Clothing and colors

Whether you book a glamor or a business shoot, it is always best to choose jewel tones and expensive looking fabrics for your clothing.  Jewel tones need to compliment your skin tone and enhance your natural features.  Most people fall into two categories: cool and warm.  What does that mean?

*A person with cool undertones in their skin generally looks good in royal blue, apple red, deep purple, hunter green and pastels of the same category.  
*A person with warm undertones in their skin will look wonderful in bright yellow, orange, peach, turquoise and pastels in the same range.

Most brunettes have cool tones in their skin and many, but not all blond and black haired people have warm undertones.  If in doubt, drape yourself with a color you think will look good and observe what happens in the mirror.  If it is your color, your skin will look vibrant, if it is not, you will fade out.
A rule of thumb generally is, that if you feel good in a color, and I mean really good, then it is the right color for you.  Follow your instincts, listen to your inner voice.

You may ask: "what does she mean by expensive looking fabrics?"  This is rather simple.  It could be a simple cotton shirt, but make sure it's ironed, and of the thicker quality.  Linens, while not always inexpensive, will look slept in after just a short while on your body, so avoid linen for a shoot.  Never wear jersey, t-shirt, and sweatshirt fabrics, even the most slender person does not look good wearing these materials in a photograph of any sort.  In short, go for fabrics with body and garments tailored to have some structure.  The more put together and confident you  feel, the better the photograph will reflect who you are.

For glamor shoots, black often works really well, unless you look fantastic in white.  One might argue that neither black nor white are jewel tones, but one could also argue that they are.  Isn't onyx a jewel?  How about pearls?  In terms of clothing they both fall into the category of good choices and will work for most skin tones.
Below are a couple of examples to illustrate my point.

This hunter green gown and black background does wonders for the models skin.  

She does have blue undertones and brunette hair.

In this shot you can see how well the blue jacket works with the black hair of the model and how the white of the shirt enhances the skin tone.  The structure of the jacket enhances the models figure.

Neither one of these models would look good in yellows or oranges as both have cool undertones in their skin, even though one of them has a much lighter complexion.  This said, whether skin is tanned or not, it retains it's tonality.   The only color influenced by a tan is white since it needs a contrast to look good next to skin in a photograph.

Light and Make-up, how do they relate in a shoot?

Let's talk light and make-up:
In order to get a well lit shot in a portrait, lighting is important. Photography lighting is as powerful as stage lighting because even with the new cameras, we want to keep the ISO (film speed) as low as possible to get nice crisp images. No matter how a portrait is lit, whether the result will be dramatic or romantic and soft, lighting needs to be powerful. As a rule, light bounces off light surfaces and skin falls into that category when strong light is directed at it.

It is best to wear a heavier base, no matter how dark your skin tone is. Powder matts the skin and helps absorb some of the light, lending the skin a natural appearance on the photograph. it is said that eyes are the window to the soul and this is doubly true in a photograph. Never apply eye-makeup you would wear during the day. The smokey eye works best for glamor shots and for business shots go just a little less smokey. Cheeks should be accented to lend the face some angular planes. If the face in question has natural angularity, a little will go a long way. with a round or heart-shape face, it is important to accent the cheekbones.

The camera sees angles, light plays off them and creates a beautiful image. Accent your strong points in your face for the best shots. If in doubt about what to do, have your make-up done for the shoot and tell your make-up artist what you are after. This is something you should discuss with your photographer prior to the shoot so you are on the same page.

Below are two examples of good make-up for a glamor shot, both for color and black and white.

look at the eyes, they are expressive and the skin looks luminous, without make-up appropriate for lighting , she would look washed out.

the same holds true in this color photograph, her cheekbones are accentuated and her eyes sparkle.  both models have a smokey eye for best results.

Fort Frederick

Last weekend my hubby and I went to Fort Frederick in Big Pool MD. This is a fort that was built shortly before the French/Indian war and was used during that time. Later it became a prison camp during the revolution. Last weekend the fort welcomed re-enacters of the french/Indian war time period. A French officer camp, a canadian camp and vendors were set up and were very friendly. They told us about how they had hunted and cooked a wild turkey the night before and what projects they were working on. It was very hot that day, at least for Maryland, with temperatures in the upper 90's which made us grateful that we did not have to wear wool as the re-enacters did. It seemed that they were hot even if they were lucky enough to wear linen shirts.
The pictures I am adding to this blog are of the two encampments and the interior of the fort. I also shot a mock battle, but will post those images later with another blog. I have not edited them yet:) for additional photographs go to my website as I can not add them all here:) http://wertmanphotography.net


Since my hubby and I had been to Gettysburg last, this was a nice shift in time and made you realize that some things really did not change that much in about 120 years:) The women's clothing was the most obvious change and the military garb of the day was more primitive in the day of the french/indian war as well. Camping and cooking, however did not seem to have made progress:)

Please peruse the photographs and let me know what you think:)

selling photos

It is always interesting what people are drawn to and what sells. Recently I had a show in downtown Hagerstown and I also hung some work in an office space and as a result of the show and the display in the office space I sold some work. All three are still lives in some form as you can see below. They are quite different in character and the most abstract of the three actually attracted quite a bit of interest at the show. People see what they relate to. And as an artist I love to hear what it is you see, especially in my abstract work. Check these out and let me know what you think of either. I always love to hear opinions.

Event shooting tonight

I am shooting a fashion show tonight. The location is in a local Jazz club, so lighting will be nice and moody. I will take the tripod as the lights will probably be low. Thank God for the D700, It shoots great in a high ISO with little or no grain as long as I don't go over 3200 ISO. I am really curious about what I will get tonight and will share some of it in the next week or so. I don't do much event photography as I am not in control of lighting in that situation, but this is for the modeling agency I work with, so it's a nice extension of what I usually do for them.

On a side note: My show is up for 4 more days. I had a good mix of work in it and will post some of it soon to share in case you did not make it down to the show.
That's it for now, I am off to shoot the event. More later, including some pictures.

new album on facebook

I played with old Hollywood style photography today. All the shots are black and white and have that George Hurrell flair.
I will add a couple of them here, but please check them out on my website:
http://wertmanphotography.net/Wertman_Photography/Galleries/Galleries.html

and on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176695&id=118740478822&upload=1

I would love some feedback as I need to pick three out of them to add to my upcoming show.
Here are a few:

model shoot

I recently worked on a model shoot and found it very inspiring. It is nice to work with models because they have a goal in mind that most consumers don't. They want to be hired. It creates a different atmosphere and is a lot of fun. Individuals come to me for personal or business shots and while that is fun as well, I don't have a make-up artist to help make the person look their best. In most cases that is fine, because most women know how to do their make-up and are happy with the outcome.

Working with the models was different. I had a make-up artist and they looked picture ready. He also fixed their hair and when something did not work for the shots, he rearranged until it worked. Nice experience! I get to work with the agency again this next Friday. I am curious to see who I have this time.

at the moment I am working on creating the comp card designs. Fun Stuff. I am attaching some shots from the last shoot.
the agency I am working with is Maia modeling and talent agency in hagerstown, MD. They also run a finishing school, including business manners and general finishing behavior for younger people. Very nice group to work with. If you are interested in the services they offer, give them a call at 443-865-3068.

That's all for today.