Photo Tricks From the Front Row: Our Editors Share Their Best Tips for Getting a Good Shot at a Fashion Show

Burst mode
This was probably my biggest saviour, and helped me capture this beautiful close-up of a textural, technicolour Mary Katrantzou dress. Holding down the shutter button allows you to capture literally dozens of shots of a moving scene instead of just a blurry few. When you go back and look at each frame captured in these “bursts,” chances are you’ll find at least one great shot buried in there. You can select the frames you like best, and then the iPhone gives you the option of keeping just those selected shots and deleting the rest, or keeping them all.

Slow mo videos
Slow motion videos are perfect for capturing dramatic details. This is something I’d figured out at fashion weeks past, and used extensively to record things like fringed dresses, metallic details and flowing silhouettes. What I didn’t know, though, was that these slow motion videos could be manipulated to extend, shorten or change the slowed-down portion so you don’t end up with a too-long, painfully drawn-out video. Game changer. It’s how I got a great look at these embellished booties at Erdem.

Preserve camera settings
Another challenge during runway shows is the lighting, which varies from show to show and location to location. If you’re facing spotlights, chances are your images will be mightily over-exposed. Luckily, there’s a way around it: by adjusting the light and exposure settings of the camera. Just tap anywhere on the screen and you’ll see a square yellow box with a yellow sun icon next to it. Drag your finger up and down to adjust the light in the photo. When you reach a level that works for the current scenario, press and hold for 3 seconds: it’ll lock and preserve those settings. This is a handy trick because it means you won’t have to re-adjust the settings every time you need to take a photo or video. It’s also a huge time-saver, as I learned during the Vivienne Westwood show, where I was seated directly across from giant floodlights.

Portrait Mode

Before I took my seat at the Badgley Mischka show, (where I spotted Molly Shannon and Tess Holliday in the front row), I had to go over and compliment this woman on her incredible gothic –meets-Rainbow Brite outfit. Turns out she’s a rapper/model who goes by ‘JZL the Empress’ and walked in the Nicole Miller show later in that week. I nabbed this photo of her taking a selfie with another showgoer using Portrait mode, where the studio lighting setting illuminated her skin and highlighted the bright colours in her outfit.

Swipe to Open Camera

My most exciting discovery of New York Fashion Week was the work of Caroline Hu, a Chinese designer who designs under the label Caroline Qiqi. I was blown away by her tragically beautiful broken doll couture, which reminded me a lot of what Rodarte was doing circa 2006. I was so taken by the combination of natural light and the beautiful gown that I was able to snap this photo quickly by swiping left on the iPhone lock screen, which is so much easier than fumbling through the apps to open the camera.

Zoom

One of the best aspects of fashion week hands-down is the people watching. I spotted this dynamic duo at Spring Studios and was transfixed by how diametrically opposite their styles were, and yet they were interacting like best friends. The show was about to start before I took the photo, so I used the iPhone pinch zoom feature to frame the photo without having to get out of my seat.

Up Close and Personal
Portrait mode isn’t only useful for humans! I use it when I want to play with the depth of field so some parts of the picture are blurred. This helps to draw attention to the detail that has caught my eye, but layers in some context for where the shot is being taken. (In this case, it was at the resee for Gucci.)

Detail Orientated
I love the tap and zoom feature. Being able to zoom from 1X to 10X with just my thumb, vs using two fingers to pinch, is faster and more stable because I don’t have to switch hands. (This is a close up of the quirky bespoke stitching at Gucci.)

On the Grid
When the models are flying by—like they were at Missoni—it’s hard to know when you should snap that perfect 1/3-2/3 shot. The rule of thirds, which is a classic composition technique, is a whole lot easier to nail when you have the grid turned on. (To turn it on, go to Settings, select Camera and the make sure the Grid option is green.)

Panorama

The pano mode in the camera app helps capture beautiful wide shots. Once in pano you can steadily mode your cameral left to right to capture an extended view. Paris is the perfect backdrop for pano since every inch of the city seems magical. This shot was captured leaving the Louis Vuitton show at the Louvre. It’s quiet and eerie as the crowd exits the last show of the week.

Rule of Thirds

This Chanel clutch caught my eye on the runway so when I visited the showroom the next day it was on my list of things to see. To capture all of the detail I used the grid on the camera app to centre it in the frame and get up close and personal.

Slow-Mo

As the models at the Stella McCartney marched towards me I switched my Iphone into slow-mo to capture the details of the look. Watching back the clip I can see how everything moves especially these dangling, paperclip earrings.