Shade: finals, part I
I finally got some free time on my hands to post-process some of the recent shoots I've been teasing you guys with. Still a long time to go, but at got at least something... Here are some finals from last Sunday shoot with Shade.
1. Jeans
2. Swimsuite
3. Dress
4. Chiffon
5. Traditional Nigerian robe
6. Traditional Nigerian... uhm, nevermind ;-)
Enjoy! :thumb
C&C welcome. :deal
And thank you for waiting! :bow
1. Jeans
2. Swimsuite
3. Dress
4. Chiffon
5. Traditional Nigerian robe
6. Traditional Nigerian... uhm, nevermind ;-)
Enjoy! :thumb
C&C welcome. :deal
And thank you for waiting! :bow
"May the f/stop be with you!"
0
Comments
dak.smugmug.com
I'll have to comment from home today. Can't scroll and replay, scroll and reply...
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Nigerian theme is very impressive too. Well done Nikolai!
Yeah, she's a big girl, 6'0" (so when she wears heels she's slightly taller than me, I'm 6'2" - rather interesting experience for me;-), and she's not overly concerned over her weight. She knows from prior experience she can shave those extra pounds off quickly when the runway season starts, but currently she's on vacation :-)
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:cry
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As I said before, it's great to see you exploring-experimenting. It's a lot of fun to watch your progress! I like it that you have become more relaxed about what you show in DGrin. For some, seeing a lot of a model's skin is interpreted as showing an interest in porn. But apart from the more skin fact there is no similarity.
I try to turn your images over and look underneath to find out why they exist, and I've recommended you do that too. What I find is your interest in staging an interaction, something athletic, sometimes sexual, where the model + (sometimes) props make the force of their opponent partner perceivable.
Examples in this set are #2, 4 & 5. In #2 the ladder lunges against the model's leg, in #4 she tosses the wind over her shoulder, and in #5 thrusts the planet away under her feet. All nice, and a development in what I interpret you are doing.
Elsewhere I also said that I think you are using the model as a surrogate, that is that by making these images it is in fact you and not her that is having the interaction with the opposing force. So I wonder why as the photographer you keep so still , so passive, just an observing, recording eye?
The effect is to make us the viewer equally passive, because we identify with your view and not the model's experience.
Imagine the image you would have got if as well as the model leaning on the ladder you also leaned on her, or as well as her tossing the textile you tossed the camera, and as well as giving the planet a kick she also gave the same to you.
Get in there with the action you are creating, get in the interaction!
Just my 2c, as all the nice people say.
And may I take the opportunity to say hello to cmor. I loved the idea of her boss "wakling" past her. I intend to use that verb on appropriate occasions, I expect to good effect.
Best.
Neil
http://www.behance.net/brosepix
I said tasteful nudity can be artful and beautiful... it's the positions you have worry about and what exactly you are showing
I have, however, been experiencing models who are going for certain kinds of looks with their posing... I realize some girls want those kinds of pictures. Just not me
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Neil,
thank you very much for your thoughtful comments!
I think I understand your point about the interaction. Let's state that I'm still learning and at this point still trying to elaborate on some classic ideas and see if I can do them at all and what goes into doing them properly. Like they say, you gotta learn the rules before you start breaking them:-)
I do hope I will be able to continue to experiment. It's defintely a lot of fun:-)
Cheers!
The the location was definitely a part of this whole experience. Normally it takes 15-20 min to get there (at least if you run at leat half-way). With 2 bodies, 3 strobes, 3 stands, 3 sandbags and other junk it took me an hour
But we both agreed it was worth it...
I love love love the staging and color composition in #4. The wind picking the fabric up got me very excited to see the bottom half of the image, but I just don't get the way its wrapped around / hiding her body. The top half should draw your eye down into HER, and it doesn't.
I find the last one objectionable not because of the content....I love sensual imagery. But the hard, "flashy" light is not flattering to her skin, and it just makes me, er, uncomfortable. I really feel like this image could be pulled off, don't get me wrong.
She just doesn't seem "in the moment" in any of these, and if she ain't comfortable, then the viewer is going to feel even more so. Nudity and sex appeal shouldn't feel perfunctory.
Maybe this is what Neil was trying to say?
50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8, 24-70 2.8L, 35mm 1.4L, 135mm f2L
ST-E2 Transmitter + (3) 580 EXII + radio poppers
Glad you liked it! Dress was her idea, lighting/bg was mine. Thank God for AB's gels:-)
Glad we managed to create the wind effect when, in fact, there was none:-)
I guess we could have done wrapping differently, but that's how it was.
In Part II I hope to post a different version of this (more Neilish, if you will:-), maybe you'll like it more...
Well, I guess I'll go with an old Kenny Rogers's song: "you can't please everyone, so you gotta please yourself"
She actually was very comfortable (considering it was all her idea), but maybe a little tired, since it was the end of a rather long shoot and after a long tiresome hike. And, as with the chiffon, I hope to post more of this look in Part II, maybe you'll like those more
Thanks again for your time and thoughts!
Hey, don't you mean Ricky Nelson?
All that aside, I am really curious if you had unmodified flash in the last as it appears, and if so, what was your thought behind that vs. softening the light some?
50mm 1.4, 85mm 1.8, 24-70 2.8L, 35mm 1.4L, 135mm f2L
ST-E2 Transmitter + (3) 580 EXII + radio poppers
I don't see her face but there's a lot of light on her back. I'd prefer she was doing this pose the other way. I also wish her hair was up... the line of her body would continue upward better if her hair didn't stunt it in the mid back... and the updo would allow more light on her neck/face etc. I don't particularly care for this one. Can't out my finger on why.
2
Everything is working as far as muscle tension, her hair down works, nice light, necklace, the bg is pretty but her face is in a weird position and it's not catching much overall light. This is a blip on the model's part. She doesn't know her face very well. She has heels that naturally protrude backwards so she needs a thicker strapped shoe to help counteract that [it's a small detail but one of those things- woman/shoes... you know]
3
For most people the pig-nose upface doesn't work but for her it actually makes her short nose fit her face better. Nice light on the face and her pose is strong and feminine. I heart the red gel. She does look teetery on her heels. Catch- Her armpits have some 5 o-clock business meeting going on. - The dark magenta lipstick is working for me. Odd colour but it makes her look really good.
4
And there it is. The suggestions from long ago in the flesh and farbic. Wind!!! Angle, compo, and check it out peoples- art class 101, blue and orange are complimentary/opposites and make each other POP, my my my, a nice shot!
5
I like it because it's different and tells a lot about her but at the same time I feel sorry for her scalp. What does the cane mean? She has this hard look on her face a lot and having more of a prideful or "eyes closed worshipping the sun" look would have made it better. It's just a nitpicky thing.
6
I like this one best of all. I KNOW! Go buy lotto tickets. She seems so peaceful and in her element. Her facial bones aren't all that strong but her musculature def is. The colours and her skin are such a part of nature and so at ease to look at. The pose doesn't bother me all that much but it does call to mind some... um... images. Is it a fertility stick because then it would make a little more sense... I just don't want to know it's a traditional Nigerian Widow Pleaser.
Her skin sheen is really nice and all the goosebumps make it have more tension and helps tell a story. Happy there aren't any "parts" showing.
I think in a while after she gets more experience she'll be top model. Just a little more work on face placement.
I know I critique the models too... I can't help it. Faces and fabric are things I take a passion in.
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Her face is fairly static, I agree. This was one of the early looks, she didn't care much about it, and it shows, but I liked the angularity :-)
Yay! Looks like #3 is a good mix for everybody!
I thought you may like this one, fabric girl!
I fon't know all the details, but she said it's all original Nigerian thing and she really wanted to do it. FOr some reason it was important to her, so I just went with the flow and tried to capture it to the best of my ability.
Thanks!
Again, I don't know the meaning of this staff, but she mentioned the term "warrior", so I reckon it's more like a club than a d* thing:-)
She actually is a pretty top model (as I meniotned earlier, she was Miss Black New York for two years in a row). And that's exactly the reason why her face is relatively static - they usually don't allow much of expression on the runway. I noticed that on many girls who tend to do runway mostly.
It's all good, thank you very much!
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