How to shoot a Runway show

Hello Allan
Your reasoning seems sound so far (shutter speeds, etc). However, without details of what the ambient lighting will be, what the runway lighting will be, how far from the runway you will be, etc., we'll basically be groping in the dark here as far as accurate advice is concerned. It may even be that your 70-200 is too long (depending again on room size, distance, etc.)

A few general tips:
Many times it may make more sense to pre-focus on a spot on said runway and then get a shot of each model as they get to that point.That way you will have a consistent angle and therefore "look" to the shots. Of course you can always use AF on your lens with AI Servo mode. Whichever is most comfortable for you.

As for flash, this will depend greatly on the following:
1. What is allowed by the organisers.
2. What the runway lighting will be.
3. Recycle time depends on the flash model and how much juice you're trying to put out. I have no problems with my 580 EXII doing an entire fashion shoot on a single set of rechargeables. I almost never shoot on full power in any case. However, always have a spare, fully-charged set, handy.

If you can get to the venue a few days before, that would allow you to test your rig and figure out what works. A lot will depend on whether you are going for the "conventional" fashion show look or whether you are doing something more documentary in style. I suspect in your case, the former.

Have a look at this thread: http://photo.net/portraits-and-fashion-photography-forum/00Yjnh

And there is this article about NY fashion week: http://photo.net/learn/runway-fashion-photography/fashion-week-nyc/

Enjoy it ;) I'll be shooting about 45 catwalk shows next week when London Fashion Week starts, I love the buzz.

Thank you gentleman. Appreciate the advise.

As for flash recycling, use a Quantum Turbo or Lumedyne's equivalent. Flash will recyle in 1-2 seconds on a full manual pop, virtually instantly on anything else.

From what I've heard from my friend who shoots the Toronto Fashion Week, no flash is allowed... This may be different where you are. Just keep in mind that you may not have flash as an option.

I've shot quite a few fashion shows for television, including the Mercedes Benz fashion week events held at Smashbox in Los Angeles (which, unfortunately, are no longer held), but only a few times for stills. The MB fashion week shows were of very high production value, often with dynamic lighting set-ups, run from a sophisticated, programmable lighting board. Here are a few things I can share from my limited experience:

1. Models walk really fast, and never, ever stop at the end of the runway long enough--try to "set-up" for that end-pose.
2. Show lighting can be anywhere from one-millionth of a footcandle of dim, red light, to an Xenon spotlight that's several billion stops above ambient--be ready to spin your ISO dial at a moment's notice.
3. Shows are generally 20 minutes--there's absolutely no time to change lenses! But if the it's a long runway, you may have a few seconds' head's-up time between models to set-up for your next end-of-runway shot.
4. If you ever get a chance to shoot backstage--bring all of your f/1.4 lenses, and be prepared to see the prettiest girls you've ever seen without any clothes on!

Okay, now, I have some questions . . . in particular, about focus. I own a D3s, so my typical set-up would be an FX body with an AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G VR zoom, with VR on, on a monopod, at the end of the runway. I've tried it several different ways, but which particular focus mode do you guys use? Single-point? Multi? What specific focus-tracking settings to you tend to use the most? Thanks for any replies!