The Fashion-able Fuji XPro-2

With an XE-1 well past its prime and showing it, I pre-ordered Fujifilm’s newest flagship, and it was in my hands on March 8. 

I had very little time to get aquatinted with the new box before heading to Italy to work on a few photography projects. During the trip, the XPro-2 and I became inseparable friends. (More on Italy in a later post!) The camera is quick and responsive, relatively intuitive to use, and the low-light performance is great. It initially felt much larger and heaver than the XE-1, but use eliminated that felling of difference. 

Back stateside, it was straight to work shooting street fashion with Nicole Boychuck for Aoki Boutique. Shooting outside on another‘s schedule means working with the weather of the day. And the day we had brought super bright, super contrasty sunshine. I like contrast that I can control, but cloudless, sunny afternoons are always a challenge.

At least, it used to be.

Singin’ in the Range

There are many praises to sing about the X-Pro2 (and quite a few niggles), but one of the most important improvements is in dynamic range. It is, simply, remarkable. Even in bright sun that hurt the eyes, the new Fuji sensor captured a range of usable detail in both the highlights and the shadows. I was able to get excellent images in light that would have destroyed the X-Trans CMOS in the XE-1. (These images are all developed from RAW—which is the only way to maximize the camera’s files.)

The improved dynamic range isn’t just handy for recovering shadow and highlight detail. Instead, at least for me, it’s an invitation to find the limits. Because I know the camera is going to handle a wide gamut of light, I’m free to seek out even contrastier scenes that I previously would have avoided. This provides the opportunity to engage in new creative approaches, and not simply to improve on what I already do.

Bokeh by the Dozens

Shooting street fashion is always a challenge because I like clothes to have motion. Fashion isn’t static, and—for the kind of shooting I do—showing the construction and movement of the clothes is important. This means low shutter speeds and the lowest ISO. So long as I’m able to move with the model, I can overcome the additional depth of field that results from using smaller apertures. 

It’s when the model is still that I need separation from the background, which means a wide aperture to get optical bokeh.

The problem with shooting in bright afternoon light is that the lowest ISO and the fastest shutter won’t be enough to get a very wide aperture. There are ways around this, like using ND filters, but I work fast and need spontaneous moments, so those “solutions” just present new problems. I need the answers all in the camera, and the answer has been to chase areas with less light. 

At least, it used to be!

The X-Pro2 has a mechanical shutter that goes to 1/8000, and an electronic shutter that reaches all the way down to 1/32000 of a second. I have mine set to M+E so that the camera automatically uses the electronic shutter if needed, but otherwise sticks to the mechanical. Compared to the X-E1’s fastest speed of 1/4000, that‘s three more stops of light reducing power at my disposal. And that translates to getting wide-aperture bokeh even in bright light. 

The most fashion-able of them all

I doubt Fuji set out to make a great camera for street fashion. But with its expanded dynamic range and high shutter speeds, the X-Pro2 is currently the most fashion-able camera of them all.

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On Location in Philadelphia for Aoki Boutique

Model:
Nicole Boychuck

Available:
Aoki Boutique

Check out more images on the main site: http://f-eleven.com!

Mode Italia (with the Fujifilm X-Pro2)

The winter weather has broken its grip and Easter has ushered in both an Italian Spring, and the need for Florentines to show off their fashion sense. Their challenge is to cope with warming days and still-chilly nights. As always, the Italians meet the challenge in a variety of stylish ways. 

These images were made on the streets of a somewhat rainy Florence with the weatherproof Fuji X-Pro2. I used mainly the XF35mm and XF 18-55mm, which are both great for unpredictable street work. The X-Pro2 is proving to be an excellent street camera. More to come on that once I finish my time in Italy!

Read more on the main site!

Blown Highlights (with Fuji X and Canon)

Photography is, literally, writing with light. Any old light will do to make a photograph, including the unfocused light used to create cyanotypes. However a photograph gets made, the light is the key ingredient and can make or break any captured moment. 

No matter the method, though, photography is ultimately less about the quantity of light than it is a struggle between ratios—specifically, the dynamic range between the highlights and the shadows. Whether it's film or the latest digital sensor, there are boundaries to what can be captured: getting the shadows means blowing the highlights, and retaining detail in the highlights means losing what's in the shadows. Exposure decisions are a matter of deciding which is the most important for a given image. 

The key here is not the dynamic range of the scene, but the dynamic range of the image. Too often, photographers get caught up in the technical and pay too little attention to the humanist aspects of an image. The dynamic range of the human eye, from the darkest we can perceive, to the brightest light we can tolerate, is about one to one million. In lens terms, that's about 24 stops. This is a very broad dynamic range. But unlike a photographic lens, human eyes are never static. We scan a scene, with our pupils opening and closing to adjust for changing light, blending shadows and highlights into a scene processed in the visual cortex, and then responding to that vision based upon a mix of intentions and emotions. What's bright has an emotional meaning, just as what's in the shadows has a separate meaning. 

Accordingly, trying to capture a scene with the dynamic range of the human eye is not only impossible, but it misses the point. The dynamic range of any scene is information for the mind to use, so the goal of working in contrasty light is the same as in any other light: using it to direct the spectator's attention to what the artist wants to emphasize. 

These thoughts were in the back of my mind while I was shooting fashion in the streets with Nicole and Meg. An early Spring day, there was not a single cloud in the sky. The sun was at its worst in photographic terms: a single, narrow point of light with the only diffusion coming from the colored reflections of pavement and walls. But with a bit of attention and intention, even bright sun can work to artistic advantage. It's just a matter of embracing the contrast and sometimes letting the shadows go black and the highlights get blown. (Or finding some shade!)

Continue reading . . .

Behind the Mirror

I love shooting fashion. What we wear and how we choose to present ourselves is one of the most complex of human endeavors. From the intricacies and complications of design, to the vagaries of changing purpose and taste, to the individual desire to express oneself in a particular manner to both familiars and to strangers, fashion is fascinating.

Shooting fashion is about 180 degrees from the documentary style photography I usually do. Shooting on the street, the observer is presented with the choices others have already made, and has no role in modifying either their presentation or location. With street photography, you get what you get. 

Fashion photography is contrived. The studio is an unnatural place to be, and people make different choices when they know they are going to be photographed. The subject is also contrived, in that it may not be the person in the clothes, but the clothes themselves, or the jewelry, or some other object. The placement of the model, the lighting, the mood and the moments captured are all unnatural to varying degrees. Because all these concerns (and more!) require active attention and balance, fashion photography is extremely difficult.

READ MORE at f-eleven.com

Mirrorless Reflections (with the Fuji X-Series)

This is not a gear blog. When the gear matters to the creative output, however, it's time to write a gear post. 

Such is the case when it comes to fashion photography. We've previously discussed the preliminary thinking that goes into a fashion shoot, but once the photographer and the designer understand the creative vision, it's time for the photographer to implement it through the magic ingredients of ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. 

Camera considerations in the studio are fewer than on the street. In the studio with strobes, the maximum shutter speed will be the camera's sync speed. ISO in the studio is a much more controllable artistic effect, but unless there is something particular about your camera sensor's high-ISO noise that you like, those considerations are usually handled in development. Most of the attention in the studio is on creating the right kind of lighting and the right action with the model. In a studio, it's possible to work the same idea repeatedly until the image gets made.

The story is very different on the street, with only available light. Shooting fashion on the street is an order of magnitude harder than studio photography, but the images can be so much more engaging. 

Continue reading . . . 

Fashionable Thoughts (With the Fuji X-Series)

In the first part, we discussed the intersection of proxemics and street style. In this part, we turn our attention to making fashion images. Fashion photography is very difficult because, despite the claims of books, website tutorials, and lighting-product pitches to the contrary, fashion photography is not technical. The more important aspect is the philosophical approach.

Working with CHV Design in Paris, the designer's primary concept with this dress was its drape—the way the fabric hangs and moves. Accordingly, the images about this dress emphasize its draping with movement.

Prêt à penser

In most photography, the perspective and ideas of the photographer are primary: each situation to which a photographer responds and each image a photographer makes as a result of those visual interests reveals the surreal mind of that particular photographer. With fashion photography, not only is the subject intentionally chosen, but it is not the photographer's perspective that's important—it's the designer's. 

That said, fashion is an intersection of proxemics and creative viewpoints. Although the role of the designer as an "artist" has been the topic of debate in some circles, fashion is an expression of creativity, imagination, and skill that fits the Oxford Dictionary’s definition of art: 

The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

The designer has a creative goal in mind and "fashion" is the medium for the expression of that idea. 

The person wearing the design adds individual goals of unique expression informed not only by the clothing, but by personality and physicality (e.g., a personal style). Pierre Bergé, co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent Couture House, goes as far as saying “fashion exists only when it’s worn by women." For Berge, without the individual expression of the wearer the creative goal is not complete. The role of the wearer is an integral and necessary part of the medium. (This is an expression of Duchamp's concept that the spectator is a necessary part of an artwork's existence.) 

When a model puts on a designer's creation, their respective goals will overlap somewhere. In observing the overlaps on this Venn fashion diagram, the photographer has the creative task of visually translating the different expressions, and reconciling them to realize the designer's intent as part of a cohesive whole. 

Making fashion photography about the technical is one of the worst things that can happen, because it shifts the emphasis to the photographer's creative vision and away from understanding the designer. The photographer most certainly must have a strong technical skill set and a large toolbox from which to draw, but the emphasis must always be on using those tools not to fulfill the photographer's perspective, but to expose the designer's vision.

That process begins by understanding the goals of a collection. Fashion is—broadly—a form of protection and expression that individuals use to communicate deeper aspects of themselves. If we all made our own clothes, then the model would be the subject. But few of us design and make our own clothes. Instead, we select pieces which match a feeling, mood, thought, etc. In showing a collection, the goal of a fashion photographer is to reveal the designer's perspective as broadly as possible so that the viewer can see whether the designer's message is one with which the viewer identifies. If the model's personality is the primary subject (as in a portrait), then that message is obscured.

Eye of the Beholder

Which is another complication of fashion: the audience. Fashion images have a variety of audiences, which are generally narrow:

The Designer. The primary audience is the designer. The photographer's primary job is making sure to capture and express the designer's intention. The other audiences are secondary, but it helps to understand them.

Commercial buyers. Unless the photography is purely for documentary purposes (such as to show seamstresses how to assemble pieces), the designer will be using the images to sell the collection. Representatives from stores, boutiques, and other retail outlets look at collections and decide which ones to market. Commercial buyers are tasked with determining whether their customers will purchase the designs.

Although commercial buyers are able to look past an image to the underlying designs, they're also inundated with a variety of boring studio images. Giving them something creative and energetic to look at is always a plus, and catalogs created for commercial buyers often have some of the best fashion photography that the public never sees.

Clients. As with any other brand, fashion houses get loyal followings. Top customers often receive buyer catalogs, as well as limited run pieces, such as prints, magazines, or posters.

The public. Publicity images may be drawn from the images made for marketing to commercial buyers, but more likely there will be a different campaign for the public. While commercial buyers need to understand the design of the clothes, the public wants to see the clothes in action.

Fashion is a fascinating area of photography with incredible depth and diversity. Getting to work with creative minds and gorgeous models is exciting, but it sometimes gets difficult to capture the overall theme. If you get a chance to shoot fashion, make it your first step to set your own creative ideas to the side and instead understand the designer and the creative goal of the collection. With the right orientation, you'll be able to make amazing images that capture a neglected aspect of how we relate and express ourselves to one another.