Fashion portraits
August/29/2007
I've always liked shooting fashion, and it probably doesn't take a calculator to figure out why. Attractive people make great photographic subjects. And clothes, photographed with an attentive eye, can be art objects. So awhile ago I started thinking about how I could incorporate fashion approaches into more of the shooting I do.
It made sense to put together a fashion approach to portraiture, and offer it to everyone, not just models.
The idea behind these shoots is to make each person feel like they're getting their little bit in the spotlight. We bring in a stylist who'll monitor hair and clothing details, and we use portable studio lighting to make people look their best, whether we're working inside or outside. The fresh air outdoors seems to help generate appealing expressions ... but if a client (or the weather) decides that indoors would be better, that's fine.
I try to work the same way a cinematic lighting guy would work -- making lighting decisions on-the-fly. A lot of times we're able to find just the right type of existing light. Other times we create our own lighting with strobes and light modification tools. You may not have spent a lot of time examining different types of light, but for me it's essential. The goal is always to make everybody feel like the shots we'll be going for are the type of shots that could end up in a magazine. Here's a link to some other work: http://rogersteen.com/fashion_beauty_all/index.html
Part of my approach is taking time with the shoot, typically half a day, and if possible, shoot in graphically compelling places -- interesting or colorful venues that add interest to the background and surroundings (a little attitude in the ambience is usually okay). We try to make our "models-for-a-day" feel comfortable on a shoot, so the expressions usually take care of themselves.