Advice on a fashion photo shoot for a hair salon!

[krb]

Hi DPS,

Been following this site for a while, thought it was about time I joined the community. While I have been doing photography for a while my experience is fairly limited to inanimate objects, landscapes and candid social shots. I did a wedding for a friend which came out well but was very stressful.

I have been given the opportunity to do a shoot for a hair salon. We are all of the understanding that I am inexperienced and ill-equipped. So there isn't too much pressure. However I would like to make the most of the opportunity so any tips and advice people have for doing this kind of fashion shoot would be great.

They plan on holding it upstairs in the salon, which has no natural light at all.

I'm using the good old Canon EOS 400D, a Speedlite 430EX II I have the kit lens, a 75-300 mm and a 50 mm f/1.8 prime.

So what equipment would you recommend, from lenses (hiring is an option - but I would look to buy to expand my equipment) off camera flashes/lighting and what triggers you recommend, wireless or wired? what reflectors do people use?

Here is some items I found on ebay, do they look worth while? I'm going for cheap-ish but useable, or should I get a stand and trigger for my speedlight?

http://tinyurl.com/ccupuv
http://tinyurl.com/bpranc

Thanks for your help.

[oldwolf]

You get great pictures with your 50mm. Get wireless triggers. If you just want to experiment with wireless triggers then look for Cactus Triggers but make sure you get the Cactus V2s. Those will work with your existing 430EX II. There are a bunch of web pages on how to hack it and get better range and increase the reliability of the trigger.

I'd probably have the flash set up on a stand shooting through a shoot through umbrella on one side and then a silver reflector on the opposite side. I'd use the shoot through umbrella because I can get it closer to the subject if space is limited. I wouldn't go under a 43" umbrella because I want a larger light source. You'll have to tweak the placement to get the right shadows. You just need to make sure you capture the texture in the hair and not blow it all out.

For lighting the background you can use another flash triggered wirelessly as well. Make sure that you meter for the background flash so the background is completely blown out and white. This will help if there are wrinkles in the background. Remember, shutter speed controls how well the background is exposed and the aperture controls how well the foreground/subject is exposed.

Ask the hair dresser what's the thing about that hairstyle that captures everyone's attention and try to concentrate on that.

You might try looking in a fabric store for some white muslin. Not sure how much it costs across the pond there.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

[Palladius]

Can't really help so much with portraits... I'm just striking out in that direction myself! If you're in the UK and thinking of hiring lens, though, I can't recommend Lenses for Hire enough. They provide a phenomenally good service and selection of lenses that makes me paw stupidly at my screen.

[Swisstony10]

Wow - I'm loving the selection from Lenses for Hire! I've been toying with hiring a niiice lens from Calumet for a shoot I'm planning to do for a friend, mainly because they have a place in Bristol so I can hire a lens for a single day, picking it up and dropping it off myself.

I just compared the two, and for a Canon 70-200 F2.8 L lens, Calumet want £32 a day, or £140 for the week, LfH onl want £45 for a full 7 days. I guess I know which way I'll be going when I come to do it. ;-)

Russ

[RexK_Cozumel]

If I were you I would skip renting a lens for this shoot. You will be fine with just the 50mm 1.8 as long as the room you are using is not super small. What you will need is some extra off camera lighting equiptment. I would suggest at least one more light to use as a hair light. This means that you will need a boom of some sort to hold the light over the model's head. Since it is a hair shoot you really only need head shots or half body. Also if you have some kind of light modifiers that would be helpful as well.

The min you should have is 1 main light with a soft box or umbrella and then a second light as a hair light using a strip box suspended over the model to give the hair a nice sheen.

[krb]

Hey thanks for the advice guys. I have brought a couple of off camera lights with a shoot through umbrella and a softbox. I am having a play. Will let you know how I get on.

I have used lensesforhire before they are fantastic, amazing value.