Shooting the show with Canon
Earlier this week and quite out of the blue, I received an email from Canon with an offer to shoot a fashion show during London Fashion Weekend. This wasn’t some PR event organised just for photographers, it’s a real fashion show, sponsored by Canon and shot by randomly selected Canon CPN listed photographers (which is how I got an in) and a group of photography students. They were a really great bunch of people with plenty of friendly banter. So what’s it like shooting a show with Canon?
The briefing
The day started with a comprehensive briefing from the Canon team about what to expect, what to shoot and how to get the best results. It was a good idea, especially as more then half the 30 or so photographers were students studying for degrees in fashion photography and this would be their first taste of a professional assignment.
We were also given some great camera tips such as using ai servo to track focus on the models as they walked towards us. Canon recommended using just the centre focus point for older Canon cameras like my 5D mark II but for the more modern 7D, 5D mark III and 1Dx a larger centre cluster was suggested.
Perfect Exposure
The Canon briefing made a big point about getting consistency from one image to the next… as you can see in the photos above. So to help out Canon had already worked out the ideal shutter speed, aperture, ISO and white balance. Now normally I prefer to shoot in Aperture Priority mode and auto white balance, however the whole catwalk was evenly lit with manmade lighting that didn’t change once the show had started. As a result I shot the show in Manual Mode and with a fixed white balance to ensure total consistency.
Hence every photo in this post was shot at 1/640th sec, f/4, ISO640 and with a white balance of 3000k
If you’re wondering why consistency is important, put yourself in the shoes of a fashion magazine or website editor. They’re not looking for creative flare from us photographers, they’re looking for photos that perfectly represent the outfits time and time again.
Click to enlarge
Nailing the shot
Timing in photography is important in many types of photography but at a fashion show there’s no reruns and no second chances. So getting the perfect shot needs either lots of practice or a bit of luck. So to shorten the odds in my favour I worked in continuous shooting mode and shot in short bursts. Take a closer look at the five shots above. All but number 4 are duds but I only needed one good shot.
The Pits
OK so above is a crappy shot from my compact camera but this is the photography “pit” where we were allowed to shoot from. Getting a spot in the centre i sthe goal of all the photographers as it gives the best angle to shoot from. See the gap just left of the video tripod… guess who bagged that spot 
The Gear
When it came to gear I kept it simple. All the photos were shot on my Canon 5D mark II with a Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS lens. It proved to be the perfect combination for the day. I also packed my Canon 24-105L f/4 but that never came out of my bag.
I know from experience that the Canon 70-200m f/2.8 gets very heavy very quickly so I used my Giottos monopod all the time. I also spent a lot of time kneeling down so I was very glad I packed a small cushion, although with hindsight a folding tripod stool would have been even better as would a small step ladder… if you were prepared to take the risk.
I have to say my 5D mark II did a great job but I could tell my autofocus wasn’t always tracking the action and the 3.5fps continuous shooting speed is very pedestrian. However the student next to me who was using a brand new 5D mark III was able to shoot at 5.5fps and even tweak the continuous focusing system to suit the situation… the results looked pretty darn good too!
I need to say a huge thank you to Canon UK for making the day happen and for their perfect hospitality. If you ever get the chance to take part in a Canon event I suggest you either grab it with both hands or forward it on to me 
Sounds like a fun but busy day Gavin. Could there be a 5D mark3 on order soon?
Love your images, the models really stand out from the background.
Nice write up Gavin and some good images “Bet you hated that gig! shooting catwalk models”!
Hi Gavin,
this article is packed with very usefull infos.
Thanks for that and have a nice weekend 🙂
Francois.
I really appreciate your talent.
I hate fashion shows but you definitely shot some very nice pictures. Thanks a lot for this article Gavin !
Valuable info! Curious: did you post edit these at all? Especially the last 3…?
The very last one had an adjustment to the white balance in the background.
Those shots are fantastic and I loved to read the technical stuff. Can I ask though why you tend to use Auto White Balance? I see a lot of mag’s these days telling us to stick to one fixed setting, eg sunny day, and adjust after.
As a RAW shooter White Balance is something I fine tune during the post processing. However in this case I was playing the part of press photographer where every second counts, so minimal processing was the order of the day here.
HI GAVIN
I TAKE IT THAT FLASH WAS NOT USED AS YOU SAY THE LIGHTING WAS EVEN ALL THE TIME LOOKS LIKE A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL
REX C
No flash is the general rule at most venues, this one included. I always pack a flash for backsaytge use but in this case it stayed firmly in the bag.
Well done Gavin. I recently covered my first fashion show and it was great fun both beforehand backstage and during the show where I was the main Photog out of 3 of us. Awesome night and extremely fast. I spent a lot of time on a small step ladder to get consistent good shot angles. Loved it.
…..Older camera’s like 5Dmk2 Thanks canon makes us feel old now 🙁
Hi Gavin
I have been given the same opportunity as yourself to shoot London fashion week with Canon thanks for the tip about the cushion wouldn’t of thought of that. My question is how long does the fashion shoot usually last. I will be taking the same kit as you did and I usually shoot RAW so don’t know how much memory I am likely to get through.
Cheers so much for your post Gavin it helped me a lot when I was researching what to expect at Shoot the Show. I was very lucky and managed to bag a place at the 2015 event and it was absolutely amazing, flew by so quickly but I managed to get some great images! I practiced using AI Servo and back button focusing prior to the show which helped me considerably on getting the shots 🙂