Wow there are some amazing shots in this group and I feel like I am outgunned so any creative feedback would be appreciated. This photo was actually taken for a local artist who recently launched a line of apparel based off of one of his best selling illustrations of Frankenstein. I wanted a nice clean and crisp look that would allow the colors of the shirt and the models tattoos to really stand out.
Beauty, Portrait & Editorial Makeup Photography and Retouching
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i really light like it, great job Tim
the lighting, the retouch, colors, every thing is prefect
BUT !
as you said this shot is somehow for commercial or showing off a product, i would say i wish i could see the the illustration more clearly, maybe she could do some other poses like pulling her top down with both hands so we could see a prefect view of the illustration as long as tattoos are visible closely to the golden point of image, or you could do a diptych image of this portrait on one side and the illustration on the top, alone on the other side... or any other pose or idea you might come up with to show the design and bring it out more than the tattoo or the model it self
but totally you nailed it, and made an amazing sexy looking image... 2 thumps up !
hope to see more of your work, and talk about them with you
[PS. every thing said are my personal opinions and nothing is technically wrong with your image]
Thanks a ton for your feedback Farbod!!! I appreciate it a lot and completely understand your thoughts on having the model and pose overshadow the true subject.
yes, exactly...
my poor english doesn't allow me to describe what i have in mind in just 2 lines ! haha
so, sorry if i went too far on explaining every detail...
anyway, all i was thinking was based on the concept of your project, otherwise, its totally great and i give it a 10
I think you have nailed it according to your objective, clean crip pop. She looks good, although some kind of facial engagement would have been a bit better. Critically, the shirt looks good on her, and in the shot.
Technically the only issue is the over hot spot on her hair/face. Just to bright, imo.
Is this the best approach? I understand why you chose the clean crisp pop approach, which you have executed very well, but I wonder if the opposite might have worked also. What do I mean? Given the dark Gothic overtones of the imagery and Frankenstein story and the street casual nature of the apparel what about a dark city alley or fire escape or almost empty city street with just a distant taxi going the other way or across at a juction way in the distance at 3.30 am with all that brings interms of artificail lights and deep shadows and the story as to where has she been, where is she going and why etc. Or some seedy staicase in an old brick building with green/yellow loght coming through an old dirty window etc. Or in the wheel house or deck of a tatty old boat at night with mist and localised coloured lights. You get my drift., sorry about the pun. It might have been harder to get the balance right between the drama and story and the graphic on the shirt but may very well have produced a more impactful photograph and been great fun to shoot. Ultimately, when we design shoots to sell a product we try to sell more than just the appearance of the product but the emotion, the dream or nighhmare, the lifestyle etc.
However, it is good and you have done well what you set out to do.
Ian, first off thank you for taking the time to check out this photo and secondly thank you for such an in-depth review!
Your ideas sound fantastic and honestly something I never even thought about. I just sort of went into the mindset of the crisp clean look without actually giving much thought to the true subject matter of the shirt. I was thinking about a lot of your ideas through the night and they all seem exceptionally fun and as I visualize them in my mind I know they would certainly challenge my lighting abilities quite a bit more then this studio setup did.
Thankfully I am good friends with this artist so I plan on doing some more shoots with him over the upcoming year, which should give me a chance to try something a bit moodier and I look forward to showing them to you for some more feedback.
Tim, that is good to read. I look forward to seeing the images. Have fun and I suspect you will find your lighting abilities are perfectly upto the job. Certainly the images in my mind are rich, moody and very exciting with fab colour and light and shade etc. Have a blast.