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Studio based fashion series (several pics)...

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christianhough

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I was kind of running short of ideas as this ended up in the studio at the last minute due to cr@ppy weather. I bought some newspapers from the local supermarket and stuck the over the wall and floor. Seemed go go quite well with the skin tone and grey themed clothing. Some days I like it some days I'm indifferent. The mag I shot it for didn't go for it though (bit of a bummer), so I'm gonna try and punt it out else where. I've also done some B&W conversions, which I will post tomorrow as I would like your opinion on them as I'm not sure which to knock out; the colour or the B&W.

Anyway, let me know what you think of these... C&C welcome.

Cheers
Chris







http://www.frencholsvp.com/dpreview/Outfit2 Grey_MG_4335small











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I like the first one... And if I do say so, your model is smoking hot...

Just one question though.. Why are her lips the same color as the rest of her skin?? Looks a bit odd..
 
I like the newspaper idea... very clever and a great match to the outfit. It's both very busy and non distracting at the same time which is difficult to accomplish...

FWIW, her face is too long and thin to be flattered most with the short and split lighting in these shots. The facial angle in IMG 4422 with very low ratio open shadow broad or flat lighting would be her most flattering look I think.

CG
 
Love the model. Great face and good poses. On instant first impression, I struggled a bit with the skin tone against the pinky Financial Times type paper - and with her lipstick being similar again, it maybe lacks a focal point. I guess it's hard to make the grey/black/white clothing the focus though.

Also the shadows on the right hand side of her face in pics 2 and 3 are very dark.

Given the colour of the clothes, maybe high key white would have worked as a background? Or as you say - mono may also be the way to go. Did a quick gradient map/channel mixer conversion in PS and it pinged.

I like what this guy has done with a very simple set up and girl in a black dress.

http://www.opensourcephoto.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=8916

Anyway - just my twopenneth. I'm certainly no expert - just my instant impressions. Loved the shots from the last post.

Cheers

Matt
 
Great idea and styling, my favourites are #2, #3 and #5

BTW on some of your pictures the background newspapers tend to have reddish tonality. Despite some of them are clearly on this kind of pinky paper some look to me like they should be regular newspaper white so maybe some WB issues?

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Bartek
 
Hi Christian,

at first I thought that it might be a bad idea to use that lack of tonal contrast between the financial times and the skin tones. What curisous kind of portrait. I am alwas looking from the face to the clothes. But then it knocked on my head from the inside. I am lookint through the wrong pair of glasses, trying to see a portrait.

You titled it "fashion series" so am I right? Did you plan to focuse more on the clothes? Like in #5 - stunning. What a beautiful girl. But I always end up examining the wardrob. :) The effect is a bit like colour keying, but the other way round. BW-keying :-)

May I ask a question concerning #1 and #7. Did you use a gel for the backlight to come closer to the color of the FT and the skin? At first I thought, one of the shadows in the middle looks a bit greenish, but it is only in the pink surrounding.

Thanks for sharing.

Mike*
 
Chris,

I'm not a pro but I do have some comments. Personally I think the images would look great in B&W. I'm not sure how her lips will turn out in B&W though. Photos #5 & #6 of her face closeup are the only ones that bother me a bit. Not the end of the world but the man's face in the background is annoying versus just having text. Maybe having the model stand forward a bit and with a slower f-stop would correct that.

Just an idea, I saw a DIY show about taking flower petals (silk variety) and stapling all over the wall. Personally for a home application dusting it would be a pain, but for a portrait, that would be interesting, since you can easily change the hue in photoshop with a little masking. You can do it for the floor and the background wall. Again, interesting but probably very expensive.

I'm hoping to have my own home studio soon and hope to have images half as good as your's. Thanks for sharing!

And for my comments, there just my unexperienced 2 cents!

Thanks,

Frank
 
Herbdaddy said:
Love the model. Great face and good poses. On instant first
impression, I struggled a bit with the skin tone against the pinky
Financial Times type paper - and with her lipstick being similar
again, it maybe lacks a focal point. I guess it's hard to make the
grey/black/white clothing the focus though.
Click to expand...
Hmmm... a few had said this. I should have asked the MUA to perhaps darken them. I may run a adjustment layer in PS to look at this.
Herbdaddy said:
Also the shadows on the right hand side of her face in pics 2 and 3
are very dark.
Click to expand...
This was 100% intentional. I'm seriously trying move away from the rules of portraiture in this series. I felt that the contrasy would have helped the separation from the BG. I did add an extra light to aid separation in this area.
Herbdaddy said:
Given the colour of the clothes, maybe high key white would have
worked as a background? Or as you say - mono may also be the way
to go. Did a quick gradient map/channel mixer conversion in PS and
it pinged.
Click to expand...
This is the problem. High Key white has its uses, but is very 'catalogue' as opposed to fashion. This is the problem with dealing with mags in that they either want location or something different in the studio. They decided not to use the shots I did on my last thread for the cover, despite giving us the brief and are instead using them inside with the still lifes I did. Instead, they have gone for some shots from two previous shoots I did earlier in the year (don't care as long as I get the cover).
Herbdaddy said:
I like what this guy has done with a very simple set up and girl in
a black dress.
Click to expand...
Yes its a nice photo, but wouldn't make the fashion pages. I'm already working on my next project and its location come rain or shine.
Herbdaddy said:
http://www.opensourcephoto.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=8916

Anyway - just my twopenneth. I'm certainly no expert - just my
instant impressions. Loved the shots from the last post.

Cheers

Matt
Click to expand...
Thanks for your feedback Matt

Cheers
Chris

--

 
Bartek said:
Great idea and styling, my favourites are #2, #3 and #5
Click to expand...
Thanks...
Bartek said:
BTW on some of your pictures the background newspapers tend to have
reddish tonality. Despite some of them are clearly on this kind of
pinky paper some look to me like they should be regular newspaper
white so maybe some WB issues?
Click to expand...
There was a low power pink gel to lift the background slightly on a few. The majority of the paper on the wall was pink. WB spot on and taken using Expodisc. They seem fine on my monitor (profiled again last week).
Bartek said:
--
Click to expand...
Thanks for taking the time to comment Bartek, much appreciated.

Kind regards
Chris

--

 
Michael Starogardzki said:
Hi Christian,

at first I thought that it might be a bad idea to use that lack of
tonal contrast between the financial times and the skin tones. What
curisous kind of portrait. I am alwas looking from the face to the
clothes. But then it knocked on my head from the inside. I am
lookint through the wrong pair of glasses, trying to see a portrait.

You titled it "fashion series" so am I right? Did you plan to
focuse more on the clothes? Like in #5 - stunning. What a beautiful
girl. But I always end up examining the wardrob. :) The effect is a
bit like colour keying, but the other way round. BW-keying :-)
Click to expand...
Was indeed fashion. This was an additional shoot we did with the same model. The shoot was originally for a regional magazine, but they knocked it back saying 'if its studio, it's got to be really quirky. We really would have preferred a location shoot'. This does happen from time to time and the main shoot we did was snapped up. So now its time to punt it about a recoup some money!
Michael Starogardzki said:
May I ask a question concerning #1 and #7. Did you use a gel for
the backlight to come closer to the color of the FT and the skin?
At first I thought, one of the shadows in the middle looks a bit
greenish, but it is only in the pink surrounding.
Click to expand...
Yes, there was a pink Gel in these shots.
Michael Starogardzki said:
Thanks for sharing.

Mike*
Click to expand...
Thanks for commenting.

Kind regards
Chris

--

 
Rizzofsp said:
Chris,

I'm not a pro but I do have some comments. Personally I think the
images would look great in B&W. I'm not sure how her lips will
turn out in B&W though.
Click to expand...
I get your point and I don't expect you to be a pro to comment. All constructive and balanced feedback is welcome. You're about the third person to mention the lips! I may re-address this in PS, not sure yet as it doesn't bother me too much.

Photos #5 & #6 of her face closeup are the
Rizzofsp said:
only ones that bother me a bit. Not the end of the world but the
man's face in the background is annoying versus just having text.
Maybe having the model stand forward a bit and with a slower f-stop
would correct that.
Click to expand...
Actually I really like these. I see where you're coming from, but the fact that the model is next to the wall is essential to the pose and feel. This is what I said in the original post, I guess some will like it and some wont!
Rizzofsp said:
Just an idea, I saw a DIY show about taking flower petals (silk
variety) and stapling all over the wall. Personally for a home
application dusting it would be a pain, but for a portrait, that
would be interesting, since you can easily change the hue in
photoshop with a little masking. You can do it for the floor and
the background wall. Again, interesting but probably very
expensive.
Click to expand...
Yes that is a good idea. You definately need to get away from 'portrait' here, as this isn't what this shoot was about. If it was a portrait, I would have definately gone for less tonal contrast on the lighting and a simpler background.
Rizzofsp said:
I'm hoping to have my own home studio soon and hope to have images
half as good as your's. Thanks for sharing!

And for my comments, there just my unexperienced 2 cents!
Click to expand...
No thanks for taking the time to comment and good luck in your new studio.

Kind regards
Chris

--

 
Finally, the client can see the light...As always it takes time for things to settle in when it's thinking outside the box.

BTW, sorry if I called it portrait. I didn't know what else to call it. I guess I was being to general.

Good luck, and if you ever use the flower petals idea, post it!!!

Frank
 
Well done! Weirdly, they really stand out on second looking. The FT and skin colour etc work perfectly now.
Nowt as fickle as us creative folk!

Matt
 
I think the lipstick is not at all a bad choice, as it again doesn't draw from the clothes..which are beatifully featured..over to some degree the model...which I imagine is as it should be...

The clothes were shown off very well indeed. Good job IMHO.
--
Richard Katris aka Chanan
 
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