Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Salon Photos

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Salon Dolche' had to reschedule today last minute so I thought instead I'd show you the work I did for them earlier this year. There were 7 models in total, each stylist doing one hair style each and all of them looking for very different results. My job was to create photographs that matched their vision with all the same equipment and seamless backgrounds. Here's the results.



Background: Light Gray
Exposure:1/60 @f10 ISO 200

Stylists Vision: 1960's styling


Each stylist wanted to represent a different era and look, while still keeping it modern. Knowing this, and that the hair had to look AMAZING I used a very strong hair/rim light from camera left as well as an umbrella on camera right for fill on her face. Their was also a background light set to 1/2 power. Though this doesn't match lighting and photographic technique of the time, I felt the hair and clothing more then pulled off the look and I took some creative license to shoot however I wanted.





























Background: Light Gray w/ cyan gel on background light

Exposure:1/60 @f11 ISO 200

Stylists Vision: 1980's


For this image I used intentional lens flair and a cyan gel since when I think of the 80's those two things instantly come to mind. To produce the flair I simply turned the hair light so it was shooting ever so slightly into the lens. It also provided nice separation along her left side where her shirt might have blended into the background. The girlie Mohawk, was a little bit much for me, plus the stylist kept asking the model to look "meaner". Can't decide if she looks mean or oversexed...


Background: White
Exposure:1/80 @f14 ISO 200

Stylist's Vision: 1940's movie starlet, Dutch Painting



The stylist designed this hair style to mimic the look and feel of the feather boa the model was wearing. She wanted something that felt like a cross between a early Hollywood portrait and the Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer's. The pose is an adaption of the painting and the lighting is the broad lighting often used when photographing for movie posters during that era. Her hair was dyed this shade of red and I love how it looks with her green eyes.

















Background: White
Exposure:1/4 @f18 ISO 200

Stylists Vision:  Old Hollywood style portrait



Finally we have the black and white image that most closely mirrors it's inspiration piece. Again the stylist wanted an old Hollywood look, but she wanted this image to easily be mistaken for the real thing, so black and white was an obvious choice. My favorite part was dragging the shutter to get the trail of smoke. We shot about a dozen of these until the most was just perfect. For the lighting I used the classic butterfly lighting pattern but to put my own spin on it I used the hair light as the key to bring up the light on the left of her face. I love the three different tones it creates on her face. No photoshop necessary. It was fun to geek out on this one.

Tomorrow: The photographer's Christmas List.



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