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Hi Mitchell,

If you ever get to take a look at video or still images of an advertising shoot, particularly for companies like Nike, you will discover a few things. One is a massive amount of light that is used … often in the order of 100 times more light than you would get out your on camera flash. The power of this light not only allows the photographers to get a more even light over the subject, but they can also get a softer quality of light.

Another thing that you will notice on a shoot is the number of people working around the photographer and the model. More often than not they are there to keep an eye on the details… the little things that  combine to make the big picture perfect.

I have never worked in that league (slightly opposite direction to my documentary photography style), but there are lessons to be learnt from it that all photographers can apply to their photography, and one of the  simplest of those lessons is attention to detail.

In this image there are two obvious mistakes I would be inclined to adjust. The first is the placement of the feet. You are trying to showcase the shoes, but what is unfortunate is that the shoe on the right foot is lost in the shadow of the left foot.

I think you have a flash placed off camera to the lower left. I think it is good to have the camera in this position, but if the model's left foot had been forward just a slight amount both shoes would have better light and we could see both feet better.

One other important consideration in photography is the supporting design elements. In this instance one of those elements is the track lighting. What is unfortunate is that the light has been blocked by the model's leg.

Now, for all those problems, there was one simple solution. If you had asked the model to rotate a small amount to her right and then if you had moved slightly to the left (so that in effect the two of you were rotating  about the one point) you would have had her facing straight up the track and you would have also been able to see the lighting tower clearly to the left of the subject. Also, in making this move, if you left your flash in exactly the same place, it would have provided better light on the subject.

Cheers,

Anthony

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