First Fashion Shoot (CC Requested)

[Austin Greene]

I came into contact with a local, fashionista? She runs a very popular, and quickly growing Youtube channel where she gives fashion advice and the like. Anyways, we did a quick shoot today to see how we work together. She had very specific tastes on her outfits and how they were shown. The bag had to be shown as it was a sponsored item.

In any case, I'm wondering if you all have any thoughts or critique for me. I have some minor things, but overall I'm quite happy for how spur of the moment the whole deal was. Being that she is a very trendy fashion gal, I wanted to bump up the flash and shoot with as much vibrancy of colors and contrast as possible. The white outfit is just on that line of "too bright" but not quite blown out, at least in my thoughts.

Please, give me some critique on these ones guys. It is highly likely that I'll be shooting for her on a weekly basis, so I want to know right off the bat if I'm missing something egregious.

I know it is a lot of images, so by all means be brief, or just pick one or two to CC if you wouldn't mind.

Note: I've already noticed that I wish I had used more of a hairlight in most of these. An assistant dropped a flash last week and I'm waiting for the replacement parts.

1. Probably my favorite of the set. I wanted to line up her red skirt with the red flooring, and then have the contrast of the grey sweater and yellow wall. I wanted to try my hand at balancing the negative space with color and her contrast.

Karen by TogaLive, on Flickr

2. Second favorite. I saw the staircase and really liked the orange wall. Had to incorporate the handrail somehow to keep it from seeming out of place. I'm debating on whether or not to clean up the dusty stairwell. Vignette is actually from placement of the flash.

Karen by TogaLive, on Flickr


3. Probably my least favorite from the shoot, but it was her "Sponsored Item"

Karen by TogaLive, on Flickr

4. I like this one a bit better if the bag has to be in a photo. Wanted to use the joint of the staircase as a leading line.

Karen by TogaLive, on Flickr

5. A little unsure of the crop in this one. It's the same brick wall as my last shoot, but I tried to revisit it. It's an incredibly small area to shoot in, but I like how I used the space more this go around. EDIT: Removed a leaf in the top right.

Karen by TogaLive, on Flickr

So, thoughts? I know five images is quite a bit, so I'm not looking for anything too in depth. A simple yay or nay would be fantastic. Or just pick one out and rip it to shreds.

Best,
Austin

 

[snowbear]

I'm a complete amateur and generally shies away from photographing people, so take this was a few grains of salt.
I like most of them.

In #1 it looks like you're shooting down on her - maybe getting a little lower (compare it to #5). It might just look that way because of the crop - I don't know.
I actually like #3, though it (as well as 4 & 5) seems too bright to me. They're not blown out, but all the white seems to blend too much - I keep thinking I should see a little more detail (most noticable in #4). They also look a tad cool.

 

[Derrel]

2= Outstanding 3=Very good 4=Extremely nice 1=Okay 5=Uninspiring

 

[DanOstergren]

The first two I love, but the last three just aren't grasping my attention as well. In the last shot I am distracted by the leaves, and they lead my eyes away from the model. In the third and fourth shots I don't like her expression, and I feel like you and her could have created some shots where she was interacting with the bag, rather than making it an awkward subject that in my opinion really pulls too much focus from the model and throws off the composition just a little bit. All in all I really do like them, and have no doubt that each week you do this you are going to make leaps and bounds of improvement. I hope you keep posting photos from your future shoots with her.

 

[Austin Greene]

I'm a complete amateur and generally shies away from photographing people, so take this was a few grains of salt.
I like most of them.

In #1 it looks like you're shooting down on her - maybe getting a little lower (compare it to #5). It might just look that way because of the crop - I don't know.
I actually like #3, though it (as well as 4 & 5) seems too bright to me. They're not blown out, but all the white seems to blend too much - I keep thinking I should see a little more detail (most noticable in #4). They also look a tad cool.

Thanks for the CC! I'm looking back on the whites to see if I can maybe get some more depth in there.

2= Outstanding 3=Very good 4=Extremely nice 1=Okay 5=Uninspiring

I knew I could count on you Derrel, thank you! I'm going to go back and look at #1 and #5 and see what can be done to help them along.

The first two I love, but the last three just aren't grasping my attention as well. In the last shot I am distracted by the leaves, and they lead my eyes away from the model. In the third and fourth shots I don't like her expression, and I feel like you and her could have created some shots where she was interacting with the bag, rather than making it an awkward subject that in my opinion really pulls too much focus from the model and throws off the composition just a little bit. All in all I really do like them, and have no doubt that each week you do this you are going to make leaps and bounds of improvement. I hope you keep posting photos from your future shoots with her.

I'm working on cloning out the leaves, they just don't add anything. As for the bag, that is something we're going to work towards. This being our first shoot, I didn't quite feel comfortable doing more interactive shots. I suppose I didn't want her to be too distracted. That said, I was composing for the bag to be the subject, not so much her, thinking that is what the sponsor would want. Maybe I went too far? Thanks for the positive CC, and I'll make sure to post from future shoots

So a general question for everyone. Would you clean up the background in #5 to make the wall more uniform, or do you feel that the way it is now adds character and depth? How about the dusty stairs in #2?

Thanks for the great CC!

 

[Derrel]

I think that in shot #3 you did a good job of SHOWING the bag pretty well, as it sits perched on the knees of an attractive model. From a "product" point of view, shot #3 has good highlight control. Highlight control is a very,very,very big deal in product photography. See the diffused highlights on the leather strap gussets of the main part of the purse? See how those highlights show the shape and create dimension on the black strap material? See the gentle diffused highlight on the round, ornamental fob that's attached to the purse? See how the nameplate and closure metal is highlighted, and the brand name is readily visible??? And the bag is also shown large. All of THAT is what makes shot #3 a much better "fashion-related advertising" photo than #5.

#5 shows a cute,young woman dressed fashionably, with impossibly-slender legs and trendy platform shoes, sitting demurely on a fancy black stone staircase, with a nifty purse beside her...her CLOTHES, and her figure, are the stars...the purse comes off as an accessory to HER.

SHot #2 has a cool background, with lots of implied motion in the stairs, and the diagonal railing and the vibrant orange paint. In that shot, the light fall-off works very well, and it has hints of the new-style sort of direct-flash-type look that's currently in vogue. In #2, the boots stand out well, the mid-thig plaid skirt falls nicely, and the oversized denim jacket looks, well, faded and oversized. She has a sort of over-stylized sexy schoolgirl/80's retro denim mashup kinda' thing going on, but the shot has a TON of implied movement in it, and the clothing is presented VERY well. The lighting, clothes, model, and her pose all work great.

 

[Austin Greene]

Thankyou for the fantastic critique Derrel! I've now read four separate times, each time going back to look at the photos and man I'm picking up a lot of great things for the future.