NEW YORK-BASED FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER LINDSAY ADLER IS ALL FOR TRYING NEW STYLES - SHE SPEAKS TO CAROLINE WILKINSON ABOUT HER CREATIVE IN-CAMERATECHNIQUE THAT'S PROVING POPULAR WITH COMMERCIAL CLIENTS
FOR ANY PHOTOGRAPHER, fashion or otherwise, it's important to do your own personal work. For most of us, especially if you're a person just starting out, if you only do the work you're paid to do, your portfolio stays stagnant. You're not able to try the more creative or outlandish things because a lot of people who pay want something very specific. For me. testing and personal work is absolutely essential for directing you towards what you want to do and where you want to end up: you need that type of work in your portfolio, otherwise people don't realise you can do it. I'm always shooting, keeping in mind the type of work I'd like to be paid for, as I want people to see my capabilities. If I only did commissioned work, you wouldn't be able to see how creative I could be.
'At least a quarter of the work I produce is personal: that doesn't mean it's not published, just that it's not created for a client and it's all my own vision and creative direction. These test images were from a really casual shoot: I contacted a local model agency and asked for the girl, Ashley, to turn up wearing clothes she would be comfortable in, as we were just testing camera techniques. To my standards, it wasn't a particularly well-formulated shoot: the aim was to advance my skills by trying new techniques before implementing them in commissions. Since then, what I learnt from this session has been used for several magazine shoots.
“The idea for the technique emerged when I came across the works of film director Bruno Aveillan: he uses objects in front of his lens to blur images, so it's almost like you're peeking into another world. I didn't know how he did it, so I went to an arts and crafts store and bought tons of stuff: glass jars, coloured cellophane. Christmas ornaments, candle sticks, crystals - anything that was translucent to give a try. Most things worked, but what worked best in front of the lens really depended on the look I was going for. If I wanted the edges to be exceptionally blurred, I used a thick piece of glass, but I really liked crystal prisms and a $1.99 Christmas ornament cut in half that I've used frequently since. As it's a big dome, when I stick it in front of the lens I'm extending the lens beyond the hood, enabling it to catch more of the sun's rays, creating lens flare when there wouldn't normally be any. It works best when the subject is backlit. You can replicate a similar effect using studio lights, but I far prefer the results you get with natural light. Quite often. I'd have to focus on the subject using autofocus, then switch to manual focus before putting the object in front of the lens and taking a shot.
For an editorial I did recently, I shot straight through ornate crystals, creating lots of multiple images. For that particular shoot, it wasn't as much about focus as it was about mood and enhancing the soft, feminine, dreamy quality I was briefed to produce. Again, while it was shot in a studio, I used natural window light and reflectors.
"I tend to vary between manual and aperture-priority mode, centre-weighted and multi-zone metering, depending on the situation, but I always err on the side of overexposure for bright, clean images. Whatever object you use, for the technique to work, you want to be using a lens with a really wide aperture - f/2.8 or wider - as otherwise you will start to see the edges of the object you've put in front of the lens. For me, most of these images were shot on an 85mm f/1.4 or 50mm f/1.4 lens, but a more affordable 50mm f/1.8 would work just as well. The objects were placed literally against the lens as they need to be as close as possible to obscure the picture and so that you can't distinguish the object.
There is no answer for what's the right or wrong way to do it or what to use, it comes down to what effect you want to create. Really what you're doing is technically screwing up your image by adding blur, lens flare and softening the details. I took things that were transparent, others that were more opaque, some things with colours, simply to try them out. You can also vary the effects depending on how much of the object you place across the lens. Sometimes I might only put it in the bottom left - the opposite side of the subject - so as not obscure the model, but to still add that mood and dreamlike quality I'd be trying to achieve. It's great that there's no formula, but it means a lot of experimentation, too: you have to give it a go yourself." To see more of Lindsay's work, visit: http://blog.lindsayadlerphotography.com
LINDSAY ADLER : IN VOGUE
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