First Edit

November 19, 2013

For this project I decided to create a fashion shoot. My inspiration for this shoot was the amazing, prolific Madonna and her music video called Vogue, and the band Kazaky.

I wanted to create an edgier character that is both strong and elegant. I chose to keep my color palette simple and clean focusing more on the movement and clothing of my model. I wanted a lot of contrast and strong poses to go along with the elegant grace that my model Alex Vargas does so well.

I really love the edgier style and especially the playfulness that Alex brought to the shoot. As always, having a model who is free, confident, and who loves to experiment in front of the camera is a blessing for a photographer.

Many thanks to Alex for being so fantastic to work with.

How Things Changed and Why

A year after my first edit of this project that is now called “Silent Explosions”, I decided to reevaluate and take the project in a different direction.

Things I didn’t like:

-Texture and color were too distracting and took interest away from the main subject.

-I had just taken my first Adobe Photoshop editing class and made many rookie mistakes.

-Too much high pass filter to sharpen.

-My background retouching was very sloppy because I didn’t know how to fix it properly.

-Poor retouching in skin and in fabric, which thanks to my classes and YouTube, I was able to learn some quick and non destructive ways to edit skin.

It’s also important to note that I shot this project on a Nikon D20, and what I learned was that all of my former artistic choices only exaggerated the low pixel count, and overall quality of the images.

How I Fixed It

After a day of experimentation, I concluded that the monochromatic finish and color tone was more in tune with the concept and feel of the project. Neither of them distracted from my main subject, and it gave the images a calmer expression. I was able to go in and retouch all of the fabric “wispies,” skin imperfections to a much more professional level than before, as well as re-edit the background walls to look smooth and even.

As you can see, I also innocently mistook this project for a “Fashion Shoot,” which it is not. The project is more along the lines of Fine Art Photography and Dance Photography. However, after going back to this work, I can see the influence of different fashion perfume advertisements that I’ve seen in the past and have since shot some of my fine artwork with this market in mind.

Second Edit

February 19, 2014

My concept for the series was “The Unveiling of Passion”. I wanted to illustrate the struggle between staying grounded and allowing yourself to fly away with whatever passions you may feel. The fabric represents passion, with its soft, organic shapes and unpredictable nature. Alex Vargas represents the opposite; Alex represents the idea of stability and strength. In all of his positions Alex is elegant and strong, maintaining a grounded stance.

Model: Alex Vargas

Styling & MU: Susana & Alicia Blair

Retouching: Alicia M. Blair

To view more images from this series, click on the link below

http://www.aliciamblairphotography.com/2850598-silent-explosions

Thanks for reading!

Alicia M. Blair