Fashion Photography: learn how to use the slow shutter technique

Intro

I’m Michael Wright, a fashion and beauty photographer working in London.

In this article I’m going to break down this fashion & portrait shoot on the streets of London, centred around a slow shutter concept. I’ll take you through everything, from pre-production to the day of the shoot.

Pre Production

Preparation is key to any shoot. It will make or break your project. For this shoot I had to make sure the following aspects were all in place.

• Location scouting
• Equipment
• Model casting & fashion styling
• Building a team

Location Scout

The location scout was extremely important for this shoot. I needed to find several locations where I could place my model in the foreground of my shot but have traffic rushing past in the background. I have good knowledge of the streets of London having lived and worked here for so long, but on the day of the location scout I realised that a number of locations I had in mind just wouldn’t work or be practical when scheduling the shoot day. I ended up deciding on three locations:

• Piccadilly Circus - I knew I would get a few different compositions of my model in the foreground and red London busses in the background.
  
  
• Hyde Park - The bridge over the serpentine river would be perfect for capturing taxis passing by, and well as having a great spot for a high angle image leaning over the bridge shooting down below.
  
  
• The National Theatre - Brutalist architecture and strong leading lines to compose a high angle of a concrete stairwell.

All these locations were easily commutable from our base for the day in Soho. Timings and logistics are so important when you are out on location as is choosing the right equipment.

Equipment

For most of my work I’m a studio-based photographer, so I have the luxury of grabbing extra kit if I need something. However, out on location you have to ensure that you have everything you need to hand and ready to go as soon as you need it. You also have to pack light, especially when working on public streets. Here’s what I packed for the day into my

Tripod

I needed a sturdy tripod for this shoot that could also take the weight of my heaviest zoom lenses. The Manfrotto Befree GT XPRO was the perfect companion for this shoot due to its light weight, portability and impressive 12kg payload. I could easily strap it to my rucksack when we were on the move without adding loads of weight to my bag.

The ball-head is also fantastic, and let’s me make micro adjustments to my composition easily.

Cameras & Lenses

Of course, your camera and lens choice play a part in the image that you create. But I’m a big believer that you shouldn’t get too caught up in which camera & lens is better than another. It really depends on the scenario that you are shooting. A medium format camera is fantastic for shooting beauty in a studio, but not so practical for shooting on the streets of London. Most of my work is shot on full frame mirrorless cameras and zoom lenses. And that’s what I chose here:

2x camera bodies
24-70, 50, & 70-200mm lenses. Giving me all the flexibility I needed for different situations.

ND Filter

Tiffen Variable ND filter: This allowed me me to expose my slow shutter correctly and maintain a consistent depth of field. Not all ND filters are made the same, so invest in a good quality one to ensure the best image quality possible.

Reflector

I needed a reflector to help me control the light on my model. The Manfrotto Halo Compact Reflector with white and silver materials was a great choice for this shoot. It’s incredibly portable, packing down into a tiny case that I can clip to my bag. It’s also really fast to put up and take down. My assistant held this throughout the shoot, and when we all had to bundle into a taxi he was able to take apart the reflector really quickly.

Lighting

1x battery powered strobe and umbrella: we didn’t end up using these, but you never know when you might need a strobe head, especially when the weather in London changes so quickly. It’s better to have kit and not use it rather than the other way around! Trust me, if you leave it at home you’ll be guaranteed to need it.

Model Casting

I tend to work with model and talent agencies when casting a model for a shoot. Agencies will handle all the communication, rather than you having to going directly through the model.

They will send you something called a “package” of the models available. This essentially is a list of all the models available, but with a headshot of each model that you can then click through to see their whole portfolio. Then you can choose from several people, finding the model who best suits your shoot.

Building a creative team

Putting together the right creative team is essential to creating great work, you are only as talented as the rest of your team. Usually, I work with a few models, makeup artist, hairstylist, Digi tech & photo assistant. As this was a shoot that we wanted to keep very low key, I just had an assistant and model in my photo team, as well as a videographer capturing the shoot day.

Building a team takes years of collaboration with creatives on shoots. When you meet the right people, you’ll collaborate for a long time.

The Shoot

The concept of this shoot was to use a slow shutter juxtaposing the busy, relentless pace of London rushing around my model looking calm, cool and composed standing still in time.

My shutter for all these shots is very slow; around 1/10th of a second. For context if I’m out on the streets shooting fashion or portraits in normal conditions my shutter would be upwards of 1/250th of a second. The slow shutter allows me to blur all the movement behind Matthew, as long as it’s moving quickly enough. Matthew had to keep really still, otherwise there would be blur on his face and body.

The shutter isn’t so slow that everything in the background is a complete blurry mess, I still wanted to capture enough detail so the viewer can clearly see what is happening behind Matthew. The busses and taxis in London are very iconic, and I wanted them to play a part in the overall ambience of my photos.

I used a good quality variable ND filter to keep adjusting my exposure. My base settings were f5.6, 1/10th second at 100 ISO, but without an ND filter everything would have been completely over exposed at this shutter speed.

I also love how low to the ground I can mount my camera on the Befree. I can get my camera pretty much touching the ground which makes for some really dramatic angles.

The 90-degree column is also a game changer for me. For this shot over the bridge I couldn’t quite get my camera far enough over the ledge in the normal configuration. But using the column allowed me to edge my camera closer to the edge and to get the shot I really wanted! Sometimes the micro adjustments really will make or break your image.

Results

I’m really pleased with the results from the shoot. I particularly love the shot of Matthew standing in front of the red bus in Piccadilly Circus. When I was planning the shoot, this was the exact shot that I had in mind.

To me, photography is all about exploration. Not only of the world, but also of new ideas, concepts and techniques. Where will your next shoot take you?