Times Square Fashion Shoot and Shutter Drag | Inside Fashion and Beauty Photography w/ Lindsay Adler

Join me, Lindsay Adler, for an exciting Fashion Shoot in Times Square! Times Square is a bustling environment that can also be filled with visual distractions. Using camera angles, lighting, and shutter drag, you can use Times Square as an incredible backdrop without endless distractions!

Step 1: Place the model on an elevated platform and shoot at a low angle. This could be standing on an apple box, a bench, or (in this case) a concrete divider. By getting down at a super low angle I can focus on eliminating other people in the scene and primarily focusing on the building.

Step 2: Underexpose the ambient light to make it a bit darker, and then introduce a strobe into the scene. Here we have used a Profoto White Beauty Dish as the main light and a bare strobe with a blue/purple gel as the fill.

Step 3: To create even more saturated colors, try shooting in a tungsten white balance. In this instance, the model was already painted purple with a very blue/black/purple dress, so having a ‘neutral’ white balance was not necessary.

Step 4: Experiment with a shutter drag to create interesting streaks of light in the scene. Dragging the shutter means that the photographer uses a longer shutter speed combined with camera/subject movement to create interesting streaks of light. In these shots, you can see that I’ve moved my camera lens (zoomed in and out with the Canon RF 24-105) to create visually compelling movement! Here is used 1/10th of a second!

Interested in learning more about fashion photography? Check out these guides on 42 West:

• 3 Best One-Light Fashion Setups
• 3 Tips for Your First Fashion Editorial Shoot
• 5 Fashion Photography Tips From the Pros

PRODUCTS USED:

• Canon R5
• Canon RF 24-105mm 4.0
• Profoto B10
• Profoto White Beauty Dish + Grid