As part of my role as photographer to The Style Forum I capture the behind the scenes moments at their major events. Last night I shot their fashion show at the launch of the Audi A3 Cabriolet. I used the Fujifilm X-T1 with 14mm, 23mm, 35mm and 56mm lenses. I shot for about three hours sipping the occasional glass of Champagne to aid my creativity.
Here are 90 or so of my shots from last night. I just popped them through Lightroom 5.4 and uploaded them. Enjoy
The catwalk fashion photography was covered by two other photographers shooting on big hairy Nikons with mahoosive lenses but I had a play with the X-T1 with the 56mm and I’m quite pleased with the results. I’m not a dynamic photographer so photographing moving subjects is something else that I have yet to learn. Oh and the Bristol Rugby Team paraded the handbag collection. I love quirky things like that. We all had a fun night. 196 shots are now on my Dropbox for the Style Forum PR team to distribute.
Hmmm, the more pixs I see out of the X-T1, the more I find that colours are over the top – too saturated. Too much red and yellow also…
I found the X-Pro1 and X-P1 much more appealing. Body-wise, there has been a big progress, but in terms of the look of the pics, I prefer the older X- models.
Hi Georg63,
This ‘look’ of the X-T1 colour has nothing to do with the camera, it has everything to do with how I processed the files. I chose the contrast and saturation. My X-Pro1 would look identical If I chose to process the files the same way ;)
Cheers, Damien.
Hi Damien
Stunning work as usual.
Notwithstanding the clients brief, on an event like this do you pre plan what sort of shots you “need” or “want” to get or do you just shoot as the mood fancies you? Also, I presume you didn’t add any light of your own?
Thanks, Paul
Hi Paul,
I like an open brief. That’s the way I work. My client is the PR company and they need shots of each supplier/ contributor be it Champagne, Canapes, Milinary, Dresses, Cars, Hair, Make-up plus the sponsors. I then float around planning as I shoot. Having an open brief means I get to be creative and can be left to my own devices. I take risks and they nearly always pay off, like taking a high level viewpoint during a key moment rather than playing it safe and shooting the obvious. PR works best with new or exciting imagery. I still had a chance to direct a few pictures of the models an suppliers. I find this is the quickest way to work. I don’t hang around waiting for a moment I just get on a direct the moment. I can move on far more quickly to cover other topics. I had an Elinchrom Quadra rigged high on a stand into a silver umbrella but I only used it for a few frames. I chose to use fast primes and the ‘stage’ lighting provided. For the pre event shots with models and suppliers I moved them into good light rather than accepting what was there.
I hope this helps,
Damien.
It’s a great help Damien and thank you for the detailed reply. You certainly floated into all the right places and got some great images as a result.
Cheers, Paul
Great shots. Congrats!
Are these JPEG or RAW?
What do you think of the new 5.4 version of LR handling of xt-1 Raws?
Thanks!
Dale out in California
Hi Dale, Thank you :)
These are RAW files. LR5.4 handles the files as well as LR 5.3 did with an Exif rename to X-E2. Seems fine to me.
Great work Damien – I am too the proud owner of an XT 1 and a lovely set of Fuji glass. It is an outstanding set of equipment. Did you shoot in RAW?
Hi Mark,
Thank you. Yes, I shoot in RAW and process in Lightroom. :)
Hi Damien what software and program do you edit with?
Hi Mark,
I just use Lightroom 5.4 :)
Looks like an upgrade is about to be ordered Mrs D permitting!