The M8 and fashion photography

[Knomad]

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Although I was once a photojournalist and dabbled in fashion a little, it's been a long time since I've shot professionally. These days I usually use my M8 for personal projects, art concepts and the like which are usually not time sensitive.

 

But on Saturday I did a fashion shoot for a local designer, for her print catalog and website, and probably some display cards and posters for trade shows. It was an easy decision to use the M8 as my primary camera, it's so intuitive and easy to use. I did bring a DSLR as a backup, but as it turned out it never even got unpacked. The M8 covered the entire shoot and functioned flawlessly.

 

Four models, something like 80 outfits, six hours, 820 frames. It was shot on location, mostly indoors with studio flash but with some window light and with brief excursions out into nearby streets and alleys.

 

Switching back and forth between flash and available light obviously offers all kinds of opportunities to forget to set things back where they belong. No issues here, and the relative simplicity of the M8 is an advantage in this case. Fewer menu items to keep track of under pressure. I do wish there were a built-in PC socket. Battery power turned out not to be a problem, I used most of the charge in one battery and about half of another (with the LCD turned off for most of the time, only a histogram check whenever the light changed), and could have kept recharging endlessly... although it is essential to have at least two batteries along for this level of work. Also I use the newer/smaller charger which is easier to pack for location work.

 

I did need to use my IR filter of course, since there were synthetic black fabrics involved in a few cases. For what I usually shoot, I don't bother with the filter.

 

The only negative was the frustrating inaccuracy of the finder brightlines. I had to err on the side of caution, in this case framing to include everything I wanted while knowing I'd get more than that on the final product, which will mean extra work in post to crop things in exactly where they need to be. But it's better than guessing and cutting off a foot or a hand.

 

This was more than offset by the positives... the small camera and the rangefinder made it easier to connect with the models, and encouraged moving around to find the right angle and make light work to advantage. The light weight also is an advantage in long shoots. I was fairly tired at the end of the six hours, and I could see the energy flagging in the models near the end. Lugging a big heavy DSLR around surely would have contributed to fatigue. Also, the last hour or so my eyes were getting tired, but focus is so sure with the rangefinder that looking at proofs, I don't see any focus errors.

 

So the M8 passes the test with flying colors... reliable, intuitive, and fun to use, and the client is very happy with the results.

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[wda]

Knomad, this is an interesting and informative account of a specialist shoot. Thank you. I guess many members would like to see a sample or two of the pictures you took, if commercial considerations permit. Also, which lenses you found were ideal for this type of work?

[rickp13]

yes please ...................

 

I guess many members would like to see a sample or two of the pictures you took, if commercial considerations permit. Also, which lenses you found were ideal for this type of work?

[wstotler]

The only negative was the frustrating inaccuracy of the finder brightlines. I had to err on the side of caution, in this case framing to include everything I wanted while knowing I'd get more than that on the final product, which will mean extra work in post to crop things in exactly where they need to be. But it's better than guessing and cutting off a foot or a hand.

 

+1 to everything you've said, but especially about the framelines--had to remain mindful of framing and compensate when shooting. Framing came out OK for me, overall, with little cropping needed.

 

This was my experience with the M8 on my recent in-studio glamour workshop shoot.

 

Some photos from the shoot can be found here:

Cassandra Starr Photoshoot - a set on Flickr

Meg Reese Photoshoot - a set on Flickr

 

Like you, we had strobes that were set to be triggered by a small pop from the SF-24D. (I had this off-camera, hand-held.)

 

I shot almost exclusively with the CV 35mm Nokton f/1.2--slipped the Super Elmar 18mm on there a bit just to be a contrarian.

 

Went through two batteries in a little over three hours. Some 600+ shots, overall.

 

The M8 did just fine--it was excellent, in fact, to be shooting with something "so small" in comparison to almost every other huge DSLR + death-ray-flash-bracket setup in the room.

 

I also would like to see some samples and hear more about your lens choices!

 

Cheers--and look forward to more info, if you have it?

 

Thanks,

Will

[Knomad]

Here's one example from the shoot, I'm waiting for the client to make her choices so haven't done much post on the shoot yet. This is pretty much straight out of the camera, a minor crop and cloned out a nail hole in the wall, that's about it.

 

This one was shot at ISO 320 with a 35mm Summicron version IV (pre-aspherical), and a pair of monolights with a softbox on one high/left and an umbrella on the other, set lower.

 

The 35mm lens choice was driven by two factors: It's my personal favorite lens on this camera, and space was limited. For some of the shots where I had more room to work I used a 50mm Summicron.

 

[Knomad]

Two more examples, one shot indoors with the same setup except slightly flatter lighting, the other shot outside in the alley in open shade:

 

 

[Kurisu]

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Knomad, Thanks for the great account of your shoot. I do like the color tone of your pictures.

 

If you don't mind sharing with us: how did you trigger the flashes with the M8? What aperture did you use during the shoot. I have been struggeling with this; I like to shoot wide open but since the model moves during the shoot it is very hard to get a pin sharp eyes.

 

Thx

[Knomad]

Knomad, Thanks for the great account of your shoot. I do like the color tone of your pictures.

 

If you don't mind sharing with us: how did you trigger the flashes with the M8? What aperture did you use during the shoot. I have been struggeling with this; I like to shoot wide open but since the model moves during the shoot it is very hard to get a pin sharp eyes.

 

Thx

 

I used one of those $14 adaptors that slides into the hot shoe and has a PC socket to plug in one of the monolights. So basically, the old fashioned way. I've been doing it so long that I don't have any problem tripping over cords. Then the one light triggers the other one. I'm currently using a pair of Calumet 250 w/s Travelights. In this case, there was enough output for me to shoot at about f/8, if I'm remembering correctly. The fill light was dialed down to about one stop, sometimes one and a half stops less than the main light to give a bit of depth.

 

So there was a fair amount of depth of field. Also, the models weren't moving that much. They're not agency girls (I'm in a fairly small market) but they are relatively experienced so they were pretty good at hitting poses and holding them until I got the shot. I generally don't let the models move too much unless they have dance background, it's just a little too random chance. And the problem with a catalog shoot is we can't afford to miss very often, we need to get useful shots of every outfit because it's expensive to get a team of seven people back together again.

 

For my art shots, I too shoot wide open a lot. But in this case, with a blank pale gray wall as the background in many of the indoor shots, there was no advantage to throwing the background out of focus. We did a few shots by window light where the intent was to throw a longer-distance background out of focus, and for those I used a 50mm wide open, with extra care in focusing.

 

One other note on sharpness: In this case, the pre-aspherical lens was an advantage I think. Still plenty sharp, but I wonder if the extra bite of new aspherical glass might have been too much for the subject matter. Maybe a matter of taste.

 

And a note on color tone: One of the things I really like about the M8 is that it is capable of rendering colors in a subtle way. To my eye, a lot of DSLRs give artificial-looking colors, too gaudy. In this case I knew that the client liked a little softer set of colors, so that's mostly what I went after.

[Guest mc_k]

only M8 issue: many are put off by the camera size...must not be a professional level camera because it's too small.

[Kurisu]

Thx for the info.

 

As for now, I try to shoot with both pre-asph and asph lenses and let the customer decide which he/she likes best. I noticed it can go both ways; some like it pin sharp; other prefer a softer image.

[Knomad]

only M8 issue: many are put off by the camera size...must not be a professional level camera because it's too small.

 

I've never had that problem, not once. If anything, once they figure out it's a Leica, it adds to the mystique.

[Guest mc_k]

no I keep running into this and thought it was amusing.

 

I don't think you are likely to know the Leica brand unless you are a photographer...although a lot of models, agents, editors, etc. are photographers.

[tbarker13]

I've been using my M8.2 these past three months in the small studio I built on the 3rd floor of the house. More glamour than fashion, I guess.

It's not as easy for me use as my D300, because I tend to shoot a lot. The M8 gets bogged down (slow write speed) if I'm not careful. I think I've only had that happen once with with the D300.

I've been firing my main light (an Elinchrom BXRI 250) with an Elinchrom wireless trigger. I'll occasionally use a speedlight (fired as a slave) as a hairlight. Other than that, it's just reflectors.

Because of the smallish size of the studio and the power of the main light, I generally cannot get below f5.6 - unless I use ND filters or a diffuser on the softbox. (as I did with shot no. 2)

 

My flickr stream is full of shots from recent sessions

Flickr: tbarker13's Photostream

 

And here are few from the M8.2 (shot with 50 Zeiss planar or 50 Jupiter 3):