Hey all, Wanted to share with you my latest project for the alumni magazine (these photos haven't been published yet, so.... shhhh.) We challenged six alumni fashion designers to design a garment based on one of the schools within the college (e.g., the School of Business, the School of the Arts, the School of Humanities, etc), then found student models for each shoot. Attached are the first four shots.
This is the first time I've done fashion. I found it DIFFICULT! I went into this thinking fashion would be a creatively freeing kind of shooting, but actually felt very limited right away. No spontaneous shooting here: instead of that spontaneous moment I always look to capture, I had to meticulously pose each model so the garment was shown in its best light (literally and figuratively). I'm not sure why this surprised me. =0)
Anywho... please honestly critique. Good... bad... what I did well... what I could have improved? I'd appreciate it!
Will post the final two images when they're shot.
Thanks all!
Hope you had a great holiday!
Leslie
Hi Leslie,
ReplyDeleteYou should be VERY happy with these, they are terrific. I especially like the third one down. The composition and lighting on all of them are great. I think your selection of the garments with their settings are perfect. Nice work. Thank you for sharing!
Fred
I agree with Fred. The third one down is a winner. I find the background in the first so busy that it takes me a while to see the model and her outfit. I think a crop might help.
ReplyDeleteI think that the second must look great larger than I a seeing it on my screen - love the way the accents on her stockings seem to echo the gold of the chandelier.
The last one is nice, but might have worked better with the model posed 3/4 view to the camera. Of course, the dress is the story and your photo shows it really well!!
I hope you are pleased with your results. Really nice work! Bravo!!
Virgiia
All four work. I disagree with Fred and Virginia. for me the first is my favorite. The lighting separates the model from the background which, ok, could have been a little more subdued but still the model and her clothes jump out at me. Her engaging smile helps make you think she really enjoys showing off those clothes, a selling feature.
ReplyDeleteThe second was a REAL challenge for the clothes and face make up. Posing her straight on broadens her hips too much - maybe a three-quarter would have helped. But frankly I found the outfit OTT. And it WAS an ad for chandeliers wasn't it :-)
Ok, the last two have good simple backgrounds - K.I.S.S. - and I'm sure the client will be happy with them. The red gown is good although although my eye is drawn to the bunched up part in shadow against the wall, a distracting detail. She is sufficiently slim that the frontal pose does not bother me.
One would never believe you don't do fashion regularly, Leslie. Congratulations.
Bill (cerf.book.fr)
Wow, very nicely done. First fashion shoot,.... I'm impressed.
ReplyDeleteWhile the other 3 comments say it well, I'll kick in my 2 bits worth.
My Favorites are #1 and #3.
For #1, I like the way the lighting accentuates the clothing while nicely presenting the easel background. Nicely posed, great selection of the easel backgroung, love it.
For #2, I agree with Bill about the chandelier, try cropping down about 2/3rds on it and the eye will trvel to the subject faster and stay there. Not sure if I'd change the hip pose, it balances the shoulders.
For #3, GREAT shot, I love the pose, lighting and location. Very engaging.
For #4, my initial reaction was that I didn't like something about the outfit, but that's not what this is about, maybe a different pose. However, that being said, I think the location nicely complements the simple elegance of the subject, the warm wood tones bring out the colors well. Lighting was nice, gentle reflection of the dress in the forground. The more I look at it the more I'm liking it.
Let me say again, WOW. You should be very pleased and proud with the results. :-)
David Gralian
Thanks so much for your comments, everyone, they are muy helpful!
ReplyDeleteA couple of folks wanted to hear about how I lit them, so here we go:
Photo 1: fairly large softbox just out of frame to model's left. I clothes-pinned a white bed sheet over it to soften the light even further (thanks Joe). I placed a second light slightly behind the model and to her right side, which is causing the slight rim on her hair/neck. I wish I would've restrained it more, so less of it hit some of the easels back there.
Photo 2: Big softbox to model's right, and a reflector on her left to fill in just a tiny bit of the shadows.
Photo 3 (this one is my fave): 580EX II just out of left side of frame all the way to the back of the room, fired into a white wall to wash background in light. Another 580EX II to my left (closer to foreground of image), firing into the ceiling at a lesser power, just to fill in enough to see the garment well.
Photo 4: big softbox to model's right.
Again, I really appreciate all of your encouragement and suggestions! Thanks, team!
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ReplyDeleteLes, these are beautiful! Very nice work, you should be really happy with the outcome! I love that they all read so differently which is great because the outfits are so different.
ReplyDelete#1 tricky lighting with the easles, but I like that they are still part of the scene. Maybe a bit less light on them if you were to change it. Love her expression with the more casual feel.
#2 I love this. She is fierce and needs to be with that outfit. I love the framing with the door and chandelier. I do think you could crop down loosing the top of the chandelier and if would still look great. Just if you want to simplify, but I agree with Virginia, it kind of depends on how large it's displayed. Maybe a tiny bit hot on the wall by her right side, maybe a flag or cheating her a step forward from the wall could have helped. But thats getting picky.
#3 FAVORITE! I love the pose, composition and that eye! I love the blown out background, especially because we still get to place her with the windows etc. When things are so white, I like to add a punch of contrast post production but I don't know if thats cheating :)
#4 totally different feel, but appropriate for the dress. Again just picky but I may have liked a darker framing wood color with the red dress. But I think the walls and lighting work well.
So impressed but not surprised! Congrats and good luck with the rest of the project!
Jennie
Hi Leslie,
ReplyDeleteGreat images! Hopefully you entered the images in the Case Awards.
Patrick Dunn