Credits

Photographer: Matt Haines for One Thousand Umbrellas
Wardrobe Stylist: Jennifer Margolin
Makeup Artist: Naz Madaen
Hair Stylist: Kris Young
Model: Bianca P. with Ford LA

Comments from Jennifer and Matt follow the images. Click on any image to see it larger.

Styling comments from fashion and wardrobe stylist Jennifer Margolin

I got the call Friday afternoon from the photographer, Matt, looking for a stylist for a fashion shoot that was scheduled two days later. When I spoke with him he was a bit panicked, as time was running out before the shoot. We talked a bit on the phone and he sent me a few reference photos for the shoot theme. I only had one day to do pulls, so I had to scramble to get it all together. Normally I would do a lot more research and pull from more places, but that was not to be this time. My pulls had to be right on as I didn’t have time to run all over the place. Thankfully, I knew exactly where I was going to pull from—Chic Little Devil—and they had what I needed.The shoot was so fun and relaxing. I was happy because the designer outfits and accessories I pulled for the shoot, were perfect and translated exactly how I imagined. Matt and the rest of the team were great to work with as well.

Towards the end of the day, I convinced Matt to photograph some additional pieces I brought to the shoot that I thought would compliment the original fashion theme. He generously agreed and we got some amazing photos! It turned out to be a great day and successful photo shoot.

Photographic comments from fashion photographer Matt Haines

This was a nerve-wracking shoot from a pre-production standpoint, because my original wardrobe stylist failed to show for a meeting a few days before the shoot, never to be heard from again. I was left scrambling to find a replacement. Luckily I met Jennifer, who turned out to be amazing! I’ve subsequently worked with her another time, and will work with her more in the future too. The shoot itself turned out to be rather relaxed, which was nice. Everyone did a great job, and Bianca really does a great job of conveying energy and presence through the lens.

So how did I light this? It’s a pretty simple set up, although I obsessed over light modifiers while Bianca was getting hair and makeup applied. I changed my lighting three times before settling on the “final” set up (which I then continued to tweak throughout the fashion shoot).  For most of the shoot (including the last four images on this post), I used the set up or a variation that you see below. The main light is an Alien Bees 1600 in a 30×30 in ‘brolly box’, which is a square light modifier, akin to a softbox, that folds closed like an umbrella. It was just the right size for the hardness and fall-off I was looking for. I also decided to use fill light on the same side as the key light, which isn’t “standard”. A typical ‘portrait’ lighting arrangement will have the main light on one side up high, and the fill on the other side down low. But I wanted a dramatic shadow on one side, so I didn’t fill it—hey this is fashion after all, and a little drama goes a long way! I did however want detail on the dresses over the entire length of her body…just on one side. So I used a V-card made from foam insulation, and bounced an Alien Bees 800 into it for a soft, vertical light source. You can see it on the left in the image below, actually shining through the 1.5″ thick foam insulation! Depending on the dress, I had either a white or black V-card to camera right, to either fill in the shadow or emphasize it (black side toward model in the image below). And I later added a Nikon SB-28 in a snoot from behind, camera right, as an edge light. You can just barely see the effect if you look at the ‘apple’ photographs at the very top of this post. On her neck, camera right, is a barely discernible line of light. It’s just enough to keep that edge of her disappearing into shadow, without drawing attention to itself.

For those ‘apple’ shots which we shot last, I knew they were only going to be head and shoulders ‘beauty’ shots. So I changed my modifier to a 16 inch beauty dish for the main light, with a ’sock’ diffuser over it. The fill was pretty much the same.