October 2013 archive

Fashion Photography – Clarenz Couture at Fashion NoVA

©TimeLine Media - Clarenz Couture at Fashion NoVA

Last weekend, I photographed the last Fashion NoVA show at the Springfield Golf and Country Club in Springfield, VA. Previously, I posted about the venue which was a beautiful setting for this event. Lots of warm woods and lighting was a nice backdrop for getting photos of the models as well as the large ballroom where they held the runway show.

©TimeLine Media - Clarenz Couture at Fashion NoVA
©TimeLine Media – Clarenz Couture at Fashion NoVA

Much like at weddings the men get ready much faster than the ladies. They do not spend as much time with the stylists to get their looks together! So the guys dressed in a collection presented by Clarence from Clarenz Couture. The models were really excited to wear this collection. Amazing colors and patterns really showed up well on the runway and in the camera.

©TimeLine Media - Clarenz Couture at Fashion NoVA
©TimeLine Media – Clarenz Couture at Fashion NoVA

They were trying on the looks, and were ready with lots of time before the start of the show. I took advantage of the time, and asked if they would pose for some photos before any of the guests arrived. There was a really nice spot in the main stairwell going up to the ballroom where I made some photos of the suits.

©TimeLine Media - Clarenz Couture at Fashion NoVA
©TimeLine Media – Clarenz Couture at Fashion NoVA

Here the dark woods surrounding the stairs added to the saturation of the colors of the materials. A large chandelier in the sitting room next to the stair well nicely separated the model from the background, and added to the warmth of the image. I added one light from a flash off camera to bring them out of the strong backlight, and zoomed the flash head so it was concentrated on the top third of the models.

©TimeLine Media - Clarenz Couture at Fashion NoVA
©TimeLine Media – Clarenz Couture at Fashion NoVA

Thanks for Clarence and the models that presented the collection at the show for their time! If the goal was to show the designs in an appropriate space, I think it was accomplished. More looks to come from the rest of the show in future posts.

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Dutch Angles – Tech Thursday

©TimeLine Media - Dutch angles in dance photography

This is a controversial subject in photographic circles. “Dutch” angles or shooting with the camera tilted from being straight with the horizon is a popular stylistic choice at this time. In browsing wedding photographer websites, I see the Dutch angles in many photographers that describe their style as photo journalistic. This stems from photographers that were chasing images to make newspaper headlines more loosely composing images just to “get the shot” no matter how straight the composition.

Chasing Photos

If you are chasing a person of interest, or in a war zone, it is understandable that you cannot always carefully line up images due to time constraints, or keeping your body from danger. The first working photographers I was exposed to in my career were wedding photographers. So many of them use this technique as part of their style. They are trying to create a different angle and change how images look especially if they have been made hundreds of times at different weddings in the past. In fact, I saw what they were going for, and I really adopted this as part of my photography.

©TimeLine Media - Dutch angles in wedding photography
©TimeLine Media – Dutch angles in wedding photography

There was a stark change in my view on this practice. When I started to shoot sports photography for a news media wire service, they gave some feedback. All images submitted to them had to have straight angles. If the photo we had of the action was tilted, they asked that it be cropped to a straight angle prior to upload. If not, the image would not be accepted. The reason was that for publication, angles needed to be level with the horizon – tilted angles do not translate to things like covers or spreads that magazines and newspapers publish. In looking at my ballroom dance photos, I was surprised to see how many of my images had the tilted angle!

Dance Photos

©TimeLine Media - Dutch angles in ballroom dance photography
©TimeLine Media – Dutch angles in ballroom dance photography

The first time I looked at these, I thought that the images looked more dynamic. Additionally the angle added to the excitement of the dancing action. Now, I think that these photos make me a little seasick. The walls and floors moving to one side of the image creates tension when being viewed, and not in a good way. So, I no longer intentionally tilt my camera. I try to keep angles as straight as I can. Moreover, I crop them to straight during post production if they are a little off. Let me know your thoughts on this. Do you or do you not shoot with Dutch angles as part of your style?

©TimeLine Media - Dutch angles in dance photography
©TimeLine Media – Dutch angles in dance photography

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Pier Portraits

©TimeLine Media - pier as a setting for portraits

Piers are often used subjects in photography. There are many aspects of their setting that automatically make photos better. Obviously, piers extend over bodies of water or hills that descend quickly underneath their foundation. This solves one problem in most photos – a busy background. Eliminating distractions in your frame is difficult in most settings. There are always things on the ground. Or they are in the back of the frame, and in front of your subjects. This can be distracting.

©TimeLine Media - pier as a setting for portraits
©TimeLine Media – pier as a setting for portraits

Pier portraits are easy to setup. On a pier, usually background elements are very far in the distance compared to your subjects. The sides have almost nothing in the frame as the ground is also very far below your subjects. Even without using an open aperture, these parts of the photos will fall into a pleasing blurred background due to compression. They are too far from the lens to be rendered sharply much like using a wide open aperture.

©TimeLine Media - pier as a setting for portraits
©TimeLine Media – pier as a setting for portraits

Another aspect of pier portraits is that the pylons on the sides automatically give you leading lines. Having these directional cues in your photos help draw viewer’s eyes to your subjects. Subjects will automatically be in the right position since they always walk between the pylons! Yes, this technique can be cliche for some, but it is very easy to execute. Similar techniques can be done on railroad tracks, but the distracting background elements can be harder to deal with depending on your particular setting. Let me know how it works for you!

©TimeLine Media - pier as a setting for portraits
©TimeLine Media – pier as a setting for portraits

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

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