The many faces of Anzhelika

I have first shot Anzhelika in 2007, and have worked with her several times since. Each time she seems to bring something new and different to the shoot, here is just a small collection of her different looks.

#1

Moppie #8 is the 1 that stood out for me. Nice soft portrait image of a young woman. Like the slight low angle you used.
Also alows me to wonder what she is thinking.

Just watch cutting off fingers (left hand)

For now, two things:

1) It's genuinely a very, very good thing that you're posting all these shots. It's encouraging to me, to see you come out of your shell photographically a bit and put all this stuff out there. Very positive, and PLEASE, keep doing it.

2) Whilst you know I think 'lika's cool as cucumber, and although difficult to shoot, has an explicable something that makes you do it over, and over, each of these images leaves something open, where it could have gone better. So with that in mind, am I being gentle or brutal with the C&C? (You know what I mean!)

manipula wrote in post #7385940
So with that in mind, am I being gentle or brutal with the C&C? (You know what I mean!)

Please tell me more.

Because I think I know what you mean, I do get a feeling of "I wonder if....."

You can pretty much ignore the first 3, as they are old and I feel I have developed a lot since then, but please feel free to tear into the last lot.

Right...

Bad:

1) Skin smoothing/cloning out the skin imperfections has left the skin looking blotchy. I struggle with this all the time, but I'm still **** at PS. Her face says nothing. She's not telling you anything other than a blank expression, almost bordering on boredom, which I suspect isn't the case.

2) Despite the fact every time I look at it I go "Good God!" the tones around her stomach (read as her angle to the sun) make her stomach look more rotund than it is.

3) I love the eye contact, but it's often almost instantly submissive when she lowers her head, and that face and eye contact go at odds with that. Keep that chin up. (And no it's not a Russian thing, I say it more than anything else in EVERY shoot.)

4) Good colours, good lighting, but that chin down stance again makes her jaw line wider than it actually is. She's come over all Minnie Driver (like it's a bad thing) instead of the more lithe and elegant lady she is. I wonder too, if the two (?) lights here casting the subtle shadows against eachother is not a bit 'busy'... Hmmm maybe, maybe not.

5) OK, if we're cutting the cr@p, she looks hot as hell. But the photo itself instead of being a shot of her, looks more like an excerice in seizing the opportunity to catch her flashing her belly and pulling a cute pose. The thing is, I think you can get that, and a photo of her too. And you're dangerously close as her expression there is well on the way to being her coming out. (And believe me, I well know how difficult it is here to get her to release that side of her.)

6) Oh so close. That shadow across her face from the hat needs losing. And you could also afford to drop the gap between the ambient exposure and the flash down half a stop or so for a bit more punch. The pose and wardrobe is bang on. Very close.

7) Almost nothing to fault. In fact there's nothing to fault. My own tastes ask if you couldn't also have moved the shot sideways and thrown an element of high fashion editorial stuff in there. Drop the ambient exposure, let the flash take over more, get that chin up and get her to stare the camera out big time. A bit of attitude and a shift in ambient/flash balance would make that a fashion magazine shot. It's very good.

8) This one takes me closest to what I'd have shot myself I think. Except me being the miserable bugger and gritty sod that I am, I'd have tried to throw the emphasis onto her more with less DOF, and process it as a harsher and more gritty image. It's pretty bloody good all in though. (And I don't mind about the fingers, I think if the image is strong enough it holds you in place and you'd never notice the fingers unless you went looking for something to pick fault at. (Not a dig Tony.) I think the focus of the shot is strong enough you only look at it centrally anyway!)


Good:

Blatant improvement over the course of the shots. And that is generally *such* a hard thing to do. Big thumbs up! Anzhelika is one of if not the toughest person I've ever shot, as she seems to associate good photos with poses so strongly. In actual fact, I think that's total balls... That doesn't though, stop me wanting to shoot her almost all the time, because she's got 'it.' She rocks, and she's also improving Ithink. And the thing is, enviably, I think you're learning together, anf tuning into eachother more and more. That's a very cool place to be! Seriously.


(This post was brought to you by Sol beer and lots of lime, I apologise if the spelling's woeful!:lol

#8 is the strongest shot for me.