Great work, Charlotte. Something that did cross my mind was that Victorian ladies would have been more likely to smile with their mouths shut, dentistry being what it was.
True - but in fairness, we were never going for absolute authenticity; just a flavour of Victoriana.
The five abreast reservoir dogs compo is the stand-out for me, with incredibly well executed lighting. It's a very, very strong shot.
Thanks. Everything I did that morning was either shot with one big Quadra with a small reflector and 1/2CTO, an on-camera flash or simple natural light. The five abreast one at the beginning (is that the one you mean?) was done with the big Quadra as an angled backlight to give a little separation and a hint of morning-light flare.
The rest are clearly what you set out to achieve and demonstrate good control, but I hope you don't mind me giving some takeitorleaveit feedback anyway..
Wonky composition has been done to death by a thousand Damian Lovegrove clones and is now sufficiently cliched to be irritating IMHO.
Ha, yes. But people still like it, so I still sometimes do it. This was a job for someone, not a personal project.
I also think you've done a very attractive model (newsprint skirt) a disservice by shooting close with a wide angle lens from a slightly low viewpoint - it gives her a bit of a Desperate Dan chin, which, looking at the other shots, isn't there in reality. However good you get the basics of standard or longer lens and elevated viewpoint for flattering faces still apply.
Sorry to be pernickety - wouldn't if you weren't achieving such a high standard overall.
No, not at all. If you just say 'nice capture' (or something equally bland) it doesn't mean anything. I like to hear what people really think, especially if they think I could have done better.
Yeah, the DD chin could have been played down a tad more maybe, but I was running and gunning with a standard zoom by the stage we did that and you're absolutely right, my focal length and angle didn't work so well for her. I'd been getting grief from the head porter of Middle Temple who didn't know we were going to be there, on account of how I'd got permission from Inner Temple and didn't know where the boundary line was. PITA.