Studio shoot competition

[Lee Bold]

I was asked on the studio shoot if i'd start a competition for the people who took part in the shoot with rebecca so here it is. Hopefully everyone will have at least one image but as there are only 6 photographers i'm going to allow you to post 2 images, judging will be by an independant judge, not me. I'll post their comments after the closing date of, 14-08-09
It should give you plenty time.
I can't wait to see the finished images.
Lee

[Tracey McGovern]

Hi
Here are my two images of Rebecca:

Rebecca.jpg (104.1 KiB) Viewed 11477 times

Rebecca-2.jpg (116.77 KiB) Viewed 11477 times

Thanks Lee for organising this session. I really enjoyed it, Rebecca was lovely, she was really easy to work with and helped alot with us novices.

See you soon.

Tracey

[Gill Blower]

Hi

My two shots of Rebecca.

[pammie]

These are the 2 shots I have chosen:

[TerryMooney]

Almost forgot to submit my photos - been busy organising my holiday - off tomorrow morning - not finished packing yet - still to check my camera bag too.

Rebecca_6508.jpg (215.09 KiB) Viewed 11404 times

TerryMooney

[LesleyD]

Thought I'd have a go with this ... it was incredibly difficult to select two images out of all those I shot, because Rebecca was so good! Anyway here goes!

[LesleyD]

Oops my images are too big, can anyone advise me how to make them smaller, please?

[John]

Hi Lesley

Go to the crop tool and set the size to no more than 800 px wide. Then Save For Web and adjust the Quality slider until the file size (bottom left of the image displayed) is no more than 200K.

Hope that works, but if not send me an e-mail and I'll give you my contact number and talk you throught it.

[Paul Jones]

Lee has asked me to pass judgement on this competition.

Whilst I have several years' experience of studio shoots and working with models, fashion photography is not my forte. I admire you all for having a go.

I understand that it was a group shoot. I don't know exactly how it was run or how much creative input you each had with regard to things like lighting positions and settings. I will be making some comments about the lighting, though I can appreciate that this is an area that many of you are new to and possibly didn't have too much involvement with.

Lighting aside, you each had other factors within your control, for example your camera settings, exposure, composition, post-processing and, importantly, how you interact with the model during the shoot to get the most out of her, including checking her attire and keeping an eye out for minor details. These are all down to you.

Before I move on to comment on the images, I can recommend a book, which I myself have bought, and which is suitable for anyone who is looking to do more of this kind of photographic work:

Bruce Smith
"Pro Digital Fashion Photography"
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pro-Digital-Fas ... 706&sr=1-1


OK, onto the comments....

Tracey

1) A decent pose with good eye contact.

I like the way the blue accent light highlights her hair and complements the blue piping on her outfit.

Nice post-processing on the face. I'm assuming that you've softened the skin a touch. I might have removed the crease on her left arm also.

One thing that jars in this image for me is the tartan bra and strap. It just doesn't add anything to the shot and distracts from the overall outfit. I would have either zipped up her jumpsuit or asked her to remove the bra (which she could have done without 'showing' anything).

2) Another good pose.

Watch the position and height of your main light though. It's a little bit low down for my liking here, thus it's highlighting her arms more than her face. A tip is to look for the position of the nose shadow and the catchlights in the eye and adjust the height of your light accordingly. Ideally you want the nose shadow to be under the nose, not edging out to the side and across the cheek. Raising the main light also moves the catchlights higher, eg an 11 o'clock position rather than 9 o'clock.

You've used short lighting (Google it if you don't know) and it works well to make her face appear slimmer.

Good outfit - matching the colours of her lips and eyes.


GillyB

Firstly, I'm going to be quite critical of the exposure here. Both shots are a little overexposed for my liking. If you need help with metering and exposure don't be afraid to ask. A tip is to take a couple of test shots and check the histogram on the camera LCD screen before you get stuck into the rest of the shoot.

1) The overexposure has led to hotspots on her chin, cheeks, nose and forehead. Dialling down the exposure a tad would have helped, as would perhaps a touch more powder/make-up.

If you shot in RAW (which I heartily recommend) you could have another go at 'developing' this.

I like the landscape format you've used and the direct eye contact is good.

2) Overexposed again. Though some fashion photographers purposely overexpose to give a blown out feel to their images. I don't think it works so well here though.

The blue gel on the background works well and I quite like the way you've framed it.

Again, I think the main light is a touch too low - see how bright her chest and arm are.

And we have the tartan bra again. I don't get it...

Good effort. You just need more practice. Have fun!


Pammie

Another choice for a landscape format. I think it works better on the second image rather than the first.

One thing I've not touched on yet, but which is apparent in several of the shots (not just Pammie's), is the model's expression (or lack of it). I'm sorry to say that I find the expressions on these shots a bit lacklustre and one-dimensional.

Both shots have a cluster of dust spots in the same places. You need to clean your sensor (it's easy, honestly), or clone them out on every shot.

1) A decent fashion pose, but I feel it may have suited a portrait orientation better. There's a lot of black space around her.

The exposure is handled well as is the contrast. You've done well.

It's a pity you've chopped off the crown of her hair.

2) I really like what you've tried to achieve here. I've used this use of 'negative space' myself many times.

I think I'd crop it in a bit tighter above her head aswell.

Again, the main light is too low down for my liking. See the way the nose shadow is edging out across her cheek.

Also, the lighting doesn't do much in the way of sculpting her features and makes her look a bit full in the face. Read up about the different benefits and uses of 'short lighting' and 'broad lighting'.

Overall not a bad effort, though a better expression would have lifted it for me.

In post-processing I think if you crop it a little and brighten it up a touch and give it a bit more 'punch' (eg use an 'S' Curve) it would make a good competition entry.


Terry M

1) A more dynamic pose here from Terry and I like the way you've positioned her in the blue gel.

Exposure is fine, but watch that the edge of her right arm doesn't catch the light too much.

The tartan bra again though. Maybe I'm being a bit too critical. But don't be afraid to suggest costume changes to your model if something jumps out at you. You are the director.

In post-processing I'd be tempted to get rid of the two creases going across her neck, which catch my eye.

2) Hmmm, it's that lacklustre (bored) expression again. Fashion isn't just about 'moody' looks. I would have liked to have seen a bit of this girl's personality come through on some shots.

Watch out for minor details like the way her shirt collar has got bunched up in the jacket collar near her right shoulder. That could have been easily tidied up before you pressed the shutter button.

It's a good effort. The exposure is good. The composition fills the frame. The pose is fine, but I wonder why she's holding onto what looks like the top of a stepladder (?) Does it add anything to the shot?

The image has a slight pink colour cast which is easily fixed in post-processing.


LesleyD

1) I like the direct gaze here and you've managed to bring out her eyes really, really well. Good one. For a neater appearance I think I'd clone out the unwanted reflection / catchlight that is hitting the white of her left eye.

Again, the main light is low and is causing that lump of a shadow at the side of her nose. This type of beauty shot would lend itself well to 'butterfly lighting' or 'clamshell' as it's sometimes referred to.

The exposure is fine, but perhaps try darkening it down a little (particularly the background) and it might work better. Perhaps have a play with a pulldown Curve or an 'S' Curve in post-processing.

A very good effort.

2) Another good effort. It's almost there compositionally for me, though perhaps she's a bit too far over to the right hand edge of the frame. I'd try re-cropping it to give the shot a bit more balance.

It's not a dramatic pose, but it has a good feel to it.

Nice skin texture.


And so to the results.....

Commended: LesleyD - photo 1 (red gel)

3rd place: Pammie - photo 2 (white shirt) (but please clean your sensor)

2nd place: Terry - photo 1 (blue gel)

Winner: Tracey - photo 2 (Union Jack shirt) Very well done


I hope you didn't find the comments unduly critical... You've all done really well considering your lack of studio experience. And I'm sure you all had a lot of fun aswell, which is the main thing.

Keep at it....

Paul

[LesleyD]

On the contrary, thank you Paul for taking the time to assess the photos and give some really welcome advice and most importantly for me - encouragement to go and try again! I really appreciate that as it is the first time I've plucked up the courage to display any of my shots!

Lesley

[LesleyD]

Hi Lesley

Go to the crop tool and set the size to no more than 800 px wide. Then Save For Web and adjust the Quality slider until the file size (bottom left of the image displayed) is no more than 200K.

Hope that works, but if not send me an e-mail and I'll give you my contact number and talk you throught it.

Thanks John - I cropped it correctly it was the Save for Web bit I missed out on. I should have remembered that, you did teach us to do it at the last Digital Photography workshop you did!

Thanks for replying to my post. Paul has judged now, and at least he didn't disqualify my shots because they were too big.

Lesley

[Tracey McGovern]

Thank you Paul for taking the time to comment on each of our photos. The things you picked up on were very valid and I have certainly learned where my mistakes are within each shot. I plan on attending more of these photo shoots, mainly to give myself confidence with interacting with the models and giving them direction. I always feel that I am wasting their time and I'm bimbling along clueless - which of course I am . I need to be more asertive and not be frightened to ask them to move this way or that etc, like you say, we are the directors of the shot so shouldn't be afraid to give direction. Hopefully this will be something I get better at with the more sessions I attend.

The shoot was very good though, we had a few laughs and Rebecca was great, she fell into each pose with ease making it very easy for us, but with hindsight, with each pose we should have just taken a second to make sure everything was spot on before clicking the shutter. I've learned alot from the shoot and alot from your comments, not just on mine but the others shots too, so again, thank you.

Best Wishes

Tracey

PS - Thank you for picking mine as the winner...!!!

[Lee Bold]

Sorry for the late reply i have been at my brothers wedding and for some reason that was deemed important by certain members of my family, LOL.

Joking aside thanks paul for a very in depth breakdown and judgement its much better than i could of done. for anyone who wants to know what lighting we used. The lighting was low down and short lighted with a reflector on the other side just to lift the shadows a little, which is well used in fashion photography to show the clothing off rather than the model on the light grey background showing how to render it from grey to black by moving the lighting around the model from side on to in front and the differance it makes. then a backlight was added to give the model seperation from the background and then the blue gel added.

The second lighting was one light quite high up going from bare bulb to barn doors to softbox so that each differance could actually be seen.

A big thankyou to all who came along and seemed to have a great time, i know i did, hopfully you all learned a little bit and are more aware of the things to look out for, there is a lot to learn and it does take time and practice, thats the fun bit.
Congratulations to the winners and i think all of the images have something to their credit and that with peoples varying experience in the studio enviroment i think you all did exeptionately well.
See you soon
Lee

[Paul Jones]

Hi Lee

I wasn't intending to be overly critical of the ighting patterns. I'm sorry if it came across this way.

I can appreciate that it's important to light the clothes, but I naturally tend to look out for things like facial shadows on people photos aswell. Perhaps try raising the main light next time just a touch and see if it makes a difference? Or use a lower fill? That's one of the joys of experimenting...

You did a good job in setting this up and everyone appreciated it.

[Paul Jones]

I plan on attending more of these photo shoots, mainly to give myself confidence with interacting with the models and giving them direction. I always feel that I am wasting their time and I'm bimbling along clueless - which of course I am . I need to be more asertive and not be frightened to ask them to move this way or that etc, like you say, we are the directors...

Hi Tracey

Don't be afraid of taking your time. It can lead to better images. You're not wasting a model's time - that's what they're there for. Though I understand that the pressure of a group shoot situation, with other people waiting, could make you feel under pressure to speed up your shots.

Speaking to the model after my shoot last Saturday, we talked about this and her view was that she would far prefer the photographer to give direction and involve her in the shoot rather than leaving her to her own devices.