The iPhone is the best camera you have with you all the time, and that's why fashion photographers and models alike often use it to take and share fun photos while on shoots. Nothing beats a DSLR for final photos, but increasingly the iPhone is the new polaroid for everything else on set. Add in the power and community of Instagram and it really is a whole new world for fashion photography.
To get some industry insider tips on how to take the best possible fashion photography with your iPhone, we enlisted Mobile Nations' own design lead, David Lundblad, the frequent subject of his photo shoots, Amanda Delduca of Capture Fashion, and asked videographer Martin Reisch to document it all.
The video up top has David explaining what he shot, how he shot it, and why he made the choices he did. Watch that first. The rest of the article are my notes from following along during the shoot.
Location
The first thing we did was find the perfect location. You can shoot anywhere that's visually interesting, but when you're using an iPhone you don't have the same ability to force depth of field and isolate your model from the background no matter how busy the environment. So, you want to pick a place that's beautiful, but not over crowded.
Since we were in New York City near Times Square, we opted for Bryant Park. We chose a relatively secluded area just before the path was closed, so few if any people had cause to walk there.
Lighting
It was afternoon and the park was brightly lit. One of the best things about Bryant Park is how the sun reflects off the high rise building creating one of the best, brightest natural bounces possible. That means the park is flooded in great lighting, and if there's one thing a photographer can't get enough of, it's lighting.
As much as possible, David shot with Amanda in areas where she could be in the shade but the bounce would provide a nice halo effect around her shoulders and hair. He had her stand right at the edge of the shadow, and asked her to move slightly forward or backward to adjust as needed.
Posing
Amanda is a professional model and fashion blogger, so the moment she picked her outfit and shoes, she started practicing the poses she wanted to use in front of a mirror. That let her prepare the best angles possible to show them off. That meant, as soon as David was ready to shoot, she could go from pose to pose with practiced ease, but still maintain liveliness, dynamism, and fun.
Shooting
David shot Amanda standing and walking, from full height, crouching, and lying on the ground all in an effort to get the best, most interesting angles. He used Camera+ to shoot with since it provides far more information, and better control, than the built-in iOS app.
Processing
Once David and Amanda were finished shooting, David still had to process and ultimately post the images. We didn't turn off the video, so we'll have another article focused on editing and sharing fashion photographs soon.
In the meantime, if you shoot fashion photography with your iPhone, let us know your workflow. And if you haven't tried yet, watch the video again, give it a shot, and let us know your results. Better yet, share them in this forum thread:
Thanks again to David Lundblad, Amanda Delduca and Martin Reisch for this tutorial.
