Shooting wedding dresses

[doug_mcintosh3]

<p>A friend of mine works for a non-profit called Dresses That Heal. They get designers to donate wedding dresses, which they then sell. The proceeds are then donated to breast cancer research funds.<br /> <br /> To help promote the inventory this friend asked me to take a few pictures of the dresses. The expectations are low and if I didn't intervene they would have slapped them on a mannequin and taken a few shots with a PnS camera. But I figure I can do something a LITTLE better than that. :-)<br /> <br /> We will have a third friend serve as model. I was thinking of doing the pics against a black seamless, though I don't have much working room. If the weather's nice this weekend perhaps it would be better to do the shoot outside? Though I've heard it's tricky to balance the ambient/flash without using a scrim. Also, I'm in Wisconsin so it'll likely be too cold to shoot outside (especially if model needs to change several times).<br /> <br /> I'm shooting with a D300 and have an assortment of lenses, lights and modifiers. I've got 5 speedlights of various brands and one 300 w/s monolight. I have a 3x4 softbox, BD with grid/sock (for the mono) and a 15"x15" sb for the speedlights, as well as umbrellas, etc.<br /> <br /> If you were me and wanted to keep things simple (not sure how many dresses there are), what would you do? A friend suggested shooting with the BD (16") and using a speedlight to illuminate the rest of the dress (I would presume this would go low and on the same axis as the monolight), plus a kicker. I'm not sure where I should best position the lights...maybe a standard 45 degrees off axis? Also, what if any modifiers should I use on the separation light?</p>

 

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>There's something to be said for putting the dresses on a mannequin and shooting them from different angles that way......might consider doing some of those. Shooting in a loft area would be ideal. The simplest approach to shooting inside is to set up some speedlights and bounce the lighting all over the place, play with it, and adjust some of the speedlites by plus or minus 1-2 stops. Also be sure to get several extreme closeups to highlight the details in the dresses. Images of the model putting the dresses on can be fun as well. Shooting outside with close access to the warmth of the indoors is worth a bit of time. Shooting the model in front of a full length mirror can give you a front and back view of the dress. Have fun and play with the assignment.</p>

[c._f.]

<p>All of the above, <strong>plus</strong> don't light straight fwd, it'll flatten the dress and will eliminate any details in it; <em>therefore</em> light from the side and show of the details :)</p>

<p>Adam</p>

[doug_mcintosh3]

<p>Thanks guys, I really appreciate the suggestions. Good call on the extreme close ups...I hadn't thought to do that but can see how such images would help sell the dresses. I also like the full length mirror concept.<br>

Light from side, not front. Got it.</p>

[david_schilling___chicago_]

<p>Scroll about half way down for some nice images on mannequins: <a href="http://with--this--ring.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=50">http://with--this--ring.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2009-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&updated-max=2010-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=50</a></p>

[ejder]

<p>Go to Borders or another bookstore and look at the wedding dress photos. See how they do it.</p>