The story today is about a fashion shoot that I created on location in Los Angeles at the Sepulveda Dam.
Before the shoot date I sent an assistant to the location to see what it was like and what it would take to shoot there. They sent me back the information and some images for me to review and we found out that there would be about a 20min walk to the spot that I would like to shoot at. So, we put that in the mix as far as time that we would need to set up the shot.
We also thought that the best shooting time would be 3.30pm to 5.00pm. I worked out what gear I would need to use as all the stuff was going to be walked over to the location by foot. There was a path that we could take that would make it a bit easier than going straight though the wooden area before the dam. One of the other things I also needed to know was “Is there a lot of Graffiti” as that could make for a bad look as not all graffiti looks that attractive in a photograph.
Now even though we would be outside in the sunlight once the sun had dropped down there is large shadows off the dam so placing the model in the open shade and the use of the fill light would give me the look I was going for.
Now to control the light I opted to take a battery powered strobe/light to use as my main fill light. This would brighten up the shade that the model would be standing in. I started with the light on a stand then I attached it to the camera so I could get another look. The strobe was triggered remotely so when the strobe was on the stand and I used a zoom lens so I could just walk around taking the shot I liked having set my exposure up. My tip is to heck out your location before the shoot and take only the gear you need with maybe a backup camera if you can. It’s cheap insurance if you have an issue with your camera and have to go back to your car to get something by the time you get back or whoever you sent the light has changed a lot and you will miss the look you may be going for.
On a last note don’t forget to work with your model to get them in the right space at the right time so direction is very important. Let them know what your vision or look you’re going for as this will translate into a great set of images as you can see here.
