Photos

Beauty contestants and models don't stop to pose or wait for us when they go catwalking on the runway or on stage. For this situation, you need to treat your catwalking subjects pretty much like athletes in sport photography.

Try to get as close as you can without depending too much on your telephoto lens. And as grainy images are far better than blurred ones, select the highest ISO with the least amount of grains acceptable or giving you enough shutter speed to freeze the motion, and therefore the expression or fashion statement the models are showing.

This image was taken at 218mm. As generally telephoto is soft towards the end of the zoom, in this case 300mm on my Tamron 28-300mm, try not to get there. Most telephoto lenses are pretty okay from 50mm to around 200mm.

Another reason why we need a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion, which is around 1/125s or higher, is to be able to shoot continuously at full run or max. As it is likened to sport or action photography, anything in motion or facial expression you see, chances are, you lost it. Which is a tip from sport/action photography: If you see it, you lost it. So...this will be a good time for you to try the continuous shooting capabilities of your camera.

This image was taken at F/8, which is the "sweet spot" where it gives you the optimum definition or sharpness. On ISO 400, this gave me a shutterspeed of 1/400s, more than enough to freeze her facial expression and my slight hand movement during the shooting. You need to remember, just as with action photography, you have to see the scene through your viewfinder and keep your finger on the shutter release button at all time. That way you wouldn't miss much.

A Kadazandusun beauty contestant, during an ethnic beauty contest called "Unduk Ngadau", in the opening ceremony of Harvest Festival in Kota Marudu, Sabah.