Stylist & Photographer: working together

[BetteT]

Ah ... I understand your point, Rasta.

But, like Lena, I believe that it always takes a great photographer. If the stylist has brought beautiful clothes but the photographer doesn't know how to light it to make it look beautiful or takes mediocre pictures, the images won't be that good anyway. And I have seen really good photographers take pictures of just mediocre clothing, but the photos were still fabulous. A good photographer is not only great at lighting, exposures, depth of field, framing etc. but has the "eye" to know what to do to make everything look better than it does in real life.

Of course ... the very best fashion stories, IMO, are those that have been produced by a great photographer and a great stylist, along with great hair and makeup, too. (And let's not forget a great model and great post production). It all has to be there to get a great image ... if one element is missing, then the whole thing misses the mark.

 

[melt977]

I was directed here from another thread.... and my new question is.... who is responsible for the post-production (which - I imagine - refers to photoshopping the shoot and adding any necessary visual effects)? And what I mean is, apart from who actually performs them, who decides if the shoot needs extra effects and what would these be?

 

[BetteT]

The photographer, in most cases, directs the normal post work ( color adjustments the are necessary with digital, removing stray hairs, errant wrinkles on both clothes and faces, etc.) . But I believe that the issue of adding "visual effects" in post should have been discussed and agreed upon during collaboration ... before the shoot. But the execution of the concept is usually up to the photographer.

The exception is if the work was done for a client or commissioned by a magazine ... then the client/magazine editor has the say on final images. As Lena mentioned above, when she's representing her magazine, she directs what happens to the images in post in addition to the whole concept, selection of wardrobe and models, etc.