Wondering whether to follow through with the Boudoir Session? Choose the Right Studio!

Written by Big-Shot Admin on August 16th, 2010

As a potential customer toying with the idea of a Boudoir Photography session, here’s a sampling of what you can expect after choosing Capture Your Best to realize your vision . . .

“As I prepared to marry my best friend, I decided to get him a gift he truly would never forget. I was nervous and skeptical but determined to do this for my future husband. Dennis (Owner/Photographer) was extremely professional, had a woman there the whole shoot to ease any discomfort.  He provided an amazing make up artist there as well. He was open to any and all of what I wanted, not what he thought was best which made me feel like a star and a very valued customer. He was relaxed, easy going, took his time to create the most amazing pictures I have ever taken. He then went the extra mile to make the pictures perfect by removing unwanted blemishes and marks from the photos before printing. He also made a CD (extra cost but that was not in the original deal) set to music I chose and it was UNBELIEVABLE! He must have spent a lot of time to make it so perfect. I highly recommend Dennis to get your pictures whether it is for a weeding present, anniversary, birthday, whatever. I have even considered bringing a few friends for a fun fashion show photo shoot for an afternoon of fun. He is open to anything and extremely easy to work with.”  -  Kelly – Palatine, IL

“I believe that no matter what your personality, height, looks etc; as a woman you must do this at least once in your lifetime. The photo shoot was an amazing experience, the end product was perfect and so was the service. My Fiancé loved it he could not stop admiring them!!”  -  Katherine – Aurora, IL

These are the words of some recent customers.  They are a reflection of the passion I have for my work.  They are indicative of my experience with, and understanding of, the use of light to make you look radiant like never before.  But most of all, they point directly to my unwavering focus on you – the customer when we meet, the model when we shoot.

 

Welcome to the Capture Your Best Blog

Written by Big-Shot Admin on June 9th, 2010

Dedicated to bringing out the glamorous side of my clients through an exquisite use of light and shadow, Capture Your Best is a portrait photography studio whose name says it all.  Elusive as the term “glamour” might be in terms of defining, I suspect there’s a glamorous side to nearly every woman, a side driven to calling attention to the essence of what makes her attractive.  My job is to distill that essence, to bring the confidence and self-assurance to the surface as it pertains to what draws our visual attention to her.

Please feel free to share your thoughts on glamour photography, or visit any of the remaining topics and do the same . . .

 

Boudoir Photography Grows in Popularity

Written by Big-Shot Admin on June 9th, 2010

Read more about the increasing interest and participation of brides-to-be in the Boudoir experience, in The Knot . . . Wedding Photography: The Wedding Boudoir Photography Trend
Read my thoughts on Boudoir Photography by a) clicking on “Boudoir Photography Grows in Popularity” if you’re on the Blog home page, or b) by clicking on the Boudoir category.

 

Experience with Models

Written by Big-Shot Admin on March 14th, 2010

I’ve had the pleasure of working with some talented models, among them Tamara Mackic.

Professional Model

Tamara Mackic

My experience with models has lead to the conclusion that the most important quality they can bring to a session is not exterior beauty, but rather, imagination.  A model can have the features of a goddess, but if she simply holds an expression and/or pose from shot to shot, I’m left with a monotonous, shallow beauty.  But a model who taps into her creative instincts and varies her expressions and poses is one who lends a multi-dimensional feel to the gallery of shots we produce.  As such, modeling is not as easy as it looks, requiring creativity, confidence and an ability to respond quickly to the seconds which lead up to that next shot . . .

Tamara bestows a special presence to a session. In addition to all the points outlined above, she evokes the carnal beauty so prominent in the 1950s, a decade which conjures up the notion of “when women were women,” and dominated by the likes of Kim Novak, Ava Gardener and the great Miss Monroe. Her look is indeed a rare one today, a time in which so many famous models seem interchangeable, lacking the uniqueness of a signature look. Tamara has, to put it simply, the intangible but unmistakable look of a star.

Please share your thoughts about modeling and model photography . . .

 

Retouching – Some Thoughts

Written by Big-Shot Admin on March 14th, 2010

There’s a mild controversy surrounding Retouching photographs. Some people see it, when it comes to portraits, as outright deception. After all, we’re creating an image of someone without that precious wart on the end of their nose, or with the absence of that signature flab which ordinarily adorns their upper arms. Whether it’s movies, literature or photographs, people are conditioned to apply the sacred yardstick of “reality” to art forms. This is what I call The Realism Fallacy.

Before/After Retouching example

Before/After Retouching example

To take photography as one example, no matter what choices the photographer makes in rendering his image, he will never end up with anything more than a two-dimensional amalgam of light and shadow.  Even if filters, Photoshop or anything else which may conceal or enhance some feature of a human subject is is left on the sidelines, the closest the photographer will ever get to the reality of the subject is a mere representation of her, which is to say about as close as a history book comes to recreating the actual horrors of the Civil War.  When a human being is “present” in an artwork, they are never anything more than a representation of a human being, an illusion constructed by the raw elements of the chosen medium.  When the representation closely resembles the perception the audience has of the living, breathing person, we can say the artist is applying the style of Realism.  The problem arises when the viewer confuses reality with the style of Realism, two concepts inherently linked about as closely as a bottle of Dom Perignon and Castor oil.

Because photography lends itself to the style of Realism by the nature of its mechanics as a recording device, people tend to expect a strict adherence to a representational use of the medium.  But since photography can be – and has been to magnificent effect - used as an artform, it has absolutely no obligation to be constrained to strongly representing aunt Sarah in a photograph.  She may be rendered in black and white, with a soft focus, by abstract use of light, exaggerated colors and so on.  And in doing so, the photographer is simply moving from one style (Realism) to another (e.g., Expressionism).

And this brings us full circle back to retouching.  Retouching is not about concealing the duplication of reality; it’s a creative choice, fundamentally not much different than what the French Impressionists chose when they painted aunt Sarah, and rendered her looking like a vague image of a real woman named Sarah bathed in an other worldly, haze of sunlight.  Theirs was a style somewhere between Realism and Abstraction, as is the case with most works of art.  But, you might say, we’re only really talking about people’s vanity, not art, right?  The problem here is that once you open the door to the motive behind the finished work, you are going down a road leading to psychological speculation, which entirely loses sight of evaluating the work on its own merits.  Besides, why should retouching be excluded from the acceptance granted to the likes of Revlon, cosmetic surgery, Botox and tanning salons?  Because it alters a photograph?  If the retouching is used to alter the appearance of someone on a dating website, then we’ve clearly entered the realm of false advertising, and hence, a violation of ethics.  Outside of this context, or any in which the viewer is acquiring something and expects to see the closest representation of that something as possible, to have the best idea of what they’re getting, however, freedom of expression is the default jurisdiction.  There will always be exceptions.

So before protesting the sacralige of retouching, some people need to realize that, regardless of the motives, retouching is not violating “reality” to begin with, but rather just another creative choice in the manipulation of light and shadow.

 

The Foundation of Portraits

Written by Big-Shot Admin on March 14th, 2010

Portrait photography is the foundation of my business.  Everything else – Boudoir, Glamour, Model photography – stems from it.  The goal of Portrait photography is to capture, if not the essence of the subject, then an essential aspect of who they are, while also commenting on the subject photographically.  Yousuf Karsh is one of the true masters of this, helping to define the art form along the way.  It is astounding to study a gallery of his work and realize he never had tools like Photoshop to lean on.  His Photoshop was a darkroom, and judging by the comparative limitations of this “tool,” it appears he did most of his work with the camera itself.  By this, I mean composition of the image, film stock and Lighting. 

Portrait in Natural Light

Portrait in Natural Light

Karsh was not driven by the goal of beautifying his subjects; the goal of the image seemed to be determined by the uniqueness of the individual person.  Many photographers measure the “success” of a portrait by the degree to which it engenders emotion in the viewer.  The term “emotion” is used broadly here.  For instance, if I look at a photo of a woman smiling, does it illicit a kind of warmth and happiness in me?  And if it does, why?  What makes this particular image do that?  I’ve seen five images of the same woman, taken seconds apart, next to each other, and only one has had that sort of effect on me.  The difference in that particular picture could be a slight change in the angle of the camera, a slight change in the position of her head, or the way her eyes look in relation to the lights, and so on.

Feel free to offer comments on what makes a portrait special to you . . .

 

About Glamour

Written by Big-Shot Admin on March 14th, 2010

How do you define glamour?  When you think about it, it’s a pretty elusive term.  Yet it is the focus of Capture Your Best.

Glamour Portrait

Glamour Portrait

Glamour photography has its roots in the photography of George Hurrell, a gifted artist who helped to define the 20th century sense of the term by photographing movie stars from the 1920s through the 1950s.  No longer regular people with perceivable flaws, Hurrell’s subjects were idealized icons, radiating a kind of celestial glow unattainable to mortal man.

Glamour photography is about creating images which make the subject look beyond their best, into a kind of other worldly, shimmering beauty.  Perhaps more so than any other type of portrait photography, glamour images are created by meticulous lighting.  But clearly, however one defines it, glamour photography is something you know when you see it.

 

The Value of Restoration

Written by Big-Shot Admin on March 14th, 2010

Even those of us who had the foresight to store these memories in albums can still find, with little effort, fading, tears, discoloration, folds and other ravages of age. Everyone likes old photos (though not necessarily of themselves). So isn’t it worth it to rescue that image of your son’s barmitzvah, or that of the family together posing before the Grand Canyon?

Major Restoration - Before & After

Major Restoration - Before & After

Who among us is not in possession of countless old snapshots of treasured moments with family and friends?  And among these collections, who doesn’t have prints which are damaged?

Capture Your Best can Restore old photos to virturally new condition.  There is no technical formula for doing so which applies to all aging photos.  Each one needs to be dealt with on an individual basis.  The Restoration of each varies according to not only the damage in need of repair, but also the nature of the picture.  I have tackled ones from 100 years ago – with amazing results – to ones prematurely damaged that are only a week old.

So check out the Restoration Gallery (http://captureyourbest.net/Restoration%20Gal/index.html ) and get out those priceless prints.  Either you or I will scan them, and the rest is left up to me . . . (http://captureyourbest.net/CYB-Retouch.html ).