(c) Bo and Bro | Bo Zhang: shot with the 35mm when I want to include a wider field of view to include a bit of the surroundings. Also because of the focal length distortion, I can emphasize/stretch the model

hit the link for more photos and explanation on which lenses I use for my various shots.

First of all it’s usability, as a fashion photographer, I rarely shoot wider than 50mm on a 1.5 cropped sensor, which renders many of my big power zooms less useful as there is a big 28-50 range that’s getting wasted. So now I carry a 35mm, 50mm, 55mm (macro), 85mm, which cover most of my photo needs.   I am still in the process of acquiring a couple more lenses to keep me covered, more on that towards the end of the post.

(c) Bo and Bro | Bo Zhang: shot with 55mm. I interchange between the 50 and 55 as they are very close in focal length. I prefer the 55 as I feel it is just a tad more contrasty. I often reach for the 55 for shoulder up shots which has a good field of view to show just a bit of the surrounding background/environment without being overly distracting.

(c) Bo and Bro | Bo Zhang: shot with the 55mm macro. Given it's the only macro lens in my arsenal at the moment, aside from a psuedo macro zoom, this gets the job done, although I really need to be in the model's face and oftentimes get in the way of my lighting setups

Secondly, it’s convenience, the Nikon 28-70 is known as the beast because it is a big hunk of metal. It impresses others when you use it, but as a photographer, it’s more of a burden than anything else.  I feel I have more stability holding the camera when I’m using a small prime.

(c) Bo and Bro | Bo Zhang: shot with 85mm. 85mm is one of my favourite lenses. It is tack sharp and I use it mostly for headshots, shoulder up and tighter. This is the lens I use when I don't want minimal focal length distortion. Of course you can argue that the 200mm lens has less focal length distortion, true but I don't think it's really noticeable. Another unsung advantage of the 85mm is the working distance it gives you. 85mm allows me more distance between the model and myself compared to the 50/55 mm. This is especially useful if you are working with a new model, so that you are not as intimidating.

Thirdly, sharpness, in studio I often shoot at f/8-f/9, by then a consumer zoom lens will be just as sharp as the pro primes. But my photography style often forces me to shoot rather wide open and the lens performance at f/2.8 or f/2.5 is rather crucial.  The zooms I’ve used just cannot beat fast primes stopped down at this point, although I’ve heard many good things of the 24-70…we shall see.

(c) Bo and Bro | Bo Zhang: shot with 55mm. For full length shots, I tend to switch between the 55mm and 85mm. The choice often depends on 4 factors. 1) space, to shoot full length with 85mm on a cropped sensor, I need to be quite far back, and depending on the situation, I don't have the luxury of space. 2) model, as I had mentioned previously about focal length distortion, 55mm is more pronounced than 85mm, so if the model is on the shorter side I have a tendency to use the 50/55 to just stretch the model a tad bit. 3) communication, 50/55mm allows me to be relatively close to the model so that I can hold on to the model/photographer interaction. 4) field of view, the 85 is just that much tighter in the field of view, useful if you have excess junk just outside the frame.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly it’s about forced creativity. Working with a zoom I get lazy sometimes and just compose everything in the shot so that nothing is missing and then recrop in post processing.    I also tend to stand at one point and zoom.  With a prime lens, I’ve been forced to keep my composition in mind all the time and recompose each shot to my exact liking.   At the same time I have to move around more often which also in turns opens me to many new shot opportunities.   Moving about is also good for exercising, rather than building up biceps holding up 2 pound zooms, you are doing aerobics walking around going after that sweet shot

(c) Bo and Bro | Bo Zhang: shot with 85mm. please see above bridal full length for explanation, but mostly a tighter shot

So for now my lens arsenal is getting readjusted.  Ideally I would want a 105mm macro 2.8 vr, 135mm 2.8 (new one is suppose to come out this year), 200 f/4 macro.  Then I think i’ll be happy .

PS, please comment if this has been helpful or if you have questions, opinions.  you can also follow me on twitter and facebook to get new blog updates.

After the motion photos with Katelin from last week…Katelin and I got together to do more of the same theme of movement.   This time we decided to take advantage of the cherry magnolia blossom and do the shoot late afternoon and night.  This time, I had the pleasure of shooting with Joy, a local photographer friend this time around.  This shoot was cut short by the police and mother nature (more on this later)…but regardless we got some quite good shots.  [Technical stuff at bottom of post]

We picked Katelin up at her place, and as always Katelin picked out the perfect pink dress which worked brilliantly with the cherry magnolia blossom.   Hit the link for more pics and the rest of the story.

After finding the tidal basin and securing a parking space, we got started finding the biggest and most bloomed cherry  magnolia tree and got started setting up.  Fortunately we were able to find a big tree with little tourists around and I quickly set up my octobox and started testing lighting.

Soon enough we got the lighting right and quickly got Katelin walking back and forth and we started getting some fantastic shots.  

Some as Joy pointed out gave a bit of Alice in Wonderland look.  With the movement and the flowy dress it did give it a bit of the dreamy style.   

Just as we started rolling (about 15 minutes into the shoot), a cop car pulled up next to curb…our hearts sank but we ignored him and continued shooting.   He strutted our way and observed our operation.   He asked for our permit and apparently we are not allowed to do a “commercial shoot” without a permit on federal ground.  When we told him it’s not commercial, it’s just for fun, he picked on my octobox and claimed that any ‘light setup’ on federal ground would be considered commercial and hence requires a permit.   Apparently I can shoot as long as I don’t use the lightstand and if it’s just the camera and the model.

He was pleasant enough to say he will drive away now, but if he saw us in 20 minutes he will kick us out.   Lovely chap.  

So to follow suit, we took the stand down and Joy became the lightstand and held a bare SB-600 and we continued on to grab a couple shots.   Not to push our luck and get on the black list of the park service, we changed location and just strolled around the Tidal Basin to get some more random shots.   But the cherry blossoms around the basin were not full blossom yet…so I wasn’t too happy with those.   Adding on the the fact it soon started rainy…our shoot was cut quite short…nevertheless I think it was rather productive and Katelin and vow to be back on Monday to shoot.

Oddly enough, I find the above shot quite appealing.   Technically, it’s a crap shot (blurred underexposed and much more)…but I love the mood of it.   

ps.  as always..great to work with Katelin again…don’t need to mention it anymore…highly recommended model.

Technical stuff: this was shot with D2x and a couple different lenses.  The key is panning while using rear sync.   Rear sync freezes some of the flowers and the model…the rest will be attributed to motion blur.  Loving this technique at the moment.  I used an sb900 in a softbox to the camera right which was triggered by an sb800 on camera.

Once we are inside, I set upon quickly choosing the background and come up with a new concept.  Luckily, Paulo had stashed the studio lots of mirrors and as always there was the gorgeous insulation.  So we ended up with soem futuristic looking setups.

I thought the silver background and jewelry works a bit.  I did over process these a little to get that slight oomph….anyways hit the link for more pictures.

With some shots I was playing with the focus either focus on the figure in the mirror or on the real person.  This seemed like a good idea at the time, but once I loaded the pictured, the ones where I focused on the mirror just seemed to be slightly out and looks bizzare…but still usable as show above.

Mirrors are fun, but at the same time rather hard, trying to figure out where to place the light and keep an eye on background and the stuff getting reflected.   Also mirrors = two models = twice as much touchup.

Melissa and I played with a variety of poses looking in at the mirror, looking straight at me, looking at me through the mirror and things.  Seemed to work well.  Much easier to pose in the warm confines of a studio.

Hand interactions with the mirror seemed like fun.  I was tempted to be cheesy and call this set of photos: Duplicity…but I think there is a new film coming out named that.

This is the final headshot that we took before heading inside.  Melissa can turn on her model looks with a snap of a finger and ignore essentially everything else, brilliant.

Again, a big thanks to everyone involved: Fortunately, Melissa (model), Sherritta (hairstylist), Salsabil (MUA), Natasha (Stylist) and Diallo (Designer).

A few more photos to process and I think I’ll be caught up very soon.

Mirza Mperial Clothing Line

Well as the story goes…I did event photography for Taimur at Mirza Mperial at the NoVa Fashion show.   Below are some more general random snaps from the event.  Nothing special really.   

happy models

Hit the link to see more snaps.

last minute clothes trimming and knots tying

more clothes adjustments

oxsana..waiting waiting waiting

trying out outfits for other designers

stacey

jordyn practicing the walk

Jayda's turn

Megan with her final pose

model with kid in another designer's clothes

jordyn

des, patrick and beth….mirza mperial team

ready to roll

that’s it…

A simple concept but things snowballed…I can play with gravity and make it look as if the model had wind blowing in her face with her hair flying behind her and other concepts.   All these ideas started pouring in at 4am, and as excited as a little boy on Christmas morning, I started blasting emails to all the hairstylists, MUAs, designers and models, hoping they will understand my whacky idea and play along. 

Fortunately, Melissa (model), Sherritta (hairstylist), Salsabil (MUA), Natasha (Stylist) and Diallo (Designer) all got on board for this idea and the location was the wonderful alley just outside the DC Photo Coop studio.  Hit the link to read more about the shoot and see photos.

The shot above best conveys the vertical walking up the wall idea I had.   Melissa is actually sitting on the ground (bricks) with her feet and hands on the wall (corrugated metal).  The idea was that she will be in a bit of a olympic runner start position with her hair blown back because of gravity.  

As with my luck, the day of the shoot turned out to be fantastically freezing.  Poor Melissa had to wear such skimpy outfits which I doubt provided any warmth since most parts were essentially thin silk.   Furthermore she had to sit on hard brick ground and put her hands on cold metal.   I can’t wait for the weather to get warmer so that it will make life easier for everyone.

Sherritta did an amazing hairstyle.  I think I initially described the hairstyle I wanted as a cross between Princess Leah  bob(yes, star wars) and a long flowing braid.  And Sherritta came up with something fantastic.  I watched her working through the hair adding so many different pins and clips…I’m simply speechless.

It was my first time working with Salsabil, who’s an experienced MAC artist.  She did a phenomenal job creating flawless skin and subtle yet powerful eyes.  Love it.  

Needless to say, this was my second time working with Natasha and her choice of earrings really made the above headshot pop.  I love the colours!

This is actually just the first outfit from the shoot.  There is a second outfit which I’ll start processing soon.

For those of you interested in the lighting setup, here is a photo of the actual setup.  

I used two softboxes and one blue gelled grid (in the back).  I was taking the photo near the softbox on the ground.  Melissa was sitting on the towel.  

More to come.  watch this space once again.

We decided that this brown knit didn’t work with the concept that I had in mind for the next day.  However since Melissa simply looked stunning in this, I decided to do a quick test shoot on the new gold background that we had in the studio.  I simply love the colours.  The  hair style by Patricia worked brilliantly the outfit and style.  Hit the link for a few more pics and story.

Melissa is a great model with a stunning expression and piercing looks.  From pose to pose she was able to convey her emotions so well to the camera.  Simply fantastic.

Melissa is still a senior in highschool, hard to believe.  Patricia is actually Melissa’s mum and they make a great model/hairstylist pair.

We saved the other two outfits for the shoot the next day, but in my opinion, I think this was the best looking outfit for Melissa, such a classy style.  More of Melissa to come.

Several more from this shoot after the link.

As these were the last shots taken, by then Iyabo was already freezing cold.  Adding on to the fact that she’s wearing nothing warm and had to stand in the wind waving the silk scarf to catch the wind…these were tough situations.

Iyabo was standing between the legs of the Awakening statue for all of these shots.

Furthermore, Iyabo’s heels kept digging into the sand, so she had to be on tip toes to make the photo look right.

I loved this outfit…worked perfectly with the afro and the gold scarf!  Absolutely amazing work…pats on the back for Eugene, Marie and Iyabo.

After these shots…Iyabo went back to the restroom to change only to realise that her toes are so frozen that she could not take off her heels.   Cold weather + harbour winds is not something to be reckoned with…but I hope these shots were worth it.

Continuing on with Iyabo’s Photoshoot, to see part 1 of her shoot, click here.  The shoot was at the National Harbour in DC  on a sunny cold day.  The photos in this set are from the final outfit from the shoot which I absolutely adored.  This outfit worked perfectly with the wind in front of the Awakening statue.  Here is a set of three form the third outfit. 

Similar photos…different powerful poses.

These photos were all taken with natural bright sun light.

One final set of photos from this shoot.  And when I say last does not mean least, I really mean it!   The final set to come are my favourites from this shoot and perhaps most recent pics.  So you better not miss it.

Just catching up with my “old” photoshoots.  I typically have relatively good turn around time, but jsut caught up with things.  This was a photoshoot 2 weeks back with the model Iyabo.  This was a rather pleasant and easy shoot from the beginning since Iyabo organised all the outfits, MUA, stylist, and hair stylist, so much less work for the photographer!  Iyabo organised the shoot on the DC National Harbour with Marie as the MUA, fabulous to work with her again.  I initially worked with her on the shoot with Darina.  Eugene came in with all the vintage styles and some fabulous antique pieces.  

Here are some first few shots fromt he shoot.  These are the first two outfits/looks.  First peek at a few.

These were shot at the harbour with strong wind and lots of freezing weather.  Iyabo was strong enough to brave the cold for some superwoman poses.

This was shot under a big tent…a bit of chic fashion.

The Awakening sculpture was moved to the harbour and the sandy sculpture with bright sun provided some interesting shadows.  Iyabo was tough enough to lay on the freezing metal sculpture.  More to come…watch this space.