BLOG 2013
LONDON FASHION WEEKEND CATWALK PHOTOGRAPHY
21/09/2013
This was my first time at the London Fashion show and due to the press pit being busy I kept the kit simple, 1DX, 70-200mm 2.8 and 24-70mm 2.8 with the 1D 4 for back up. My expectations were that it was going to be busy among the other photographers present and space would be tight, so the camera would need to be set up for speed and the 70-200mm focal length would give me the flexibility I would need. Lighting as would be expected was neutral and clean giving me low ISO's along with some fast shutter speeds to capture the models in full flow.
After having an initial briefing from the Canon Professional Services staff we then all descended to the photographers pit area ready for the show to begin, the trend show lasted twenty minutes and with a variety of models and outfits gave a great mix of the session. I used the Zone AF mode which selects an area of nine focusing zones, this constantly tracks the movement and selects the best area, with an aperture of F4 shutter speeds were in the region of 1/250-1/400, quick enough to keep up with the models and produce sharp images. The lighting was daylight balanced at 4400k, I trusted the AWB setting which produced around 4800, I actually preferred this as it gave a little more warmth to the models skin tones.
Their were thirty Canon professionals with me and the constant shutters going off in quick fire succession made for an interesting soundtrack, I kept the shutter burst on low and fired off between 5-10 images per model as this allowed me to capture them with the right backdrop and also to cover some portrait and landscape photos. The speed of the 1DX in terms of focusing seems vastly improved against the 1D MK4 which was around 70% accurate, the 1DX was spot on, out of 353 images just a handful were not pin sharp, I think this was down to me as well! A great afternoon and look forward to going back again next year.
After having an initial briefing from the Canon Professional Services staff we then all descended to the photographers pit area ready for the show to begin, the trend show lasted twenty minutes and with a variety of models and outfits gave a great mix of the session. I used the Zone AF mode which selects an area of nine focusing zones, this constantly tracks the movement and selects the best area, with an aperture of F4 shutter speeds were in the region of 1/250-1/400, quick enough to keep up with the models and produce sharp images. The lighting was daylight balanced at 4400k, I trusted the AWB setting which produced around 4800, I actually preferred this as it gave a little more warmth to the models skin tones.
Their were thirty Canon professionals with me and the constant shutters going off in quick fire succession made for an interesting soundtrack, I kept the shutter burst on low and fired off between 5-10 images per model as this allowed me to capture them with the right backdrop and also to cover some portrait and landscape photos. The speed of the 1DX in terms of focusing seems vastly improved against the 1D MK4 which was around 70% accurate, the 1DX was spot on, out of 353 images just a handful were not pin sharp, I think this was down to me as well! A great afternoon and look forward to going back again next year.
