In the Studio .........

[GB1]

From a late July photo shoot (from which I still have tons of photos to edit)

So, does leaving in the studio stuff create a mood worth keeping? I shot these with the intention of PPing all that out, but decided that I sort of liked it as is.

Does the black and white work better than the color?

Note that there's many potential crops here, but I wanted to show the original first.

GB

[hminx]

Not sure if its a lens thing GB, but her left foot seems out of proportion. For some reason my attention is drawn to the boots.

[flyinion]

The B&W seems a bit "flat" to me. She seems to have more contrast in the color shot from the near white of the left arm to the tan areas on the right side of her face. I can see it a bit in the B&W but the contrast doesn't seem the same.

[Greg McCary]

A little hot on the forehead but your model work has improved much in the past few post.

[jetrim]

Personally, I like the clutter. "Behind the scenes" shots seem to go over really well with the masses - a peek behind the curtain with a glimpse of how the magic is made. I like the overall tonal quality of the B&W but agree it could use a contrast boost, at least in the midtone range. Love the pose and angle it was shot from.

[draymorton]

I like the BTH aspect and think that b/w is, overall, a better idea for this shot.

[GB1]

Thanks guys. I was really excited about this particular image when I was editing it, but today, for whatever reason, it looks very pedestrian to me. Ahhh.. that seems to happen a lot in art stuff .. you wonder what was on your mind the day before. Maybe I'll flip back.

Pete, I believe I did shoot this fairly wide, which may be exaggerating the foreshortening. I also think that's a weakness: I like the image except for her from the bottom down, which seems scrunched up and undefined.

Flyinion, hmm... I don't think I adjusted the contrast when going to B&W (or, did I?). Sometimes color acts provide more distinction in a photo though.

Anyway, I did try a lot of experiments but found that upping the contrast increased the blow out on the white dress on the side facing the lights. I just tried another slight variation: do you like the edit here better? I had to drop the overall density a little too.

Thanks, Greg. She had the type of skin - a bit shinny -- that produced a lot of hot spots. Some one later told me that the model can apply some type of powder to control that... maybe I should buy and bring some to shoots.

THks Jet, always like hearing your viewpoints, esp on the model shots! The behind the scenes ones seem classical to me .. vintage, nostalgic, whatever, like I'm looking at an old poster from the 20s or 50s.

Thks too Dray. I find black and white works best for scenes with people, city life, and other stuff with strong geometry. Sometimes it just hurts too much to use it though, like if the model has spectacular blue eyes, or a nice redish tint to her hair.

GB