Little Gems 5: Shooting a collection of 24 bridal gown images.  A Step by Step guide for post production on the image.  Dealing with  all of the problems when shooting in the studio for an important high fashion bridal wear designer.

The story line behind this series of images that I shot for one of my oldest bridal wear designer clients, ESTES, was !! Statuesque and elegant images shot on a simple but graphic atmospheric and dramatically lit set !!, so I designed a set that was flexible and easy to move around in a variety of positions on an infinity cove.

Working for so many bridal wear designers, I have to shoot each ones collection very differently so I don’t create a conflict of interest. This means I have to be inventive re how I shoot, still keeping to my own style but giving them something very different for each client for each season.

ACHIEVING YOUR CLIENTS OBJECTIVES

When shooting a commercial fashion collection one of the most important thing to understand is what the clients needs are, your images must fulfill their objectives re what the images are meant to achieve for them.  Key factors being to reflect their visual image and the philosophy of their brand.  To achieve all of this you must ask your client WHY are we shooting these images, what do you need them to say and to achieve, there are 3 main purposes to the fashion image, to Influence re the brand in advertising images, to reflect trend in fashion magazine editorial images or to sell off the page if images are for a catalogue.  With these in mind, you need to add your input and style of shooting to help your client gain a strong position in the markets that they are selling in.  You need to understand how their end customers, in the case of this image, being the bride, want to feel when they are wearing one of your clients wedding gowns., Most if not all have a desire to be a princess for their special day.

When your shooting commercially its very important that you provide your clients with images that are artistic and stunning as well as being right for the their needs as the images shot during this shoot are.

PICKING THE RIGHT MODELS

Another important question to ask your client is what type of model/look is right for their visual image, models come in all shapes, sizes and looks, which of these fits what your client feels is right for their brand.  Is the models figure and hight right for the type of images you want to achieve. Is her hair the right colour and length, if your shooting gowns that have no sleeves or low back or front etc.  are the models arms, collar bones and shoulders attractive. 

These days tattoos are very much in fashion, tattoos of various types in various places, are they going to be seen and need retouching.

My preference is for tall, slim, elegant and stylish models with a natural flair for most of my shoots but absolutely essential for bridal wear shoots.  I want my images to be timeless and elegant also to reflect the aspirations of my client and to inspire the bride who maybe looking to buy one of my clients gowns.  I want to her to look at the images and to imagine herself wearing my clients gown on her dream day being the elegant princess that has been depicted in the images I produce for my client.

Like most if not for all of my shoots the right model is essential in achieving the right look and feeling in the images.  For all of my shoots I chose my models very carefully to suit the story. (casting the right models to fit the story of the shoot is very important, get this wrong and your pictures will not be believable). 

For this shoot I chose Simona, the model in the main image above. I had shot Simona several times before, as well as her having experience of shooting bridal wear, along with two other models that fitted the look required by myself and my client.

Working only with professional, experienced models and team members is a major factor when shooting for a client that has a lot standing on the images that you produce of their collections. 

Remember what I wrote about the photographers responsibilities THEM BEING EVERY THING TO DO WITH THE SHOOT...

HOW THE DAYS SHOOT PANS OUT

Another very important question to ask your clients is ! How many outfits (or gowns in this case ) do you need to get shot during the days shoot? !.

For this shoot i had 24 to get done in the day, as well as each gown needing to be shoot front back and details, so theres a lot to get done in a day.  To achieve this volume of images every minute of the days shoot needs to be managed.  Work it out: 

8 hours in the studio

1.5 hour to get the first model made up and hair styled.

.25 hour to get her into the first gown

.5 hour to get the first shot just right.

1 hour for lunch

The first shot of the days shoot always takes some time to double check that every aspect of it is right, adjusting how the lighting will be.  This first shot is the bench mark for all of the shots to be done during the day.

With the volume of gowns to be shot in a day, I advised about the production and the number of models and team members required to fulfill his expectations for the shoot, in this case, that we needed to use 3 models, this would mean that I could shoot them in rotation, shooting one model whilst one is being tweaked in hair and make up and the other one will be getting changed into her next gown.  There are very often laced up gowns that can take 10 to 20 minutes to lace them up perfectly. They need to be perfect because of the back shots that will be needed to be shot.

This leaves approx 3 hours of actual model on the set time, so I need to shoot 8 gowns every hour or I will not get the project completed. With all of the in between things like loading images checking them etc on average I am shooting each gown for c 7 to 10 minutes.  I can not afford to take any longer or loose any time with technical issues like computer crashes or other technical issues that are my responsibility etc etc .  These just can not occur, so every tiny little detail of pre production and production must be perfect.

POST PRODUCTION PHOTOSHOP EDITING RETOUCHING

When the image has been processed in camera raw, I assess what is needed to be done, apart from the initial exposure and contrast, i,e with an image such as the image bellow, which is the un retouched, processed raw file, as you can see, the image is moodily lit with good detail in the shadows and highlights. Careful metering and so positioning of the lights keeping the brightness range of the scene between high light and shadow well within the contrast range capable of being held on the DSLR digital chip.

LIGHTING

Its not often that I use more than 1 or 2 heads when i am shooting.  The set for this shoot was designed around making some interesting shapes and shadows that meant I needed to have a few extra lights to make the images work.

The main key light on my model was suspended on a large boom arm, a pro foto pro head with a 20” beauty dish with a honey cone grid, diffused with scrim so nice and soft but direct.  It was always pointing directly at my models face, close enough to create nice soft fall off/contrast and not be in the frame of the shot. The boom arm meant the light could be moved quickly and easily from shot to shot depending where I was positioning my model on the set.

Second light on my model was a grid reflector fitted with a 10 degree honey cone grid, pointed at the bottom of my models skirts, this light compensated for the quick fall off created by the main key light, positioned to still keep the fall off apparent from the main light but illuminating important detail of the gowns skirts.

The third light was the same as the second but placed off to the left, behind the panel to illuminate the background and the left hand side of the panel behind the model. I did have a second and third light set up the same as the second light, the third one for when I needed to light up other areas of the set/background but it was not used for this particular image.

METERING THE FLASH

All of the heads were positioned to give me the right amount of coverage and the power was set to give me a reading of f11 at the hottest point of where the light was falling.

BEING PREPARED FOR A STUDIO SHOOT

After my briefing meeting with my client, during which I showed him some tear sheets of some fashion images shot in a studio using large white panels and boxes as back drops and props.

Mixing this set concept with his gowns and my suggestions to light the shots very rich and moody, he liked the idea a lot, so I needed to find the right studio to accommodate the shoot. 

I chose a rental studio in west london called Premier Park, they have several very large studios  available to rent.  I chose studio 2, a large studio space with a perfect infinity cove, just right to build the set design on as well as plenty of none shooting space to accommodate a lot of team members, my client, ironing ladies and stylist, hair and separate make up artists, 3 models and assistants and myself etc.  The last thing you need is to cram a large team into a small studio space.

The studio has plenty Profoto lighting kit to rent so no matter what I needed they had it to hand even the little things you forget to bring with you.  I wrote the list of lighting kit that I needed and sent it to the studio manager the day before the shoot so all of  kit that I needed would be in the studio ready to use nice and early in the morning of the shoot day.

I always arrive at the studio or location hours before every one else is scheduled to be there, especially if I have not shot there before. In most cases I will ask my team to arrive c30 mins before I expect them to be there, this gives every one a chance to settle, say there hellos, drink a coffee etc and take take up any of the needed production time with the niceties, also it gives those that are traveling by car or public transport a little allowance for un expected delays. 

I like to sit, drink a coffee and get the feel of the space I will be working in without distractions.  When every one starts to arrive it can be rather like Waterloo Station at 8am.  I guess the quiet time is a sort of meditation and psyching myself up into the right frame of mind and level of energy to carry me through the shoot day on full battery charge.  Theres a lot to do and to think about very fast as well as a big responsibility in managing the whole shoot and the team, so theres a lot on the photographers shoulders.


PRE PRODUCTION

A few days before the shoot, I  commissioned a joiner to construct 8, 4ft x 4ft x 6in white panels made from sheets of three quarter inch mdf, screwed together into boxes that could be put together to make 8ft high x 4ft wide panels,  plus a selection of smaller boxes of different sizes, all painted matt white that could all be moved around to create interest and to give a variety of shapes to the set, also that could be used by the model to recline or sit on or stand by.


FINDING THE RIGHT TEAM

Due to the volume of gowns to get shot during the shoot day, I chose separate hair and make up artist for this shoot to speed up the process of getting the models ready to shoot,  Eugene for the hair and Michelle for make up both very good and professional artists that can be relied upon to achieve the look required and to do it quickly as well as to make very quick changes when they were needed.  When you see the days timing bellow you will understand why.