Innovative Fashion Photography Techniques

What do you get when you combine an octopus, a fashion model, and a nice camera? A Ben Von Wong photo shoot, of course. Von Wong is at it again, innovating with a camera and some interesting props, this time with friend and fashion model Jen Brook to contribute to her personal Dreamcatcher project:

“The lighting for Jen’s shot had to look natural, yet cinematic. We shot using hypersync, so that it could shoot at a shallow aperture, with flashes firing at over 1/1,000 of a second. To add a bit of dimension to the flat, overcast lighting streaming in through the clouds, a simple light washing down from the trees from an octobox did just the job.”

photography project with octopus

After they had captured the shot Jen was after, Ben pulled out some props to get a couple creative shots of his own. The first, a shipwreck scene, was set with a few pieces of old wood and metal and a distinctive red lantern. However, since the shoot was happening during the day, but the mood of the shoot required a dark and stormy appearance, he used a 3-stop ND (neutral density) filter.

shipwreck concept photography

Ben continued his story with the next shot, showing a shipwrecked maiden in a flowing white nightgown venturing out into the night, red lantern in hand. Again, to achieve the right mood, he used his ND filter, using the same strobe in the first photo to add some light back in, but also adding an Elinchrom Ranger Quadra with an orange gel to imitate the light supposedly coming from the lantern. In post-production, he added in the lantern glow and some rain streaks to complete the effect.

castaway concept photography

Von Wong used a Nikon D800E and Nikkor 24-70mm and 70-200mm f2.8 lenses.

Like This Article?

Don't Miss The Next One!

Join over 100,000 photographers of all experience levels who receive our free photography tips and articles to stay current: