1920's style shoot

[Tittan]

Ambient light, a window on the model's right and a large, white, styrofoam reflector to her left.

Edited with Lightroom and Photoshop.

 

[bribrius]

shoot it on a old camera with a old lens in bw film you would save yourself a lot of time trying to achieve the look. That said, the window light is a little bright. Perhaps a home made diffuser would be in order. I am not great at portraits, so take it for what it is worth.

 

[Inga the Rottie]

I love it. I think it is interesting. Her expression. I mean, I can tell it isn't OLD but I love the look. Fun!

 

[photoguy99]

She's styled quite nicely and had a nice look herself. Lighting should be much higher ratio if you want the image itself to look retro.

 

[bribrius]

She's styled quite nicely and had a nice look herself. Lighting should be much higher ratio if you want the image itself to look retro.

like 4-1? thoughts?

 

[Tittan]

I've got an old camera, but it's quite difficult to find film for it, so I'm stuck with digital for now.

The light is not quite there, I agree. I added a diffusor to the window, but I see now that it wasn't enough. I'm guessing the problem was the sun popping in and out from behind the clouds. It's my first ambient light shoot in months due to living so far up north. All in all, I don't think it's bad, but there's stuff I need to work with before my next try. Thank you all for your input, it's valuable!

 

[gsgary]

I've got an old camera, but it's quite difficult to find film for it, so I'm stuck with digital for now.

The light is not quite there, I agree. I added a diffusor to the window, but I see now that it wasn't enough. I'm guessing the problem was the sun popping in and out from behind the clouds. It's my first ambient light shoot in months due to living so far up north. All in all, I don't think it's bad, but there's stuff I need to work with before my next try. Thank you all for your input, it's valuable!

What film does it take ?

 

[Tittan]

I have a Kodak No. 0 Brownie that takes 127mm film if I'm not mistaken, and a Pentax K1000 that takes 35mm. 35mm is easy to come by, but I don't have room for my dark room, or the enlarger, so film is on the shelf for now. Having it developed at the local photography shop costs an arm and a leg.

 

[Derrel]

I generally like the photo, but the very visible frizzy, damaged hair is very distracting....I just cannot un-see that. The hair is very light, curled, and stands out in stark contrast to the dark hair...it's so curled, and so light that it looks like it might be a thread or fiber from a nylon-like cord or string, perhaps from a wardrobe change. Whatever it is, it just spoils the picture for me. Looks like it might take 5,10 minutes to clone that out.

 

[Tittan]

I asked the model about it just now, and she told me it's most likely a hair from her dog. Kicking myself for not seeing that during the shoot.

 

[Derrel]

I asked the model about it just now, and she told me it's most likely a hair from her dog. Kicking myself for not seeing that during the shoot.

Yeah, same thing has happened to me, more than once, despite normally being vigilant about things like flyaway hairs, lint, loose threads, lipstick errors, and so on. I gotta' hand it to the model too RE the 1920's makeup look...just last night I watched the American film classing Wings, released in 1927, and the fist Academy Award winner for best motion picture. I notice that your model's eyebrow shape and design is VERY much like the Clara Bow eyebrow look...thin, and extending very far to the outside of the eyes which is not the modern way! So, a VERY authentic 1920's look on the brows. The dark under-eye liner, which is NOW in fashion after having been out of fashion for 25+ years, was actually pretty prominent in Clara Bow's character as well as the sexy woman in the cabaret sequence just after the intermission, so the model's makeup does have a VERY authentic 1920's look to it.

 

[Tittan]

I'll be sure to mention that to her, as she was hoping she had researched the makeup well enough. She'll be thrilled to learn that she did it right. Thank you for pointing that out Derrel.

 

[kdthomas]

She's styled quite nicely and had a nice look herself. Lighting should be much higher ratio if you want the image itself to look retro.

like 4-1? thoughts?

I'm gonna be brave enough to admit to being a dunce here ... What exactly do you mean by the ratio? Shadow area to highlight, as in highlight should be 4x brighter (2 stops?) than shadow region?

 

[kdthomas]

Also, to the OP ... Where was your focus point? Tip of nose? Or the right eye? Reason I ask is ... It seems to me like maybe the nose is sharper than the eyes?

 

[photoguy99]

Yep. Darker shadows relative to the highlights is 'higher ratio'

Don't quote me, though. I have a somewhat slapdash approach to technical terms.