![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-5.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
She\u2019s a total inspiration.<\/p>\n
FL as you\u2019ll see specialise in alternative fashions. Grungy, bold, vivid, alluring, and it\u2019s all one-off stuff. Real cool and encouraging that there\u2019s people out there blazing their own trail and kicking mountains of ass along the way.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s my job here as the photographer?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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- Make the outfits look great<\/li>\n
- Make the model look great<\/li>\n
- Present both in a way that is eye-catching and on-brand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
<\/p>\n
Now that I see it written down, that\u2019s pretty much the MO for every shoot but, drilling down into it and researching the brand you get a clearer idea of what is \u201con-brand\u201d for this particular brand and why the same approach probably wouldn\u2019t work for Armani or Davidoff as what would for FL.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So with that in mind and homework done (by perusing the etsy page, website, IG and other social profiles) there was a bit of a gameplan about the \u2018look\u2019. As I\u2019ve mentioned before, it\u2019s way easier to know where you\u2019re going if you have a direction to go in. I think backwards. Start with the end, then figure out what steps to take to get to that point.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The wardrobe was obviously going to be handled by FL. My job is location, lighting, settings, and a little bit of discussion\/direction about what I\u2019m thinking would work well and why I\u2019m thinking it \u2013 this last point usually comes down to walking around a space you think is cool and looking for 3 or 4 distinctive locations you can use within the overall space. For this shoot in particular, which took place in an old metal workshop, I used the main shop floor for 90% of it, but earmarked 5 locations that would combine well with different outfits.<\/p>\n
I took a few test shots, checked where the natural light was coming in, what colours are present in the scene and made some notes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Given the subject matter and style of outfits bright poppy colours wouldn\u2019t do. I wanted industrial, gritty, scratched up, muted shades of olive and brown and tarnished worktops scarred through decades of use.<\/p>\n
I guess this is visualisation. It\u2019s kinda thinking through the job before you begin, get your workflow together, try and imagine where the light(s) should go and what shadows and shapes would that make? Do you need 1 light? 2 or more lights? Now\u2019s the time to figure that out \u2013 not when the client walks through the door and you need to spend 20 minutes looking into corners and holding the \u2018L frames\u2019 in front of your face scoping out angles.
\nKey light was an octabox up high. Fill light if required was a softbox, a bare light, sunlight, or a combination of all of the above. I wanted an angular light to provide huge shadows so the main light was a bit more around the subject than I would typically do for a corporate gig or something a bit brighter, it wasn\u2019t quite 90 degrees but you can see by the shadows around the nose that it was a pretty acute angle. Sometimes that\u2019s good, sometimes it\u2019s not so good, just move the light until you think it looks cool. You\u2019re the judge here. Trust yourself.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Remember, you can make anything look badass with a light in the right place.<\/p>\n
That sentence might encapsulate 10 years of doing this. Funny how it goes sometimes.<\/p>\n
And here\u2019s the images:<\/p>\n
![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-11.jpg\")
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![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-7.jpg\")
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![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-14.jpg\")
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![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-17.jpg\")
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![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-2.jpg\")
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![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-9.jpg\")
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![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-24.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Editing these shots wasn\u2019t that involved. The model already had great skin, the wwardrobe was taken care of, my lighting was right in camera, so editing was primarily global adjustments in LKR using curves (see below) and white balance to tone it a bit colder and bring some rich density into the midtones. I try and avoid pure black and pure whites in my shots where possible- they\u2019re useless as they contain no detail, just black or white. They\u2019re in there somewhere but it\u2019s totally possible to make things look bright or dark without muddying it up or overexposing everything.<\/p>\n
One thing I always do when I think I\u2019m done with a shot is push ctrl+shift+L for auto levels. Do this on a duplicate layer. If you like it, then you\u2019re all set, but if you don\u2019t and you think it changes your colours too much, then set this duplcaite layer to \u2018luminosity\u2019 and it will only affect the lightness values and not the colour. This all your hard grading work is left intact but you get the full range from black \u2013 white. And I say this only as a \u201chey, this might help\u201d, I ignore the auto-levels all the time because I\u2019m happy with the look but if you need it, it\u2019s there.<\/p>\n
Curves and their curviness.<\/p>\n
I mentioned something about using the curves function to change the colours of an image. I stumbled across this accidentally; Canon sensors tend to have quite red shadows which, to me, looks a little too warm. For shoots like this I want cold which is blue, cyan, teal, pale colours. So, open your curves command with ctrl+m, select the red channel from the drop down, grab the very very darkest point (usually bottom left corner) and drag it along the bottom edge towards the right corner. Move it just a little bit until the 0 becomes an 8 or 9. This is tinting the red in the dark regions towards blue, so the shadows will become less red and more blue, and therefore colder looking. Easy right?<\/p>\n
For this setup it was my tried-and-tested unbeatable formula for almost any occasion from corporate to portrait to fashion to music to product: big octabox\/light source in the back and a softbox around the front at roughly 45 degrees and pretty high. Aim for an f\/8 exposure and the background to be JUST blown out into white. If you nuke the back it just overpowers everything and goes crazy, you just want a slight wraparound to the subject and it to look like a white cyc wall in a studio. Easy peasy. Then it\u2019s up to you, and the subject, to understand how it looks and then roll with it. Good models (like Nicole) will change position after every click but it helps to ask the subject to just move their head a little, look around the frame and around the camera after every click. Right down the barrel, over the camera, look to the side, narrow your eyes, adjust your jacket, whatever, just subtle movements can make a big difference to the end product and help this from looking too \u2018passporty\u2019.<\/p>\n
![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-32.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-38.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-36.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n
![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-34.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-35.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-33.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Nicole](\"http:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Nicole-blog-41.jpg\")
<\/a>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
You can use a white umbrella in the back, a softbox, and any modifier you like \u2018out front\u2019 (a beauty dish looks especially cool). It\u2019s a pretty sweet lighting system that you can use\u00a0on a whole host of subjects and genres.<\/p>\n
I think that\u2019s about it. Take-home facts:<\/p>\n
- \n
- \n
Trust yourself.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
One light can change everything.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
Do all your experimental editing on a different layer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
Drink tea.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
Hug dogs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n
- \n
Call your grandma.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
That\u2019s about it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
<\/p>\n
Until next time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Forgotten Lockett. Forgotten Lockett (FL): a fashion label based in Auckland, New Zealand. Everything is designed, made, finished, modeled and shipped by one unstoppable lady: Nicole. Say hello, everybody. She\u2019s a total inspiration. FL as you\u2019ll see specialise in alternative fashions. Grungy, bold, vivid, alluring, and it\u2019s all one-off stuff. Real cool… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":968,"href":"https:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924\/revisions\/968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tezmphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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