Fashion Runway Photoshoot with Singapore Fashion Runway
This fashion show was part of the 5-hour long shoot for the SFR (Singapore Fashion Runway) for their grand finale show in 2019.
The models did the show twice on the same day - in the outdoors as shown in this album and the theatre of Marina One (West) at level three. I preferred the segment for the outdoor runway show due to the beautiful background and lighting; besides, I had the freedom to position myself at a better angle and distance.
I was a little drained before the start of the fashion runway show as I had to do the behind-the-scene shoot and the event was too grand for a single photographer to cover, having three areas at the theatre level - theatre, sales booths and hall for makeup.
Although I had arrived about 15 minutes earlier than the requested "15 minutes earlier", I didn't have much time to prepare inside the theatre. Since the ambient light was in warm colour, I had to attach a colour gel to my speedlite. However, before I managed to set it up, they were having a big group photo-taking session. Given the short timeframe before the models moved to the ground floor to prepare for the start of the show, I didn't have ample time to capture more behind-the-scene photographs - it was a struggle of an imperfect perfectionist. The pressure started early.
I was lucky due to the great location and weather for this fashion runway show. Unlike usual portrait shoots, I had zero decision-making for it. It was my first visit to Marina One and I knew nothing much about the ground, except for a short video sent by Eileen and some Googling. Therefore, I had to depend on luck apart from counting on my experience to make the best out of the situation.
The sky was overcast. It was drizzling when I was heading out from my house and I was glad that the grey clouds seemed to be persistent in helping out in this shoot; besides, the show started in the late afternoon, increasing the chance of getting softer light.
The location for the fashion runway show was superb. Apart from the colour of the structure that I adored, the architecture was brilliantly mesmerising designed. The main light came from my back, which beautified the models' faces while there was a much narrower backlight to create a rim of light at the edges of the models and also give the glamour feel. The sides were secured from direct sunlight with the aid of the building. It was almost a perfect situation for a fashion show or even a normal portrait shoot without using professional lighting equipment setup.
With the favourable situations, I was glad that I was able to focus on my camera settings and my composition skill to overcome some unforeseeable situations. On a side note, I had already anticipated some situations due to my experience working with some of the models.
Although I was the official photographer and I had been permitted by Eileen to shoot at any spot, including the centre of the runway, I decided to take up the spot at the end of the "runway" where the models would stop and pose for the third time. It was a great decision to capture the best photographs without having to move about or photobomb the rest of the enthusiasts who wanted to capture the grand scene.
As I was busy running around before the start of the actual fashion show, I didn't get the perfect spot (most centred) to do the shoot but I was close. There were some videographers and photographers (including phone camera owners) stationed over there before I went over. I counted myself lucky again.
Since most of the models performed in pairs, my biggest challenge was to capture them posing at the same time, or at least, to make sure that none of them was in a less glamorous look. I also had to decide on the exposure since they had different skin tones and some of the fairer models would catch light easier.
SFR focused on helping people with special needs and a large number of the models required more training and attention to present themselves confidently in front of large crowds, which most people, including me, wouldn't be able to do it well. I didn't expect every one of them to present themselves like professional models but I was well impressed by them.
The greatest comfort was when some of the very experienced models seemed to know I was the official photographer and they looked over at my camera. The experienced ones gave around three poses before swapping the places with their partners, followed by another three poses, which gave me more chances to snap good photographs of them.
It wasn't just about the fashion runway. Some of the experienced models were able to lead their partners to interact, which created a more warm-hearted fashion show. From my observation, the experienced models were able to react to impromptu poses from their partners and synchronise. I was impressed.
My only displease was that a man with a camera was standing at the second level behind the models. Since he was there alone most of the time, he had become a distraction. Besides, that was a bad angle to capture any good photograph unless his sense of art was the models' butts or, in a more serious tone, he adored the design of the back of the clothes more than the front.
Since Eileen was flying off for holidays three days later, she made a last-minute request for the photographs two days later on a Sunday morning. I had taken over a thousand photographs and thus it was an insane task to filter and edit them, given that the ambient lighting for more than half of the photographs were spotlights from the ceiling and there were a few different colour tones. In such a situation, most editing work was needed.
By then, I had only done a rough editing for the first half of the album after burning my Saturday (the previous day). I ended up having to skip the chance to visit my precious little nephew before his long overseas trip (same day as Eileen) and also missing the chance to grab a delicious home-cooked dinner with his grandma. I grabbed a packet of economic rice from downstairs my house for my lonely dinner instead while waiting for the PhotoShop to generate JPG files from the raw files. Eventually, Eileen accepted my request for a MacDonald's meal treat.
For all my shoots, I would have gone through every photograph 20 times each at the minimum. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I didn't get to go through this large album as many times, as usual, to do macro editing to remove small flaws. In my last round of viewing, I was still eliminating photographs that weren't up to my standard, including photographs that weren't sharp enough due to movements. I also made some minor colour tone changes again. I wasn't confident when I delivered the work.
After all, I was very satisfied with the quality of the photographs for this segment of the fashion runway show.
Featuring ↬ Singapore Fashion Runway's modelsHairstylist ↬ -Makeup Artist (MUA) ↬ -
Wardrobe ↬ Singapore Fashion Runway
Camera ↬ Canon 6DLens ↬ Canon 24-70mm F2.8L IILighting ↬ Natural light
Place ↬ Marina OneDate ↬ Year 2019
Photo Editing type ↬ Basic
💲 Photographer's fee ↬ Prices & packages for Women's Fashion photography
Check out the details on how I craft my portfolio pages and the disclaimer on the write-ups.
Follow my Instagram & Facebook to get more updates.
Portrait photography > All albums > All Women's Fashion albums
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter