. The previous night, I had attended dinner for a friend's birthday and had intended to leave early so I could get rest knowing I had a full day ahead of me for the shoot. I left dinner at the desired time, however, the rest I needed and wanted never came for I ended up staying up through the night. So on the morning of the shoot, I was really tired but still had my spirits up so that gave me the energy I needed for most of the day. Well, that and Redbull. First lesson learned: Get plenty of rest.
The shoot itself was really fun and kept me going. I had scoped out the set a week or two prior, just to get an idea of the lighting I would be getting and from what I gathered during my intel, it looked like I didn't need much as far as lighting. The lights seemed bright and I would be getting additional light from the windows where we would be doing most of the shoot, so I thought I'd be good. Just to be on the safe side, I asked my friend if I could borrow one of his reflectors and he kindly did so, plus Bridgette De Lacy brought one of her own with minor additional lighting and things seemed covered. Boy was I wrong! When I arrived at the location, I took a couple of test shots after the set lights warmed up and noticed that I would be getting alot of dark photos. The lights at the location didn't help as much as I thought it would so I then took a couple of test shots using the reflector to bounce the surrounding lights and they helped a little but not as much as I wanted them to so I had to depend on the light coming in through the windows which was GREAT but would pose a problem later on during the actual shoot.
The plan was that everyone would get to the location around 9am and we would start shooting around 10-11am but unforeseen circumstances by way of massive street closures due to a marathon (or something), had people arriving at 10 so we didn't begin shooting until around close to noon. With that in mind, once we began, the light coming in through the window helped a great deal during the first hour or two of the shoot, but problems began to arise when the sun started to shift position and the photos started to get darker again. Even using the reflector didn't help much. I dreaded using the on camera flash because I was afraid of that "deer in the headlights" look on camera flash is known for but after seeing the photos get darker and darker as the sun's position shifted, I had to use it to get usable photos or else the shoot would've been a total bust. Using the on camera flash ended up being a great and unexpected help! Coupled with the use of the reflector, and the minor lights Bridgette had brought, many of the photos turned out amazing! I was pleasantly surprised by the results. I'd say 80% of the photos were usable and did not need additional post work (but knowing me, I'll put them through the post work grind anyway...). Second lesson learned: Invest in strobe lighting!
As the shoot was winding down, the photos and outfit changes became faster and faster for fear of losing total natural light and we churned out photos quickly. This was around 3-4pm ish if memory serves me correctly. After going through the night with no sleep, an 8 hour photoshoot will wear you out. Honestly, I don't even remember being so tired in my life. All in all, I had blast and so did everyone at the shoot. I shot over 700 images but I've managed to cut it down to 500 or so. Mostly photos deleted due to a bit of blur or something being cut off from the frame...a hand, a foot etc. and blinks. All the images I've used in this entry haven't been touched. Not sure when I'll post photos that I've put through post but I think maybe sometime this weekend or Monday. Going through photos themselves can be tiring. A big thank you goes out to everyone involved for making the shoot happen and making it such a fun experience. I would give appropriate credits but at time of this post, I do not have the full names needed but I'll be editing this entry with proper credits once I get the names. Thank you to Bridgette De Lacy of The De Lacy Collection for giving me the opportunity to shoot her Spring 2011 line. It was an honor for me and I look forward to working with her again in the future!