Fashionista's choice

[wilgk]

After reading Catherine's thread & my 1 piece of advice about clean/clutter free backgrounds, I remembered these images.
They come under the rules are made to be broken, or do as I say not as i do, perhaps.

Fashionista wanted to wear this dress in an autumn leaves environment photo... I was happy to oblige, but the deal was a pic or 2 in a different spot of my choice as well.

So quite busy backgrounds (& golly she should have ironed that dress) but I hope worth sharing.

[Shadowman]

Hi Kay,

No issues with the wrinkles but I think the dress dominates each of the captures more so than your daughter's features, part of the problem is her skintone and hair is equally matched by the background colors where they almost blend into each other. Perhaps if you darkened the background immediately behind her head she would standout more. Nice compositions.

[Manfred M]

Is your subject Fashionista or is your subject her dress? Each objective has a different solution.

I personally find that both backgrounds are rather overpowering and distracting.

[FootLoose]

Agree with John about 2 and 3. Perhaps you could have moved your daughter further away from the background in order to blur it more, too. With the first image, a couple of steps to your left would have separated her from the sticks poking into her right arm.

[wilgk]

Thank you John, Manfred & Greg,
Replies and thoughts both much appreciated.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Kay,

I am in agreement with all that has been said.

I'd perhaps suggest that for this dress, having her hair 'up', or in a pony tail arranged over the her left, (camera right), shoulder in 2 & 3, opposite in #1, might have been something to try.

However, that would make the dress more the subject than your daughter, it reduces the 'conflict', so that suggests a framing is in #1, IOW showing its full length, is the way to go - and that would probably satisfy Fashionista anyway, since it was her choice.

I think this dress is just one of those items (like clothing with text on) that is always going to 'compete' in any attempted 'portrait'.

In #1, if mine, I'd clone out a few things; such as those sticks, the sharp grass lower right and the higher contrast odds and ends around the edges of background frame.

I don't actually object to the juxtaposition of graffiti vs embroidered flowers in #2 and #3, but the loose hair adds too much 'complexity'.

HTH,
Dave

[Manfred M]

I went digging back into the archives to last May, where I had just started to shoot models. The theme is similar to yours and I thought you might find what I did for backgrounds might give you something to think about. I hope there is a repeat of this shoot in a few months as I look forward to seeing how different my work will be after a year's worth of shooting models.


Beauty shoot #1 - Kaila

[shreds]

I agree with the others regards the backgrounds.

I did an autumn shoot with the very beautiful Rowena a few years ago on a very cold autumn day and used a lot of the colours in the leaves on much of the shoot. But the one that endured was one focussed in on the models face, just holding a branch with the coloured leaves and ensuring a good bokeh took the background out of focus.

https://500px.com/photo/126664545/au...er_id=12564303

[wilgk]

Thank you Dave, Manfred & Ian for your replies.
I will certainly check your thread link manfred, thank you.
Good idea with the hair, Dave - like when wanting to silhoette a pregnancy picture, a hair up bun works much better.

I should have included, she gets clothes sent to her, so she can feature herself on Instagram - free advertising for the company, free clothes for her, so the dress was a 'must wear' the location of course was up to 'us'/her/me?

She works in publicity and promotions for the Murdoch Children's Research Institute now, she has assumed almost all of the photography duties...

She has purchased her own DSLR, but for the life of me I cannot find my 50mm 1.8 or 24-70 2.8 lenses! :roll eyes:

Oh well, I haven't been using them

Thanks again for the feedback.

[mugge]

I love the second pic but, as John pointed out, her hair and skin tones need to be separated from the background. When that has been sorted out I really like the composition of this one. That is only my opinion.
Cheers Ole

[Manfred M]

I should have included, she gets clothes sent to her, so she can feature herself on Instagram - free advertising for the company, free clothes for her, so the dress was a 'must wear' the location of course was up to 'us'/her/me?

That bit of information is critical. This clearly identifies that the subject is the dress while Fashionista is the vehicle that displays the dress. Being a bit more blunt, she is a "prop" in the image.

That suggests that you should make this the primary consideration in the shot, selecting a background and pose that shows off the dress. In fashion photography the model is often downplayed so as to not distract from the piece of clothing that is being modelled. Makeup, accessories, backgrounds and poses are chosen to ensure that the item of clothing shown off and not overpowered by the other elements in the image.

The first shot shows off the dress (the issues with the background that were previously mentioned are still an issue), the second two are really portraits of the model as you have excluded most of the dress from the shots. Those two should not have been taken the way you have.

Try looking at fashion magazines or fashion advertisements to see how the photographers handle this subject matter