A few weeks ago I spent the afternoon shooting with Eboh a fashion photographer based in Okinawa. I don’t normally shoot fashion, or do much studio work so it was a fascinating experience.
The setup was relatively simple. White seamless background, that was blasted with light from two strobes. The main strobe was a large beauty dish positioned in front of the model and about 2 meters high. A silver reflector was used to bounce a little fill light up.
The three strobes went to a single Norman battery pack which was then triggered by a Pocket Wizard.
I used my Pentax 67II with a 165mm LS (leaf shutter lens). The leaf shutter lens allowed me to use flash synched at 1/250 of a second rather than 1/30 of a second. A flash cable connected the leaf shutter lens to a second Pocket Wizard which triggered the strobes.
The model for the shoot was Nikki who did a fantastic job. Eboh took a variety of images with different outfits and poses. I would watch Eboh work, and then we’d switch and I’d take a few shots.
The film was processed and then another friend, Photoshop guru Annya, helped show me the basics of crafting the final image. (It turns out the Photoshop can do far more than my usual dust removal and cropping.)
Fashion shoot with model Nikki Wright.
Eventually you end up with a final image, or a version of the final image before you start tweaking it again. Many thanks to Eboh, Nikki, and Annya!
TRAVEL 67 : Chris Willson Photography 
Why did you feel you needed the higher sync? After all, when everything is lit by strobes your sync speed can be anything fast enough not to pick up the ambient. 1/30 should be just fine?
Nice portrait. Fashion can be a tricky business, but the medium format is brilliant for it. Much nicer doing it the way you did rather than being crammed at the end of a runway with 100 other snappers jostling for position.
Amazing work!
Love this kind of portraiture.
I recently acuired a Pentax 67 and some glasswork, (no leaf shutters)..
And was wondering if I would need the higher sync speeds in order to aquire results that are acceptible..
I recon as long as the subject is not moving at all it would be allright?
If you are shooting in the studio the strobes will provide the vast majority of light in an instant so the slower shutter speeds shouldn’t be a problem. At the last studio shoot I did I used the 105mm and 165 no leaf shutter lenses. Outside mixing daylight and strobes I would guess you’d need a higher sync speed.