Fashion Photographer Research

IRVING PENN

"Irving Penn was an American photographer known for his fashion photography, portraits, and still lifes. Penn's career included work at Vogue magazine, and independent advertising work for clients"

- Exerpt, Wikipedia.

Irving Penn is one of my favourite photographers. He has worked with many infamous people such as Audrey Hepburn, Woody Allen and Jerry hall. His pictures are mostly in black and white and capture near perfect lighting and the energy of his subjects.The fashion shoots tha hes done for publications such as Vogue are also beautiful, they have graceful movement that reall show couture fashion in the best light. Irving Penn is known as the picasso of photography and looking at his pictures i understand why.

RANKIN

"Synonymous with compelling portraiture, Rankin’s lens captures, creates and unveils icons." - Rankin Biography

Rankin is a british fashion photographer. He is the co-creator of Dazed and Confused magazine with a friend from college Jefferson Hack. Rankin's work is very varied featuring many different styles. I think this is because he has many requests from many different publications and buisnesses. Most of his work is comission based or editorial and that work is generally his most sucessful.

MARIO TESTINO

"the world's most prolific magazine and fashion trade photographer"

- The Observer



Mario Testino is one of Vogue magazine's main fashion photographers. He has also shot many comission shoots for companies such as Gucci and D&G. His career's highpoint was when he was selected by Princess Diana for her Vanity fair shoot in 1997. I think his best work are his profiles as he captures the light and emotion beautifully. However i do really like his fashion and editorial pictures as they are very dynamic and eyecatching.

RUSSEL JAMES

Russel James is a commercial fashion and beauty photographer. He is most well known for being the official photographer for Victoria's Secret.

His photoshoots are mostly set in serene locations such as secluded beaches and remote locations. He has appeared in America's next top model and Australia's next top model many imes as a guest photographer and judge. I personally like his location shoots as they make for beautiful pictures.

photoshoot ideas

IDEA 1

My first idea is to do a pulp fiction themed photo shoot. I want to use the iconic picture of Uma Thurman's character and recreate it

 

 

 

I will use my friend Zoey as a model and give her a wig as she has blonde hair. I want to use Zoey as she has a similar Jawline and face shape. She will wear similar clothes and be in a similar setting as my friend lives in a flat with french doors so she can stand in front of them and i'll photoshop the fire into the background. The makeup is quite heavy as she plays a woman who is heavily involved with drugs and thugs and the makeup is what gives us that idea the first time the character is introduced and that's what i want to capture within the shoot.

 

I have chosen this image as Pulp fiction is an iconic film and this still of Uma Thurman is still one of the most fasmous pictures of her to date.

 

IDEA 2

Unfortunately my model broke her leg falling down the stairs so i have had to change my idea. I have decided to ude a picture of Edie Sedgwick and have another of my close friends Cara as the model. I wanted to use Cara as she looks a bit like Edie. I will draw on a beauty mark in the same place Edie did and photoshop her hair lighter. I will do her makeup as it is quite simple and have everything i need at home to do so.

 

 

 

I have chosen this picture because i find the style of the photo. It's very simple yet beautiful. Another reason i have chosen to use Cara is because she has very similar eyes to Edie's and the eyes are a very important part of the photo. They look very inncocent and youthful which is over all cara's whole personality so hopefully that will reflect in the picture.

 

IDEA 3 (Please be the final)

As my friend Cara is a radiographer she got called into work the day she was meant to do the shoot so again, had to change my idea. For my (hopefully) final idea i have decided to use the iconic picture from the movie adaptation of my favourite book Lolita. The book was written by Vladamir Nabokov and features the controversial story line of a man who falls in love with a pre pubescent little girl. I like the book as it is beautifully written and the film adaptation captured the characterization well.

 

 

I plan to model for this picture as I refuse to have any more issues with this project. I also dont like the idea of having a child portray the sexual icon that Lolita is writen to be in the book, which was my initial idea with this concept. I own a pair of red heart shaped sunglasses and i like lollipops so i'm sure i can find a few in a shop or in my house. James and i both want the typography in the picture so i will write it by hand (maybe in lipstic as i like the idea of that) and scan it through and add it to the picture in photoshop. The makeup in this picture is pretty non existent as the character of Lolita is meant to be between 10 and 14 (not specified). However she is wearing bright red lipstick that matches both the glasses and the writing so i will bear that in mind when chosing the shade of the lipstick.

 

FOR THE SHOOT I PLAN TO USE EITHER MY IPHONE CAMERA OR MY CANNON D500 TO SHOOT THE PICTURES DEPENDING ON WHICH I AM MORE COMFORTABLE USING AND WHICH GIVES THE BEST RESULTS.

 

Unit 1 - Visual Recording in Art and Design

 



Levels shortcut: Ctrl + L

With the levels tool you can adjust the brightness, contrast, shadows and the midtones.

 

 

Learning how to use the multiply tool!! :)

• Select the magic wand tool and click on the background of your subject

• Right click and chose "select inverse"

• Click on the drop down box beneath "Layers" and select "multiply"