RULES: The ones we want to keep

There still are some and theyre useful from time to time.
People starting out want to break the rules and usually come to grief.
A good one to keep in mind is Principality. One idea should stand out above all others.
A fashion picture usually has a heirachy of ideas
but despite the brilliance of the participants)hair,MUA, photog etc usually a competition of ideas is not percieved
Rather only when some or all are trying to be geniuses does the whole thing crash usually because the rule of principality is broken.( Is this a hair, beauty or fashion picture)?.
Poor lens choice and model posing can break the rule too. The hand on shoulder thats too close to camera becomes as large as the face and competes with it for attention esp if the fingers are spreadeagled out in a fan like shape. A normal lens shooting full figure at eyeline makes the legs look short and upperbody large. The picture takes on a principality thats unwanted.
With PS the big idea can be forced onto the picture. Most forum pictures suffer from a serious lack of post production, (which incidentally is the name of the game right now). Emotional principlaity, ideas that werent concieved at shooting time can be added later after some thinking .
A good example is found here:
http://www.showstudio.com/projects/comme/production.php
Nick Knights pictures for Comme des Garcons
Knight breaks the rules in the best way; He simply doesnt accept what he ended up with prepost production, and uses all the post production re touching expertise suppled by photoshop to get what hes sfter.
Strangley enough he ends up with the principality
he was looking for.
But the "rule breaking" if that’s what its called comes after the taking and in the post production.
To be succesful at this you need to be working from a big sample which is probably part of the difficulty.The shooter doesnt have it because he doesnt want it. He wants to be different
Its been said the only truly different people are eccentrics. Ive yet to meet anyone who called themselves an eccentric fashion photographer.
But if too many rules are broken when starting out
thatll be the result
The team supply it in the shooting stage and hoprfully the viewer will get it at the looking stage.
The photographer, MUA, hair and clothing stylist
all contribute to this but now added is PS.
Not just for retouching but for final picture editing also. PS stamps its look on the final result and can maximise the emotional investment of the 4 other players.
Its even more important when theres a model and photog but some of the others are missing.Which is likely
Its advisable to sit down and explore the emotional investment put into the work and how PS can maximise it.Maybe the problem is 'mindshop' the photog falls in love with his model his picture his idea and cant believe its not working.
But the shock comes when posting
The model looked skinny at the shooting stage but now all are saying shes overweight, too much depth of field, not enough contrast flyaway hair ,shes too short.Creases in the garment etc etc. Just sit down with the picture and work it over everything with a fine tooth comb
Stretching liquefying etc etc are among many tools
used in this way but at the end no one admits to it much, they just credit the editor photog etc.
While consumer mags generally elevate the photographers , fashion photography is teamwork
and if you dont have a full team things will be difficult. Most have or have access to PS and in one way or another its a team player thats not to be omitted.
Just dont be too quick to praise yourself. Its a wrap folks. Is it really???
It reminds me when I found a 1st edition copy of a Charles Dickens book in a junk shop. I knew they were worth a lot so I paid say $40.00 and began to think of what I would do with the profit I was going to make. I took it to a dealer and asked how much it was worth.
About $40.00 he said
He looked inside: Loads of foxing, and I see some pages have been snippedfor the picture plates. It has loose hinges and mildew on the chamois Maybe $20.00
But its old and 1st ed I said
He went to a shelf and brought a similar book
Even though it was the same age as mine it looked as though it was brand new.
If you want to maximise your investment he said this is what youve got to aim for.
Thats why photogs should keep looking at the high end. To have something to aim for and not to pass off poor quality (like my book)as something its not.
(I looked at the date and that was all, I was so in love with my find I never looked inside for page damage,or checked condition when some dealers check every page before puchasing) .
When the photography is over look long and hard at what youve got
The high end reminds us of whats required
The world is not reality
Its just paper
Really!! http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/03/1046540121180.html