Fashion Shoots: Planning, Behind the Scenes and Hair Flips

Joe Edelman photographs a hair flip with north-facing window light alone: a Nikon D700 and 70-200mm f/2.8 at 200mm, ISO 400, 1/800s to freeze movement and f/2.8 for shallow depth. He choreographs the flip with a 19-year-old novice so her chin lifts only slightly, shooting one frame per flip.

Karl Taylor directs a one-day studio shoot, shown as fly-on-the-wall footage. He has the model skip repeatedly to line up with a panel for a chirpy frame, notes a hand needing Photoshop work, moves through outfits including a winter jacket with wind-blown hair, and refines elbows, fingers and expressions.

Lindsay Adler's hour-long Calibrite webinar covers the fashion workflow: concept development, gathering a creative team, shoot-day considerations, colour management, retouching basics and file delivery. She demonstrates fixing white balance from a ColorChecker's neutral patch and building a camera profile with the X-Rite plugin so a purple set reproduces accurately.

Every frame from a dphog shoot is shown, not just the keepers, to dispel the myth that good photographers take good pictures. Low lights flare through foreground glass, stockings over the arms replace a dress, lighting is refined until the evening mood clicks, and the shot arrives within minutes.

Xing Liu photographs friend Erika flipping her hair outdoors on a Fujifilm X-T2 with 35mm f/1.4. Three tips: lock focus on the face by half-pressing before counting her in, turn her 45 degrees off camera for a profile rather than a flat flip, and frame it against interesting trees.

Patrick Hall of Fstoppers shoots four landing-page images for a fashion brand with two models, a stylist and makeup artist, using a Fujifilm GFX 100 with 32-64mm and 110mm lenses, Profoto B10 strobes and Gravity Backdrops canvases, then edits picks in Exposure X5, adjusting highlights, blacks and white balance.

Lizzie Peirce plans a low-budget shoot with model Joelle Farrow in five steps: a Pinterest mood board in Milanote's photoshoot template; locations scouted on Google Street View, favouring parks or hourly studio hire; a team paid in images and meals; borrowed or rented gear; and free WeTransfer file sharing.

Peter Coulson makes fashion images without wardrobe during lockdown, shooting Maddie in a dressing gown and everyday items inspired by magazine tear sheets. One Profoto D2 in a 1.5m octa, bounced off a wall, lets him move shadows and highlights by changing his angle, on a Hasselblad at f/8.

Lindsay Adler captures bouncing hair on a Canon R5 in continuous drive at eight frames per second, using fast-recycling Profoto D2 strobes in freeze mode so every frame is sharp and exposed. A high magnum reflector sculpts, a zoom reflector fills and a bare head reddens the backdrop.

Joe Edelman's hour-long live Last Frame episode covers hair flips and blowing hair. Most fail as afterthoughts with buried faces and closed eyes, so he urges planning the shot, casting for hair, energy and face, slowing down, a stylist brushing between flips and favouring dancers for body control.