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Low Extended ISO – I recently uploaded an image to a Facebook group and got some interesting feedback regarding my using a low ISO (ISO50) on a modern digital camera.
I’ve seen this opinion before and wanted to look in to it before responding…
Does it produce a file with more noise Yes or No?
After the shoot is done – When working on pro beauty shoots there is surprisingly little time to shoot images that you actually want to shoot. I often find that there’s a danger that everyone is “on point” at all times. I’m certainly on one, as are my team. The assistant on this shoot is brilliant. He is “Johnny On the Spot” with the reflectors and stands, the SD cards and the shot list. The make up artist is in and out, doing her thing, whilst the client is asking a million questions of the stylist and calling the magazine. I think she has more on her plate than I do!
It’s only at points of transition between shots, or right at the end of the shoot that I can sometimes snatch something that may please me, not the magazine or the client. This frame is such a shot.
Just recently, I have been contributing and engaging on some photography Facebook groups. The lockdowns across the globe have seen a growth in subscriptions to these groups, and I have enjoyed interacting with newbies and salty old snappers alike.
Cody re-imagined – Why complicate a simple shot?
This is the second in a series of re-imagined beauty images of Cody Cataluffi from 2019
This is shot directly in the afternoon sun. You can see that the sun is top right, from the side, slightly behind the model. There is a half gold reflector, filling the shadows from the left. It’s set parallel to the model, so that it doesn’t “uplight” her.
In this shot Cody shows how a professional model can “switch it on”. She looks beautiful, calm…
Claire – High Key – Lighting the way…
Here’s something slightly different. I don’t usually produce images like this. The advent of high resolution digital imaging suggests and propounds us toward hyper-real shots, and my work is no different from others.
I hope you are all trying to stay sanguine about our mutual incarceration here in the UK.
Me? I’m practising my mindfulness through the pandemic and trying to discover my own Nirvana.
“It’s truly amazing what you can achieve in the shade with a half gold reflector.”
I thought I’d post Cody in Richmond Park today. The weather has been overcast here, and I have been stuck in the house, so I thought I’d brighten up the day with this shot Cody, a friend of mine, at the top of Broomfield Hill.
How slow dare you go? – Shooting at slow shutter speeds is a risky business. After all, who wants blur in a digital image?
Well, back in the day, when I had hair, and I was a fashion assistant, lots of photographers would run a couple of rolls of film at slow speeds. The order of the day was that they would get the shot nailed first, and then, if time allowed, they would take a few risks with a slow shutter speed, or a shallow depth of field.
Like everyone else during the lockdown, I’ve found myself with a little more time on my hands. Despite the easing of the restrictions here in the UK, we are still not allowed to shoot inside. Starved of any creative collaboration, I’ve been looking through last summer’s beauty shoots to find some new beauty in the shots that have never been used. I’ve forced myself to review what has previously been passed over for another shot.
I’ve lost the plot. It’s been a while since they’ve let me me out. And, even longer since I have shot a single image worth a mention. So I thought I’d go back and look at a shoot with Cody.
The shot above is the final crop. It took me around 2 hours and 30 mins to decide upon the it.
I used every guide that Adobe Photoshop CC2021 avails me, whilst using the crop tool. I used the thirds tool, I used the Golden Spiral tool, I referenced Bert Stern’s “The Last Sitting”, I cropped her back out, and rotated the image to add purpose to the pose. I did the old “rotate the images 180 degrees” and crop trick I learned at art college. I considered the image as a whole, abstracting myself from the image and asking what the story is?… What am I trying to say? “What does the viewer see?” “What do I want the viewer to see?”
In the end I WhatsApped Cody and asked her… She prefers the shot above… so I went with that… If you can’t trust the model to know what looks good what’s the point?
Searching for the natural.
Back in the summer Cody and I set about creating some portraits and head shots for her modelling agency. She is pushing on with more commercial work and needed some new images for their look books.
You may have seen some of them in Cody’s folios.
Whilst those shots have been chosen for their commercial value, my personal favourites are often the frames that I manage to steal when the model isn’t, well, modelling, so to speak.
Sure, the collar on the shirt isn’t the best. She’s been sipping the coffee and the lipstick isn’t the best either. The hair on the left is not laying flat, and the earring is hiding behind the hair, but, she was lost in thought for around one or two seconds.
Having worked with her quite a lot, I have become accustomed to seeing the difference between the professional, commercial “Cody Look” and the personal “Claire, Smiling”
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