Lighting for a Fashion show at Fleetwoods on Front St.

A few weeks ago I had the chance to both photograph a fashion show as well as network with several other great Maui photographers at a charity event at Fleetwoods Restaurant on Front St. in Lahaina.

The fashion show was held in an open air venue on the top floor of this restaurant.  Since there were no ceilings or white walls to bounce light off of, it was very challenging lighting-wise.

The runway was lit from below on either side by two rows of multi-colored LED lights.  While this gave us plenty of light to see the models, the angle of the light was unflattering on the faces.  The venue also had two Home Depot work lights available to use, but with no way to attach them to light stands, the highest they could be placed was at waist level on a nearby countertop end of the runway.

We did some tests at first to see how using the existing lights for photography would work.  Since each light was a combination of red, green and blue LEDs, they introduced color casts to some of the outfits.
We need to add some flash to balance that out.

We settled on using 3 strobes to light this event. Since there was a good turnout in attendance that night, the crowded nature of the location meant that we were very limited as to where we could set up light stands for our strobes. In the end I was only able to set up one light stand which was for our main light.

Main light was a Nikon SB26 set on 1/16th power on a light stand tucked into a corner on the left of the end of the runway.

Rim light was a Nikon SB26 set on 1/16th power  and justin clamped to the side of one of the DJ's speakers.

Fill light was a 3rd Nikon SB26 set on 1/32 power set next to one of the work lights  at the end of the runway.  There was no space on the right of the runway to setup a light stand, so I had to settle for placing at waist level next to the Home Depot Light.

To see more of the images from this show, visit our Facebook Album.

Lighting for the Resolution Remix Fashion Show

Shot a fashion show at Stella Blues at the beginning of this year, featuring designs by MJ Ignacio, Arie Bikinis, Hay Hay Couture.  Music provided by DJ Kurt and hair/makeup by Julianita Makeup and Sara Byrd.

Decided to change up the lighting from the last time I shot at this location in order to get more of a wrap of light around the front of the runway.

Canon 5d mkII with 24-70 f2.8L lens iso 1600 1/125 @ f2.8

4 strobes were used.

Rim light SB26 set to manual 1/16th power + CTO gel with a justin clamp attached to the top of a room divider along the back wall.

Side light SB26 set to manual 1/8th power + CTO gel with a justin clamp attached to a light fixture on the right wall.

Front light Canon 580EX set to manual 1/8th power + Fong lightsphere + amber dome on a light stand at the end of the runway.

On camera 580EXII bounced into ceiling set to manual 1/8th power.

Front video light F&V Z96 (two units) with diffuser and tungsten filters attached was also set up to help the 5D mk II to focus in the low light

Had to guesstimate the flash settings this time since I didn't have my light meter handy.

Still trying to figure out a way to mount the flashes closer to the runway - not very practical to do at this particular location. Getting the flashes closer would allow me to make the background darker and put the focus more on the models and designs.

To see the rest of the images from this show, visit the album on our Facebook page:

Beach photoshoot with Neise Cordeiro

Neise (pronounced like "Daisy" but with an "N") Cordeiro is a dancer/actress/singer/model/fitness instructor based in Las Vegas with whom I recently collaborated on a photoshoot down at Ulua Beach in Wailea late last year.

Makeup and hair was done by Ry-n Shimabuku, who was also kind enough to come out to location with us to assist with the first half of our shoot. It's always great to have a makeup artist onsite to help with touch-ups, and Ry-n is one of the best.

For the first half of our shoot we used a silver California Sunbounce Pro to enhance the existing light. We were especially lucky to have TWO assistants this time, Julie and Steve. A big Mahalo to both of you for all your hard work. :-)

The sky this day was a bit overcast, so the Sunbounce reflector was used mainly to lift the shadows in the eyes a bit and give a little sparkle to the model's eyes.

The sun did peek out from behind the clouds a few times, which made for a nice soft backlight on Neise's hair.

Once we got down to the beach, Steve pulled out a surfboard which we were able to work into a few shots.

Really wish it had been a bit more sunny that day, with more blue sky in the background, but I liked what we ended up with.  

Thinking of investing in a few more Sunbounce reflectors this year. These reflectors are super sturdy compared to the round floppy ones we used to have. They're also handy to have around when you need to setup an impromptu dressing room for the model to change outfits.

This standing surfboard shot was one of my favorites of the shoot.  I liked how the late afternoon sun, even though diffused, was still able to bring out the definition in the model's abs.

I really hope we have the chance to work together again. Neise had such great energy and it was just so much fun to photograph her.

This location also had trees with great textures which we used to frame her for some shots.

Had to be careful with positioning the camera so that the upper branch in the background would frame the model instead of sticking out of her head.  Also tried to keep a few leaves of the tree in the foreground to add depth to the shot.

For our sunset shots, we used an AB800 with a beauty dish for our main light and used the Sunbounce to bounce some of the flash back to help fill in the shadows.

 Looking forward to a future collaboration with this amazing model.

Beach photoshoot with IFBB Bikini Pro Michele D'Angona

One of the benefits of getting into fashion and beauty photography is that you learn something new on every shoot. For example, I was not aware that there was such a thing as a Professional Bikini Bodybuilder until I had the opportunity to work with Michele D'Angona.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm 2.8L IS II iso200 1/1250 @ f4

Michele is a Body Transformation Specialist - a personal trainer/nutritionalist/competition coach who works with individuals to help transform them into their full athletic potential. You can learn more by visiting her website at  EmpoweringBody.com .

She has one of the most amazing physiques I have ever photographed - you could actually feel the air move when she flexes her muscles. ;-)

We did a morning beach shoot in Kaanapali. Michele came with her own personal makeup artist FouFou - a fantastic artist and so much fun to work with. You can check out more of her work here.

We started in the room with some headshots as FouFou finished working on Michele's makeup.  For these we set up a chair by the sliding glass door to the lanai which gave us lots of natural light to work with. I chose to use an 85mm f1.2 lens to help blur out the rest of the room behind Michele. Fou Fou added some motion to Michele's hair by using a small hair dryer.

Canon 5D mkII 85mm 1.2L II iso800 1/320 @ f3.2

Canon 5D mkII 85mm 1.2L II iso800 1/500 @ f2.8

Using the 85mm, it is still tricky for me to nail the focus when I have the lens wide open at f1.2, so I closed down to f2.8 and f3.2 do give me a little more space to work with.  Even then I still had to take a lot of shots before I got a usable image.  Practice, practice, practice.

Caught a rainbow right before we headed down to the beach.  Michele was willing to climb out to the adjoining rooftop to get some shots but being that we were several stories up, I didn't want to chance it. ;-)

This particular morning was mostly overcast, with occasional sunlight, so our images varied a lot.  When the sun popped out we would get some nice definition on Michele's physique and richer color in the sky.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm 2.8L IS II iso200 1/2500 @ f3.2

When the sun went behind the clouds, we got a much softer look.

 Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm 2.8L IS II iso200 1/1600 @ f2.8

 Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm 2.8L IS II iso200 1/1250 @ f3.2

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm 2.8L IS II iso200 1/1600 @ f3.2

Lighting wise we stayed mostly with the silver California Sunbounce Pro to fill in shadows when it was sunny.  When it got cloudy, the silver Sunbounce was brought in closer to add a little bit of directionality to the light.  I did also bring along the AB800 and Vagabond, but for safety's sake decided not to use it since we were still getting the occasional drizzle.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm 2.8L IS II iso200 1/1600 @ f3.2

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm 2.8L IS II iso200 1/1600 @ f2.8

During one of the last shots we took with this outfit, the wind briefly picked up her hair and we got one of my favorite shots of the day.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm 2.8L IS II iso200 1/1600 @ f4

Michele changed into a different outfit and we did a few more shots, changing up the direction to try to get more blue sky to contrast with her pink wrap.

Canon 5D mkII 24-70mm 2.8L iso200 1/6400 @ f2.8

Even though the beach was relatively empty when we started shooting, I ended up having to Photoshop out a lot of people in the backgrounds.  For some strange reason when we started shooting, it started getting crowded only near our section of the beach. ;-)

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm 2.8L IS II iso200 1/2500 @ f2.8

Once we finished our beach shots, we headed back into the garden area for a different look.

Tried a few shots near a tree, but decided to change up the location to something more 'jungle-ey"

We found this spot in the garden to shoot.  To get a slightly higher angle than Michele (one of the problems of being a short photographer - most models that I work with are taller than me), I stood on a nearby hill with FouFou standing next to me holding a smaller Sunbounce Mini to fill in the shadows.  By this time it was around noon and there was a lot of overhead sunlight streaming through the trees, so we had to position Michele very carefully to avoid hotspots appearing on her.

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm 2.8L IS II iso200 1/200 @ f2.8

Canon 5D mkII 70-200mm 2.8L IS II iso200 1/250 @ f2.8

I really hope I'll have the chance to work with Michele and FouFou again as they were a lot of fun to shoot with. With such an amazing physique I think Michele would totally rock a Conan the Barbarian theme shoot.