ARCHI-FASHION SNAPS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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CLEAN LINES
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GO AGAINST THE GRAIN
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THE IMPORTANCE OF ANGLE
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LEAN WITH IT
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A POP OF COLOR CHANGES EVERYTHING
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UNEXPECTED ATTRACTION
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Clea By: F odor
n Li
5. I find it helps to have the subjects count to themselves, rather than having me count. That way they feel in control and are much more relaxed. It’s a simple one, two, three. Then we are both prepared.
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6. Use a fast shutter speed to freeze the movement. If you don’t know what that means, use the little running man icon on your camera dial. (But really, if you don’t know, you should learn! Join me for the DSLR class here!) It’s the sports mode, and it will try to pick the fastest shutter speed it can to give you crisp subjects even while they are moving.
7. If you are in auto or on the running man setting and you notice your subject is blurred, you need to move to a brighter area of light. It will really help to shoot the jumping images outdoors where there is a lot of light so that you, or your camera, will have the ability to choose those faster shutter speeds I was talking about.
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ou may not think of lines as being as exciting a travel subject as, say, a jungle snake slithering through the grass. But photograph that snake and you will surely have captured a distinctive—and emotionally charged—line. Lines have many uses in a photograph. They can divide, unify, or accent certain parts of a composition. If they are interesting enough, they can become a visual topic in themselves: Who could resist the lines of a spider’s web glistening with dew? Stay alert to catch transient lines, like shadows or shafts of light, before they disappear. Lines lead the eye into a scene. Stand on a train platform and you’ll see it’s all but impossible to keep your eye from following the line of the tracks to the horizon. Parallel lines that appear to converge this way create what’s known as one-point or linear perspective, potent for showing distance and depth in a pho-
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tograph. Curved lines can lead equally well: The undulating lines of the country road draw the eye into the frame. Leading lines are most effective when there is some relation between line and subject, such as winding stone steps leading to a castle door. You can exaggerate their impact further by using a wide-angle lens and finding a vantage point close to the beginning of the lines—kneeling to get close to train tracks, for example. The shape and the direction of lines in a photograph are also forceful setters of mood. Straight lines, whether vertical or horizontal, seem stable and formal. The sharp lines of a picket fence have little sensuousness, but consider the alluring slopes of rolling hills or a tanned body lying on the beach. It is no doubt that lines are very useful in photography. It can either make or break your photo depending on how effective you utilize them. •
8. For all those cell phone users out there, it will help you to know that your cell phone doesn’t take the photograph when you push the button/icon on the screen; it actually takes it when you let go. So when you are trying to shoot action with a cell phone, pre-focus on the area your subjects will be when they jump by tapping on the screen, then hold down the shutter icon and don’t release it until the instant before they are right where you want them to be. There won’t be as long a pause between triggering the camera and actually taking the photo if you shoot with this tip. 9. If you want to take a jumping selfie, try using a remote. You don’t want to be running back and forth between your camera/phone and your jumping spot, plus jumping! Finally, jumpshot is all about trial and error, but you will definitely have fun while at it! •
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makes a big difference. If that doesn’t work, make them laugh. Laughing and jumping gives a carefree feel to the image. 3. Instead of jumping straight up and down, have your subjects try creating shapes with their bodies. It will appear as if they are floating rather then jumping. 4. Use the continuous burst mode on your camera so that you can take several images while holding the shutter button down. That way you can catch the entire jump, from takeoff to landing, and you won’t miss that perfect moment when they are at the top of their jump.
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I want to share a few tips with you on how to take jumping photographs like a boss. 1. The lower you go, the higher they will look! If you shoot from a lower angle, it will appear as though there is more space between the subject and the ground. So get down low, sit or squat near the ground, and shoot up at your subject if you want the appearance of height. 2. Remind your subjects to relax their faces. A lot of times when people are jumping, they tighten their faces at the same time. It’s a simple thing, but it
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hotographing people jumping has been a huge trend in photography recently, from wedding parties, to actors, to political figures, but it isn’t anything new to the photography world. In fact it was a photographer in the ’40s and ’50s that made it popular. His name was Philippe Halsman. Halsman said, “When you ask a person to jump, his attention is mostly directed toward the act of jumping and the mask falls so that the real person appears.” He photographed many unbreakable subjects this way in order to show their true personalities, and he coined the term “jumpology” as an explanation for his approach.
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Here is the thing, if it is easy to do, then it probably has been done already by many people. Maybe the idea of simply standing next to a beautiful architecture was considered cool when it first surfaced (probably during the modernism movement in the early 20th century), but if you go on social media today, you will see millions of photos of people posing next to a cool architecture for either artistic or tourist purposes (mostly tourist). It is safe to say that after looking at few of those photos, you would get bored and think about what are you doing with your life and so on. But the real question here is if you are going to take a photo of yourself or someone else tomorrow next to a cool building in your city or anywhere in the world, what can you do to set it apart (or at least try)from the majority?
THE GRAIN N GO AGAINST T By: Zen Li
Here is a tip when you take photos next time next to a building or anything, do something crazy and unexpected. This is not telling you to take photos standing on the edge of a skyscraper or leaning out of a helicopter, (and not recommended at all) but it is about going outside your comfort zone and try something you never did before. One thing that you can do to take a cool photo with an architecture is simply lying down or leaning against the structure. The reason for that is most people don’t do it because they don’t want to get their clothes dirty. From there, you can experiment with different poses and that will instantly make a difference. Other factors to consider are angles, space and composition that would take your photography game to the next level. •
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THE IMPORTANCE OF ANGLES By: FodorsTravel People see it everyday in our lives but chose to ignore it’s importance when they take photos. Many of the photos that people take come out dull and boring because it is missing that wonder which could have been created by exploring and manipulating angles.
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urprise is an important ingredient in a good travel photograph, and photographing your subjects from unexpected angles is a simple way to add the unexpected. Most of us tend to spot and snap potential subjects from an eye-level, straight-ahead point of view. We look down at tulips, out at the sea, and up at skyscrapers. By exploring your subjects beyond predictable first impressions, you can create new and startling compositions. This requires a bit of visual detective work: You have to walk around, over, and under your subject until its true personality surfaces. You may feel silly in getting to such vantage points, but your pictures will vindicate you.
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High vantage points, for example, help organize complex scenes. At street level, faces and signs in a crowded marketplace dominate, making the scene chaotic. From a balcony or window above, however, crates of colorful fruits and vegetables form patterns, and streaming crowds weave inviting visual rhythms. Low angles can exaggerate the height of tall subjects or reveal unseen aspects of low-lying ones, especially when combined with a very close viewpoint and the perspective-stretching effects of a wide-angle lens. A photograph of the Statue of Liberty from a normal viewpoint with a normal lens looks, well, normal. But move up next to the base
Most abandoned places are either condemned or deemed dangerous by authorities. As such, entering one is strictly prohibited and against the law in many countries. So, when photographers bring in a model, which happens quite a lot nowadays, it becomes doubly dangerous. Therefore, it is important to know what to do before you decide to go and shoot. One of the reasons why a photographer would want to shoot an, or in an, abandoned place is the sense of adventure and mystery that the place creates. Whether you include a person in the image or not, your photograph will still create a riveting effect. Viewers and audiences will still find different stories in your photo. Before proceeding with the shoot, make sure that you are already familiar with the place. Find the time to visit the building days before the shoot. Don’t go alone, if possible. Bring someone with you. It can be your second photographer or perhaps your stylist/wardrobe or makeup artist. If you familiarize the place before the shoot, you won’t have to waste time (and energy) trying to look for areas where you can do the scenes you want. Be sure that you are dressed appropriately. Don’t dress up in shorts or sleeveless shirts. You need to protect your body from possible cuts and scratches, so long sleeves and your favorite old pair of pants will do. Of course, if you’re shooting with a model, he or she has to be dressed according to the theme of your shoot. Just make sure, though, that the ofutfit won’t be too difficult to put on or get out of. Also, make sure your model/models get enough protection from harmful elements common inside abandoned buildings. Once you’ve done all these preliminaries, you’re ready to shoot. •
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When people think about doing a fashion shoot with an architecture in the background, images of clean, sleek modern architecture comes to mind. It is most likely because they would like to associate high fashion with something high class and luxurious. However, there is something that is completely unexpected but valuable – Abandoned buildings.
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here is just something about abandoned area that is so beautiful yet weathered and broken down. It almost seems like it has some kind of soul that newer building do not have. Similar to photographers shooting inside of an abandoned building, there
is a sense of adventure and mystery that the place creates that viewers are able to create different stories. Photographing an abandoned building is not easy. First off, you have to think about security – yours and that of your crew (if you have one).
with a 24mm or wider lens and shoot straight up, and it becomes a soaring tower of converging angles. This all takes time and practice. It took me two to three photoshoots to find the “sweet” angle for my subject. Once that angle is found, not only your subject will be content with the photos, but you have just made his or her future photoshoots much easier. •
LEAN WITH IT By: Zen Li
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ock with it. That is what I told my subject to do while taking this photo. Harmony with angles in architectures is very important. Imagine how would this photo look if my subject is standing vertically straight. It would just look visually straining, and you would just wish you can tilt him so he is aligned with the angles of the ridges. This is kind of like the idea of “going with the flow”, which is actually counterintuitive because everyone wants to go against the flow and be different.
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However in here, going against the flow just does not make any sense because you would be breaking the visual beauty and harmony of the parallel angles. By leaning at the same angle as the ridges of the building, not only the outfit is draped in an interesting way by showing some skin, but the subject is also is fused in with the architecture and almost became one with it. It also gives a feeling that the building has a mysterious force that is pushing the subject lopsided. On the other hand, the O ring belt and the
black pants that create a beautiful contast from the rest of the elements in terms of shape and color. Another thing that we could have done is having the subject pretending to fall down sideways so that his whole body would be aligned with the angle of the building ridges. That would have been more dramatic but it would definitely require a perfect timing, and the whole act could be dangerous. But like what they always say... do it with passion, sacrifice for fashion! •
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R O L O C F O P O AP G N I H T Y R E V E S E G N A CH By: Zen
Li
When the building or structure is white or gray, many photographers would associate those types of architecture with neutral colored minimalist outfits. They do not realize that those blank color structures could literally be a canvas for some serious pop of bright colors – only when it is done correctly. The idea of taking photos of brightly colored outfits against a blank colored background is nothing new, but the art of execution is not explored as much.
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o effectively take photos of colored outfit against a blank colored architecture, one must look past the colors and more into the aesthetics of the garments and the architecture; otherwise, the outfit would just appear as a blob of color in the photo. That being said, the outfit can be any color, but there needs to be some interplay of aesthetics. Such aesthetics can be line patterns, texture, shape, etc. The easiest example would be if your clothing has triangular patterns and the building has triangular windows, then those two would go well with each other. The interplay does not have to be dead on obvious; in fact, the subtler the interplay, the cleverer and more sophisticated the shot will be.
The photo above is an example of an effective interplay between clothing and the architecture structure. In this photo, the model is wearing Vetements overlong sleeve t-shirt in orange, Adidas Originals track pants in black with orange stripes, and Adidas Yeezy Boost V2 in Beluga. The overlong sleeves hang gracefully and parallel to the vertical railings and blends in and accentuating them. The triple orange stripes of the track pants emphasize the movement of the horizontal railings. The stripes might not be parallel to the rail immediately beneath it, but they are parallel to the ones behind, which is a great example of that subtle interplay that move the viewer eyes around the photo while being cohesive.
In contrast, the curved lines on the sneakers give a nice break and contrast from the straight elements in the photo. The orange SPLY 350 stripe on the sneaker that is tilted at an angle points and corresponds to the staircase in the back. The intertwining of the loosened-up shoe laces resembles the overlapping of the rails, but takes on its own organic movement that also sets itself apart from the rigid straight lines in the photo. Overall, the outfit exhibits a nice balance of similarity and contrast with the surrounding architectural elements; and that nice vibrant orange color pops out the outfit and gives the photo another level of excitement. •
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