June 10, 2012 - Storyteller

Pick your clothing carefully

There are two types of photos when it comes to clothing: 1) For Portraits and 2) For Fashion.

If the photo shoot is for portrait you need to be sure that the clothing doesn’t distract, but rather compliments the person’s face. The fashion photo shoot is all about the clothing and the model is just there to make the clothing look good.

Look at these three examples of tops for a typical head shot.

Photo #1

Photo #2

Photo #3

To be sure we are concentrating on how clothing can add or distract from a portrait I shot these all the same so that the only difference is really the clothing.

First of all all three outfits look good on the model and the point isn’t about which one you like the most. The point in a portrait photo is which one makes you look more at the model’s face and less about the clothing?

Simple Tips:

Avoid busy patterns as in Photo #1
Choose a solid as in Photo #2
Avoid Stripes as in Photo #3

Each person will look best in one of the following necklines: v-neck, oval or round.

Color choices can be tricky as well. Everyone will look good in Aqua. The reason for this is this is the closest to the complementary color for the skin.

While different ethnic groups have different skin, the general rule is it is more about how light or dark the skin is more than color differences.

However the other factor is our eyes and hair color. Complimentary and the same color are generally good on a person. Complimentary colors tend to make you pop more than the same colors.

The general rule which is often the most difficult to follow is always keeping it simple.

Lighting diagram used for examples

Items:
(2) Alienbees B1600
1-stop brighter on background than lights on subject

White backdrop
I recommend not having it perpendicular to the camera. Slight angle will help avoid light flare caused by light bouncing off background

(2) Alienbees B1600 with bounce white umbrellas

Nikon D4 with 28-300mm
No description for this item.

This is part two of question series on which photos you would choose and why.

Again I was covering the Revive! Young Adult Track at the 2012 Eucharistic Congress put on by the Archdiocese of Atlanta. These are photos of a speaker for the evening.

Your job is to help me pick the best photo or photos that would run with an article about her speaking to the group.

Here is the write up from the Archdiocese of Atlanta website, which is all I knew about her going into the evening. http://www.archatl.com/congress/revive.html

Come back and check out the discussions about why people choose one photo over another photo. Be sure and vote below so you can see how you compare with others.

Mother Mary Assumpta

Mother M. Assumpta Long, O.P., is the prioress general of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, in Ann Arbor, Mich. She was one of the four founding sisters of the community in 1997 as Pope John Paul II invited new religious communities to form and respond to the needs of the New Evangelization. The community now has over 100 sisters teaching in seven dioceses, drawing its inspiration from the rich heritage of the Dominican Order of Preachers and the vitality of the New Evangelization. The average age of the sisters is 28.

A former college president, Mother Assumpta holds a licentiate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rome, Italy, and has taught at the elementary, secondary and junior college levels. In the early 1990s she was invited by Cardinal John O’Connor to assist with the initial formation of the Sisters of Life in New York. She is a well-known speaker throughout the United States.

Help me pick a photo or a series of photos