Friday, September 20, 2013

Fashion Shoot 2: Classical Gals

This week we have some more photos from the fashion shoot I went to. The previous part we had three lovely models. Today we have four models, classy gals shot on different backgrounds and with, hopefully, some interesting poses.

Most of these images were taken when we had broken into groups and got each model for a few minutes. Then we could hold up reflectors, pose our model and get some more serious work done. Having that extra few minutes of  "one on one" (though three on one is more like it) makes all the difference. One exception is for Julia, featured below, which I just grabbed (even before she had got her make up done) and posed under some interesting light. But more on that later...

For the most part I used my portrait lens (i.e. the 105 macro) but there are a couple of exceptions.




Credits:
Model: Kira Doron
MUA: Maya Ephrat

Model: Sapir Haim
MUA and hair: Larissa Gareeva

Model: Julia Ivanitsa
Hair: Yulia Itkin

Model: Meital Kochavi
MUA: Chen Levy

Organizer: Oleg Luft


Here's a wide angle shot of the preparations. Make up, hair, and us photographers getting restless and documenting the process.


This is Julia. She hadn't even had time to get make up done. But I noticed the light (which was pretty hard, still, it was only 15:30) was beautiful in her hair. It would have been better with the light coming from a lower angle, but you take what you can get. In fact this was the only time I had with Julia. Maybe next time.


A similar shot, here the flash is a little more obvious. I had to overcome afternoon light so I really stuck the thing close by. I had to step back to use the longer lens, but luckily I had optical remote so at least that wasn't a problem.


Here are some more original approaches to the problem of hard light. The flash did very little to light her, so I just went with it. Trade secret: the out-of-camera shot was totally dark, I added some exposure to her face and shoulder in post. I think it makes it more interesting than a complete silhouette.


I had already given up on using the 105 lens, because I couldn't get any good angles, and I wanted to get more of her body in the shots (she is really tall and slender and doing only head shots would not do her justice). Again, trying to get something interesting from what is essentially bad light.




This is Sapir. This is, I believe, before her hair was done and after make up. We later got a chance to photograph her in a small group. Here is another shot with the macro lens, this time making good use of it's focus distance.


This was taken at 1/50 second, wide open. I was very lucky that anything was sharp at all. Given the chance to do this shot right, I would probably get a tripod (or monopod at least) and shoot a little bit more closed. Having only the eyelashes in focus is actually better than having everything in focus, but I think just a little more depth of field would have helped here. The background, at least, got real soft.  


Here she is next to the fountain, which we used as backdrop for a couple of models that day. I did some work with the longer lens and then switched to 17-50 for the versatility. I tried really hard to use this lens as little as possible, because I think 50 mm is a little too ordinary a focal length these days. I like either to crop really close with the 105, or take wide, distorted, unorthodox angles with the wide angle. The photo above was taken at 17mm, which is wide enough to get some of the background in but not too wide to distort. 


This one was taken at 50. It would have looked better at twice the distance and twice the focal length. But enough about that. 



My friend here gets even more close up and personal with 35mm. At least he does it from eye level, unlike me who takes no care to keep my model's proportions. 


I think this is my favorite shot of Sapir. I cropped it from portrait to landscape because the original, although it had a lot more of the fountain in the background (which was nice), still didn't emphasize the right things. Those being the model's face (eyes especially), earring, clavicle and outstretched arm (which I believe lends a nice flow to the composition). So out got cropped everything else. Much better. 


A couple of shots with the 11mm ultra wide. Again, trying to keep it interesting. 


...and a candid looking posed shot. The tower in the background only fits when you got real wide. I don't care what you say about proportions and fashion and converging lines. I like it and that's that! 


This is Kira. She was actually our first model of the day (not counting renegade free sessions in between shoots). We took her to a quiet spot and took turns holding up each other's reflector. That came out dirtier than I intended. 


Always love to take photos of tattoos. Also, this pose helps mix it up a little. 


Trade secret: the more your lens is sharp the more you need to work on rendering skin in post processing. Tossing it out of focus is the easy way to do this. In case you are wondering, this isn't at f/1.2 it just got some selective blurring in photoshop. Is it obvious? I can't tell because I made it. What do you think?


This session of photos was done around 16:00, so the light was already improving. We used a reflector for most of the portraits, including this one. The main difference is that here I intentionally got the back light in the frame. 


This one I just like because it shows off some of the fashion elements, but still focuses on the face (and close cropped as I like it). The dress strap, earring and necklace are all in focus, which makes this one stand out from the other head shots I got with Kira. 



Here is Meital. Again we are at the fountain, this time I had gone all the way with a longer focal length. I had enough room to maneuver and get ultra sharp, full body shots. It shrinks away the background, which was pretty but also distracting. 


The marble fountainhead and the blue and white background makes this shot feel like it was taken on some Greek island. The halo-looking black circle around her hair is the rim of a large fan. Instead of composing it out I thought it would be a nice addition. 



Yeah, I had to walk all the way back to get a fully body plus background in the frame. It was worth it. 




A candid looking actually-candid frame. Models adjusting their hair is just about my favorite thing to photograph. Can't explain it. This was taken as Meital was climbing up to the top of the fountain. This time having a long lens made things easier. 



Water spray. Fun! 


...and one more, serious frame to balance the previous one. Which one did you like more?


So that's it for this week. Four models in one post is a lot. For even more images of these lovely girls go to my facebook page. Thanks again to the models, the make up and hair artists, and to Oleg who organized the whole affair. 


Next week we conclude this fashion shoot and move on to new projects. 





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