Autum Fashion Look Book Style Shoot

m.shalaby · Sep 8, 2011

This was a personal project of mine - an attempt at an ad campaign / look book style of shoot. No actual clothing designer was behind this, just me piecing this one together.

rub · Sep 8, 2011

I think this is a great idea and the overall results are good. But if I was to nitpick...

The lighting is great. Especially in 1.
The posing is good. I dont think wow, great posing, but I have no issues with it.
The composition and cropping leave much to be desired, IMHO. The slight cutting off on the head in 1, pinky in 4, and hand in 5 are VERY distracting.
The b&w doesnt fit with the set. And I keep finding myself looking at his crotch.

m.shalaby · Sep 9, 2011

rub said:
I think this is a great idea and the overall results are good. But if I was to nitpick...

The lighting is great. Especially in 1.
The posing is good. I dont think wow, great posing, but I have no issues with it.
The composition and cropping suck. The slight cutting off on the head in 1, pinky in 4, and hand in 5 are VERY distracting.
The b&w doesnt fit with the set. And I keep finding myself looking at his crotch.

Thanks Kristal. All crops/compostions are exactly what I was going for, but thanks for the comment. I shot a bit wider and cropped tight on purpose. To say my visual choice of balance and artistic use of cropping "sucks" is, well... just watch how you come accross with your choice of words.

And yes, we can all nit-pick. You can look at some of the worlds top professional photographers and nitpick their work apart.

When dealing with C&C, I like to see who I'm getting it from, so if there's a website, flickr, blog, etc... referenced, I'll usually see what caliber of a photographer is giving me C&C. Somtimes its noobs, sometimes its experience photographers which I give more attention to. Your stuff is decent, not mind blowing or anything that will be saved to my favorites, but "okay". I could certainly go into every photo of yours an "nit-pick" them apart as well.

I guess my point is this - cropping/composition, ect... are all artistic choices. Choices made as we visually intrepret how we perceve balance to a photo. Basically personal opinion. Try to use a bit more tact, instead of coming accross as a (fill in the blank) by saying "ytour composition and cropping suck".

KBM1016 · Sep 9, 2011

Um, if you don't want your work criticized then you should probably not post it. I think the suggestions given were good suggestions. No need to be so sensative! Geez

m.shalaby · Sep 9, 2011

KBM1016 said:
Um, if you don't want your work criticized then you should probably not post it. I think the suggestions given were good suggestions. No need to be so sensative! Geez

I enjoy C&C - I truly do.
I've emailed my portfolio to pro's. Ones that inspire me and I follow and have asked them to be brutal on me. Never do they respond with "your (fill in the blank) sucks!"

Here - lets keep it simple:

Option 1:
"I personally feel your crops are a bit tight"

Option 2:
"Your composition & crops suck"

Take your pick.

To boot - here is a Burberry Fashion Ad Campain shot that breaks all the "rules".

Cropped heads, face, cropped hand, ect... you name it, its "sucks". But it seemed to still get the nod from Burberry who no doubt invested thousands in this shoot with an entire professsional team beind this.

baturn · Sep 9, 2011

I don't know what Burberry was trying to sell , but unless it was the bag they failed.

m.shalaby · Sep 9, 2011

baturn said:
I don't know what Burberry was trying to sell , but unless it was the bag they failed.

The bag is the highlight of the shot, but the entire cast of models are all wearing Burberry. It's an ad campaign which portrays the punk youth attitude in London, so having cropped heads/hands/etc... a slightly 'sloppy' look if you will, all the while maintain a visual balance "works". Its a shame you fail to see that. You can also see this attitude and feel behind their fragrance line "The Beat" photography.

You guys are very much "in the box", quite literally, as far as your views on cropping goes huh?
Do you want everything perfectly center too? lol...

You probably think this shot below, the Emma Watson Burberry fashioin campaing is a failure too because the guy on the left is cropped, and part of the bag on the right is cropped too, right?

Break out of your boxes young grasshoppers - its okay to color outside the lines!

Why? Because visually it works! These shots are balanced, while still remaining artistic... creative cropping if you will.

christian.rudman · Sep 9, 2011

Hahah. This is a delightful thread.

I like the shots, I understand your views on your choices in crops (and your arguments with images are persuasive). I'm assuming you have more variation in your backgrounds throughout the shoot than what you have posted. If not, that's the only thing I could think of to comment on, would like to see some variation in setting. Nice series through, looking forward to seeing more.

GeorgieGirl · Sep 9, 2011

I like the crops and I like the poses. A lot. I like the entire idea too. [I don't like the grey background...I think I have this one though... I'd like a punch of contrast or color or pattern.]

Bitter Jeweler · Sep 9, 2011

The dudes head in the first three shots looks ginormous.

rub · Sep 9, 2011

m.shalaby - thanks for judging me because you dont like what I had to say about 3 of your images. High five!! If you want to critique my work at any time, fly atter. I have nothing to hide, lots to learn, and, unlike you, I respect when others take the time to tell me their thoughts on my work, whether they love em or hate em.

As far as the cropping goes, I am a fan of a tight crop. I mean, you must have seen that after checking out to see if I am legit or not, right? I never said your images were failures - I said they were very good, but the tight crops were very distracting. Personally, if you would have cropped just a touch more, it would look like an intentional decision, rather than an unintentional oversight.

If you dont like what I have to say, fine. Its just a shame that you cannot respect others views of your work, and in turn attempt to belittle me with your remarks because I used the word suck.

m.shalaby · Sep 10, 2011

rub said:
m.shalaby - thanks for judging me because you dont like what I had to say about 3 of your images. High five!! If you want to critique my work at any time, fly atter. I have nothing to hide, lots to learn, and, unlike you, I respect when others take the time to tell me their thoughts on my work, whether they love em or hate em.

As far as the cropping goes, I am a fan of a tight crop. I mean, you must have seen that after checking out to see if I am legit or not, right? I never said your images were failures - I said they were very good, but the tight crops were very distracting. Personally, if you would have cropped just a touch more, it would look like an intentional decision, rather than an unintentional oversight.

If you dont like what I have to say, fine. Its just a shame that you cannot respect others views of your work, and in turn attempt to belittle me with your remarks because I used the word suck.

I'm not going to "respect" what you have to say when you say "your crops suck". Sorry. Next time you give C&C to someone, you'll remember this. Next time you wont, or I should say shouldn't, say "your ( ) suck".

My point rub, is if you don't want to rub (pun intented) people the wrong way, take half a second and write out a decent C&C, instead of making yourself look like your in the 3rd grade with words like "suck". You could of just said your crops are ( )... but you choose to say, your crops "suck", and now you get this

GeorgieGirl · Sep 10, 2011

Suck is such an unfortunate urban word and one that is used much to freely in dialog. And used on these boards quite frequently. I have never liked that word at all. It should be banned.

mwcfarms · Sep 10, 2011

Extreme cropping can lead to tension in the frame or an exit point. I think this is in the first category. I think your lighting is nice and has good dimension. Your models hands need work, also learned that female hands should never ever face the frame. Pink, side, thumb only. Full hands is for masculine portraits and even then I have been told that your hands should still never be flat to the frame. Thanks for sharing, love the concept just still not a fan of the tight crop.

Tee · Sep 10, 2011

m.shalaby-

Your work is better than 99% of the people on here. While I'm a believer that all critiques should have some value for thought, this isn't a forum that puts a lot of emphasis on fashion which is totally different than senior portraits or cute pictures of newborns. I like the crops and posing and when you stated it was look book, I was able to to see what you were going for. Great job.