The Power of Reflection in Portraiture

The Power of Reflection in Portraiture.

What do I mean by that? Reflection in terms of the actual material that can create an actual reflection. I am also speaking about you, the artist and your subject. Firstly, let's talk about the materials and the challenges that arise. Years ago, when I was photographing with a film camera and wanting to photograph anything through a glass window, I would have a polarizer filter in my camera bag.  A polarizer filter is often placed in front of the camera lens in photography in order to darken skies, manage reflections, or suppress glare from the surface of lakes or the sea. 

However, since moving into digital photography, I find myself not carrying this wonderful filter. I like having the reflections in my images. However, this filter is a multitasker. It is great for helping your images of sky and clouds more predominate. the filter works wonders for black and white imagery and is a must for infrared film photography. For the photography shoot image above, I wanted to include the reflections of people walking by and the light rays from the overhead lights. I moved around until I had the light reflection right where I wanted them. I feel these reflections add another element to the overall image. Do you agree?

So now, onto to the other, reflection in portraiture photography.  What makes a successful portrait?

I was taught and still believe that a successful portrait is a combination of the photographer and subject. Tell or reveal a small part of the person you are photographing. That can be with color, mood, props, style, movement or anything else you feel is important. But the viewer HAS to come away with a sense they have a small fraction of an idea who you subject is, are or what is important to them. No wavering on this point. It is key to astounding results. In addition to this very important component, is making sure YOU are in the portrait as well. Can you tell or feel you are in your portraits? Portraits are intimate photography sessions. Having you in your work, whether it is a mood, pose, color or reflection is a must for a successful portrait.

All Images ©Lisa Ramsay 2020

Using window light in different ways

Recently, I had a fun filled lifestyle campaign photography shoot. The location was a very large space with many windows, without any window treatments. The indoor lighting was daylight balanced and a skylight provided additional lighting. One area in the very large space, had window sills that were large enough for anyone to sit on, near a window. I decided to use this area for a portion of photography content. The sunlight coming through the window provided enough light for me to capture my subject at a reasonable ISO and lens opening. I used the sunlight in different ways, to provide choices to the client.

The first set up, I had the subject sitting on the windowsill without any direct sunlight on her at all. I used the white wall as a background and also as a fill light. The warmth of the sunlight provided a soothing skin tone, with small highlights on her cheeks and nose.

I had the subject move slightly closer to the window. I positioned her just at the point where the sunlight highlights were on the top of her head, along her arm and hair. Her arm is slightly blown out in the highlights, which could have been changed with repositioning the subject slightly to her left.

I moved the subject to the edge of the wall, closer to the window. The highlight on her face is edgy but I like how different it is. The highlight on her arm is pretty blown out which could be fixed in post retouching.

For the last setup, I moved the subject's head and body to be more face on with me. She has slight highlights on her face and the book's cover has enough light to read the text. For this series, I made sure there was enough room on the rightsize for adding graphics, text or removing the building's exterior. Playing around with sunlight can be exciting and trying new setups will keep your photography work fresh and exciting!

All images ©LisaRamsay 2019 

Beauty Photography 101

I love all things related to beauty:skincare, makeup, hair styles and nutrition! When I get ready to photograph a beauty shoot, I ask myself what is the most element I want to feature? who is my audience? and what are the trends that are happening in the editorial, advertising and fashion world?

Once you have your idea or concept that you want to highlight or focus on, you have to select your team and your model (s). A recent beauty photography shoot I captured, I wanted three models of different ethnicities, facial features and personalities. I was very lucky to have three models from State Model Management, NY. I thought it was important to select a model that has experience, can evoke a mood or inner light and works well with others. I would look at their portfolios the modeling agency emailed to me, very carefully. Did each girl have good skin? Did each girl know how to use their face and body in their modeling work? How would they "look" when photographed together?
The creative team and I wanted to showcase clean beauty and spring makeup looks that were fun and playful. I wanted to use lighting for some of the images that was dramatic while also using simple, gorgeous light for a majority of the work.

Talking with your model before shooting helps with your intimate experience of beauty photography. Photographers get close, the model generally does not wear a lot of clothing and the model is really exposing her inner self to you. It's important to have your model connect with you, have life behind their eyes and create a visual dialogue with you. I love these beauty images! They could be used for a lingerie advertisement, skincare, makeup or anything else. Having that diverse potential usage, is very important. You also want to have images the modeling agency can use without a ton of makeup.

Leading the team to change makeup and hair is a key element to a successful photography shoot. Displaying examples of poses help your models project for you. Try different versions of your favorite pose. Dramatic lighting adds an painting element to this image. I wanted to add seduction to our spring makeup looks. It is important to instruct your model to turn their heads in a way that is flattering and showcases your beauty story.  Try photographing a beauty story this summer. Use different lighting and poses to express yourself. ©LisaRamsay all images copyrighted.

Give Yourself Self Assignments and Have Some Fun!

Give yourself Self Assignments. What do I mean by that? Photograph a subject, event or genre that you usually do not photograph on a regular basis. The point of this blog post is to encourage you to put yourself in situations that you are not used to and flex some creative muscles, and have some fun!

I think as creatives, it is important to challenge yourself or flex some skills you may not use on a regular basis.

I know I can get very busy with all aspects of running my business. I have a number of subjects I photograph regularly. I look to improve each photography shoot with different angles, lighting set up and point of view. But there are times where I decide to give myself a self assignment to photograph a short story or subject matter I do not usually do on a regular basis. Some photographers create projects that can go for a few months, even a few years. My idea for a self assignment is a bit shorter.
I try to plan a self assignment once a month. Whether it is a magazine submission, portfolio refresher, a potential art show submission, or working out a concept or idea. What time frame that works for you is a starter in this process. Writing down ideas you want to explore, a concept or a cause you are passionate about. Creating an outline will help you before picking up your camera or cellphone. I sometimes journal, read books or watch movies to let my creative side of my brain to think about my ideas and concepts. Walks in nature, viewing gallery shows or exercising also works to point my concepts in a clearer vision. Now these things work for me. You may have an activity or relaxing method that works for you.

 I do use my cellphone for some projects as a way to work out ideas I may have or to make note of colors, textures or locations I may want to use later. For editorial submissions, I create a concept board to outline my idea, inspiration and reference images for the creative team. For portfolio refresher, I may have one to two ideas I want to do at an session and really explore those specific ideas. If I want to submit to an art or gallery show, my process takes a little longer to do this. I find that art projects can take longer to explore, change and come together to create a cohesive collection of works. Art show photography needs to tell a story in 10-12 images, with a number of alternate images to have on hand in case a curator asks for more images to view.

For this beauty editorial, I had reference images to send to the creative team. We looked at all reference images before getting started with any hair or makeup. Once we were all on the same page, we dived in to create our beauty fantasy, with hair styles, makeup and lots of fun poses.
Until next time! ©LisaRamsay

What to do when photographing a mixed light source event

Recently, I was hired to photograph a two day conference at a new hotel, The William Vale, in Williamsburg, New York. I always ask the client about the lighting, in the venue, for their event. Will there be additional lighting or will the room lighting be the only light source? For this particular event, the only light source was the overhead room lighting. The over head lights would be tungsten, with varying color temperatures. What the client did not tell me was that there was a large screen with LED lights in the conference room (where this event was happening) The large screen of LED lights would be used with each session. LED lights are generally day light balanced but you never know if the bulbs will all be the same color temperature. Now, that large screen is great for the speakers and audience. However, for photography purposes, it was a challenge. I had a mixed lighting scenario to work with. Speakers at the conference asked that no flash photography happen during their presentations. So the question is: what to do when photographing a mixed lighting source?

For some of the speakers, they had a full color display slide behind them. Easy to set my color settings on my camera for the correct skin tone, which was set to AUTO color. I used AUTO on this image to test out the skin tones and overall color. I was curious as to how the skin tone would look with that colored slide on the LED screen and tungsten overhead lighting.

Once the background slide changed to an white background, the color shifted on the subject's skin tone. I move around at conferences, to capture different points of view and angles. I noticed the speaker's skin tone change from the bounce LED bulb lighting.  The LED lights are a different color temperature than the overhead tungsten lighting. So my speakers looked more blue and cool in their skin tone. I snapped a few frames at this color setting.

I then changed my color setting to Tungsten. Notice how the warmth came back into the skin and overall image. I snapped a few more frames with this color setting. My client wanted a variety of angles and lighting to have choices in their editing/marketing. There are times when you have a few seconds to capture images and make sure the color is correct. Changing color settings can save your job and also give your clients a choice. Test your color settings before your job starts and through out the job. Bulbs can go dim or get brighter. Slides used can change your lighting or bounce lighting for subjects. Projection screens or LED wall screens can have a very different light source than over head lights. Move around, see how the light hits your subject(s). We all see color differently. Our computers can be on various color spectrums. Some clients like a different color or point of view. However, covering your self with correctly colored images will also help you be hired again.

My fourth INFLUENCERS interview, I sat down with Brandon Holley, CEO and founder of Everywear. http://www.everywear.com. Everywear.com is the first technology platform to bring editorial presence and expertise to e-commerce through personalized recommendations. Everywear is a platform with B2B technology that retailers can use to increase sales with a one-to-one shopping experience.

 Brandon Holley. ©LisaRamsay

LR: Do you have a tagline for your business?

BH: It’s technology that thinks like a fashion editor.

LR: Can you tell us the history of Everywear and how it came about?

BH: I started my career as a magazine editor. I performed this job for thirty years. I ran magazines like Lucky Magazine and Jane Magazine as the editor-in-chief. I also helped start a magazine called Elle Girl Magazine. Over the years, I found that women were always saying the same thing to me. “I wake up in the morning, I don't know what to wear. I wear too much black. I buy too much on sale and I never wear it. I want to look better but I don't know how. But I want to look like a fashion editor.”

These statements just made me think that we had to demystified it ie: the way to be fashionable and buying pieces that are wonderful for ourselves.  When I was working at Lucky Magazine, what I realized was, that you were 10 times more likely to shop after reading Lucky Magazine then it was after reading Vogue Magazine.  Because we broke it down for our female readers. we made it feel like a friend, a trusted friend, who a woman could self identify with. This friend could help our reader become more stylish after they read Lucky Magazine article(s). All of this leads to, if you give her a little bit of information, she's going to shop more.

I look at ECommerce and it's just a ridiculous paralysis of choice. Many stylish women have basically have the same closet. We start with a closet that is mostly neutrals.  It's jean jackets, skinny jeans, black pencil skirts, moto jackets, black bombers, striped t-shirt, and black coats. This is the sort of a powerful women's basic closet. It is very modular. Our Lucky Magazine editors developed a formula to help our readers shop better. The shopper selects the pieces they already have. I, as the stylist editor at the magazine, will take a Gucci shirt and show you that if you buy this one shirt, you can wear 15 different ways with the clothes you already have. We show you all these looks but instead of buying tons of things that you're never going to wear at H&M for $10. Spend some money on a really great piece that will last for a long time. That was the Lucky Magazine thesis. We were able to increase conversion, increase average order, value increase, and lifetime value. In the process of applying this thesis, we were also able to collect a lot of information. That information is sort of the meat and potatoes of what we do at Everywear.

So if you tell me you own certain basics, you are actually telling me that you'll wear certain silhouettes: high-waist,  show your shoulders, show your legs or ankle. You're telling me this by the things you have in your closet. I can then say okay, I can retarget you. I know that you're looking for work. I know you're very comfortable in these things. You clicked on these other things. I just made 25 outfits for you to click here to see them.  That is where we showed real increase conversion. When we can talk to a woman, we call it Narnia. We believe most ECommerce is pre-closet and we are post closet. Once we know what you have, we can talk to you in a totally way. I believe all in ECommerce is done wrong, for matters of style. Jeff Bezos made Amazon to win efficiently and with utility purchases. If you want to buy an HDMI cable, Amazon wins. If you want to look better tomorrow morning at work, Amazon does not work so that’s where we come in. I thought what if you had a Lucky Magazine editor on your shoulder.  She could say, what if you got that special item that was a higher price point but you could wear it with about 10 different things that you already own? If you have a consumer with that kind of Lucky Magazine editor inner dialogue, what will happen when you go shopping?

LR: Everywear is B2B?

BH: Yes. We are B2B. We reach the consumers through the retail partners.

LR: You have covered a variety of points so far. You talked about the mindset of a shopper who happens to be female.  Your professional history, the goals that you want to reach. Let’s talk a little bit about the obstacles. How is your app is different than your competitors and the promises they make compared to yours..

BH: We don't have really app. We are a platform. But we do have competitors. Some of them are apps. You're right. A lot of styling apps ask you to do things that consumers don't want to do. One is to upload your closet. No one wants to take photos of their closet and upload it! Once you do, you are not sure how to tag it. What we do this is different as we let you recognize shapes and then we compare shapes against shapes. Those items have intrinsic values. It's almost like a map. It is an algorithm that takes the shape of this slouchy sweater and knows that because it doesn't have structure, it wants a structured bottom. Very simple rule we told it. When we identify this piece, we know how to identify the following pieces. If it was construction pants for work, we would know that the shoe would be a color. It can be a flat or can be a heel.  If that shoe is one color, then the bag can be another color that is not the same color or in a certain metallic. We give all the clothes these rules that they have to follow. We basically turned fashion to math, which I realized I was doing while working with my tech person. I just have to take what's in my brain and bring it to the algorithm. Competitors do not really do that. I have 30 to 35 years experience of doing this.

LR: How has your team changed since you started this process?

BH: Yes. I think when you are a startup,  you have to change a lot. We have cycled through a few different layers. Everybody who is added is doing great stuff at the right time. Then maybe the job just does not fit as you move on.  It may be the startup life does is not a fit them. We have had a really great team members over the years, helping us reach our goals and new levels of success.

LR: Where do you find your stylists?

BH: Through my magazine years. They're all people I’m connected through. I do not hire fashion editors. I hire the people who do the market work. To me, that means they have a good eye. I then teach them the styling piece. The algorithm takes over from there. I am teaching the algorithm as well as the styling.

LR: How many hours do they work and do they do other freelance work in addition to Everywear?

BH: We can make a hundred outfits, with the help of our algorithm, in about 200 minutes. We can output outfit very quickly. As we go on, the algorithm does more and more so we do less and less. We get down to 30 seconds per outfit, into one version of our algorithm. It can help put 1 million outfits, in a second. It's a little too powerful. It's putting out way too many things. We have the same paralysis of choice and we are learning how to window down the choice. We say work about two days a week, three days a week.  

LR: Do you have a huge database of images of clothing? where do you get that from?

BH:  No, we pull into seeds of our partner retailers to build her outfit. We have inventory from Bergdorf, Target, Macy’s etc. That is what we use to build our outfits.

LR: My next question is about your Partnerships? I read an earlier article where that was in the process yet it sounds like that is already part of the process.  Do you see that growing?

BH: It’s going to grow. Right now, we are still in pilot phase. We are looking to turn these pilots into annual contracts. That is my focus is right now is to get these folks to sign on, liking the results and now let's make this bigger. There will be a subset of users that will one more layer that will use us more and more.

LR: Is it a subscription based platform?

BH: It is email based. Our product is very simple. We create an a frame or micro site with tech integration. It is very important to our retailer partners is, do not let it get in my product key and mess everything up. You (the retailer) do not have to do anything. We, at Everywear, will built the microsite. The retailer will send the email out to your users, your shoppers. The user/shopper will click through to our experience. The retailer and Everywear will then own the data. We increase conversion, engagement and cross merchandising, along with all of those kpi’s that we are cast with.

LR: How long have you been with ERA (Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator)?

and how much longer do you have with them?

BH:  We joined with their summer cohort last year. We are done with the cohort. We just stayed on. We could go to a WeWork location but I have access to John and Murat who founded ERA. ERA has 3 to 500 mentors. At any moment, that I can reach out to any one of them. They're also walking through here all the time so I run some things by any of these wonderful mentors.

LR: Are you planning a media campaign or panel? How are you getting the word out, other than the partners here at ERA?

BH:  When we have a big partnership. When’s there's a very large one on the table, we will go out to the press. We have a really innovative, cool idea of using the latest RFID technology so that's one thing that we will go to the press for. I don't go for press for press sake. I usually wait until there is a moment coming from myself. I have great friends at all the outlets, most of them. Women’s Wear Daily, Forbes, Inc Magazine are places I go to that when I have something to talk about. I do not waste their time if I don't have any big news. Any big partnership, like if we sign an annual or do something around it with an influencer or a movie release, then we would go to the press. We could wrap content around content in the form of your closet. Image if your watching the Oscars and Jennifer Lawrence comes out in a beautiful pale blue gown. You are the saying I love that pale blue gown, I just made 15 outfits in your closet with the platform. We are turning content into the spiritantial experiential thing. We need our retail partners to get there. First stages is to get to as many retailers as we can to sign on.

LR: Sounds like things are really moving, which is exciting.

BH: They are moving rapidly. I think I don't want to create a false impression. It takes time. No, this is hard as hell. I wished retailers moved a little faster. We are still in pilot phase. I wish I had fifty customers signed on but we do not. Yes, it is moving as fast as it can. Retailers, I think, are moving in the direction of, if we do not change something, we are going to die. Amazon is eating the entire pie. Traditional marketing techniques are not moving the merchandise enough. Things have to change. We are proposing a very different way of looking at things. Let’s look at it from the consumer’s point of view, let’s look at it from her closet. What is she wearing? What does she want? Other than hey we have dresses at 70% off. If you do not wear dresses, it does not matter.  We can tell you if your consumer likes dresses or not. If she does not wear pants to work, which is a huge thing, do not show her pants for work. She can see jeans for weekend. But for power dressing, that segment of women should never see pants for work. Yes, I am hoping the retailers are at a point to let go of less effective ways of marketing and making sales.

LR: What is the next push? 6 months to a year plans?

BH: The next six months will be more work on the rules engine. So we can collect more scalable outfits. Bring the outfit time to two minutes to five seconds. Boarding as many partners as we can. Working on the RIFD as much as we can.

For my third INFLUENCERS interview, I sat down with the two co-founders of Joli Beauty Bar, Zsuzsi Evans and Charde Smith, in the East Village, NYC. Joli Beauty Bar is a brick and mortar business that offer beauty services such as hairstyling, makeup applications, acupuncture, beauty memberships and specialized events. But Joli is more that just all things beauty. It is about community and creating new connections and maybe some new friends.www.jolibeautybar.com

LR: How did the two of you meet?

Zsuzsi: We met through a mutual friend. We all used to work together but not at the same time. From the moment that I met Charde, we instantly clicked.

Charde: I just did her really well and she didn’t know how to get rid of me after that. I’m crazy so she balances me (she-pointing to Zsuzsi, is crazy too!)

LR:What was the idea of starting this business together?

Zsuzsi: We decided to move forward with Jolie because we could tell that there was a need for a place for women, not only to get their hair and makeup done, but to come together, where they feel comfortable or celebrate big life events like weddings, bachelorettes, birthdays together.

Charde: There really is not a place a woman can go without feeling she is being sold something. I worked behind the counter at Bloomingdales for a little over ten years. We wanted a space where a women could have a good time and get your makeup done-get your hair done and then go see your man/wife.

LR: You offer hair and makeup services inside this space-location. Do you offer this service outside of the space?

Charde: We do. It’s called Joli To Go. We go to hotel rooms, your apartment-anywhere where you need us. We also have Joli Pro, which is very similar but on a professional level. We also do work for magazine photo shoots, fashion presentations and video shoots.

LR: As women entrepreneurs, what are your biggest challenges?

Charde: How much time do you have?

Zsuzsi: I think there is a resurchangance of the feminist movement in a completely different way. Women are being encouraged to be entrepreneurs, to follow their dreams and start businesses that are geared towards other women. Women are incredibly savvy consumers. They do research. Our customers have researched our business before coming here.

Charde: It's one of those things that is definitely needed. We love being able to back up what we say with our services.

Zsuzsi: As far as the challenges, it’s the same with any other business. Growing your clientele, getting the word out about your business.

Charde: In the beauty industry, there is a little bit of a stigma. People think we have fun all day. It’s a fun job but it’s hard work. We want people to respect what we do and we are trying to change that outlook.

LR: What is the next step for Joli Beauty Bar? Is it an app or another service?

Zsuzsi: One of the things we pride ourselves on, is to offer services and needs of our clients were asking us for. We did initially start out without offering haircuts but our clients started asking us for them and we put haircuts on our service item list.

Charde: We are in our second year and we started to notice that our clients would just stop by to say Hi. Almost like Joli Beauty Bar space is also used as a venue. So I said to Zsuzsi why don’t we have a membership program for women, to use the space for events, workshops or get togethers of some sort. Host classes like how to do your makeup or put together a cool appetizer tray. If it’s fun and interesting, then we want to do it. Innovative ideas are what we want to focus on. It will be a community of women getting together, drinking wine learning some new ideas. So in January, we are launching Joli Social. A membership program that is monthly and will have three classes per month.

That is going to be really fun. We are excited about that.

Zsuzsi: We have a wide range of women, from different backgrounds and age groups, that come to our space. With this membership, they will meet new people on a regular basis.

LR: Can you tell us a funny story or experience that you guys had?

Charde: Most of our clients, when they come more than two times, they think of this place as their home. We have one client with a Joli membership who asks us all the time what will happen to her if she had to move-where would she find another place like Jolie?

Zsuzsi: We have different membership clients that come from various backgrounds and age groups that only meet here. They would not have met if it wasn’t for Joli beauty membership. And they ask about the other women they meet at our events or at their beauty session.

Charde: We go through ups and downs, just like our clients. But we have the support of each other, which helps us get through those times. We cry and laugh, drink wine at the end of the work day-just like everyone else. Sometimes our clients have major life changing events like a breakup or a job change. So our sense of humor and listening power helps them get through their tough times. We are a safe place. We get a lot of first date clients and second date clients.

Zsuszi: Yes! And then we don’t see them anymore because they are in a great relationships.

We have seen some of our clients home’s and gotten invited to life events of theirs, it’s really exciting and fun.