Dubai Fashion week 2011

Aly Fawaz contessa

I went to Dubai Fashion week, expecting to see a selection of gowns, wedding dresses, trendy and classic outfits, and beautiful long legged model's. 

Well my expectations exceeded themselves with the beautiful gowns designed by Aly Fawaz,

His mixture of metals on chiffon, silks and brocades were truly captivating.

I had a back stage pass and spent some time back stage with the models as make up and hair was being finalized, then it was time for the practice run. 

These are a few candid shots I took back stage.

Then it was time to line up. We waited in a long line for about 20 minutes, to get in to the very busy excited crowd, of spectators, customers, photographers and bloggers. There was quite a few shoppers with their pens and scribble pads making notes of the designs as they flounced down the runway. Lots of head nods, and appreciation for a beautiful collection from Aly Fawaz.

The first gown that hit the runway, you could hear the crowds, awing and ohhing as the model flowed down the catwalk in this bell shaped gown, with a metal waist and a deep v shaped bodice. It was truly breathtaking. 

When your at these fashion shows, you are requested not to use flash, most of the shows struggle to light the ramp evenly, or sometimes the ramp isn't lit to the end, and when the girls walk the ram p there upper bodies are in the shadow with the dress lit up. 

Stage production on this event was immaculate. the lighting was perfect through out the days I was there, and I had no isues with getting enough light on the frocks to see the textures of the fabrics. 

When photographing models on the runway your shutter speed should be somewhere around 160 to 250th of a second. depending on what type of movement your trying to create in the clothes. 

For this show I shot with my 70-200 mm lens, my f stop was at 2.8 for most of the show, except for the grand finale, I try to push it to 5.6 or 8, and adjust my ISO accordingly to get enough light.

There were a few outfits that that had a great depth of texture and class combined with bits of metal plating. 

When the models walk down the catwalk, they normally will do a 3 second pose to the right then a 3 second pose to the left, during this time you can catch the girls in action, this model's name is Anne, I met her back stage, also a Canadian. Lovely young lady.

In most scenarios I like to meter read of the models skin. If she is wearing black or white dresses,  you can sometimes be either one or two stops over or under rendering your image to lose detail in the blacks or overexpose on the whites. There isn't a lot of time to fiddle with your exposures. So practice does help you improve your shooting.

 I Loved this flapper style dress, such soft colours, and so striking on the model, Oh to be 5'10".

 The long evening dresses were very feminine and seductress like that I found myself in awe at how beautiful the models walked and show cased these spectacular dresses. The music for the show, was perfectly suited for the walk, very entertaining for all the spectators.

This event was very organized and they had a large ramp for media, so we could sit and enjoy the show, and shoot comfortably without people pushing and jockeying for position. 

 The wedding dresses, were breath taking, I didn't want them to leave the stage, I was hoping they would walk the cat walk just one more time so I could ohhh and wow over these brides. 

 Now the grand finale. Everyone I talked to after the show, was so thrilled with this years collection! Great efforts to Aly and his team. 

O.K this is when its time to boost your f-stop (aperture) so you can have more than one beautiful model in focus. I usually try to be at least f8. which then also means you have to adjust your ISO values, depending on your camera, you can get a lot of noise in the photos. There is software available to get rid noise. One of my favourites is

 http://noise-ninja.en.softonic.com/

it is a free software that you can download, it is a plug in for photoshop. 

Thanks for taking the time to look through the photos, I hope you were able to pick up a few photo tips along the way. 

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. I will reply, promise.