Wetlook World Forum

          Yes we have considered how photos are shown. The problem isn't as easily resolved as following the style and technique of another photographer. Rather, the problems are with how images are taken and how they are displayed. Most cameras do not shoot with a square frame. They are biased towards a more rectangular frame. TV's computer monitors and even magazines aren't square either. Well ok it should be simple right? Just shoot images so that the frame matches a TV or Computer monitor, in landscape (wider rather than taller) but it's not as easy as that. If you happen to shoot models, the basic human form when standing, is an object which is tall and thin. To capture this, it's necessary to turn the camera on it's side, shooting portrait (taller rather than wider)

Why do we do this? It's simple. If we shot a standing person, in landscape, the majority of the image will be nothing more than background. If it's mostly background, then the background dominates the scene. This maybe fine if your intent is to emphasize a location, but it does nothing to emphasize your subject and the model will appear much smaller in the scene. Another thing to consider is, if you shot a standing person in landscape, you'll have to capture it from a greater distance. The further away you shoot, the less detail you capture. Unless you're photographing people laying down, or horizontal, most shots of people tend to be shot in portrait, (camera turned on it's side) so that the background is minimized and the subject becomes the dominate feature in the scene. Of course when you display an image in the portrait, your TV or monitor shows the image slightly smaller with space on either side, or you have to scroll the image to see the entire scene, but the subject, the person in the photo, will appear larger within a portrait frame than if the subject was shot in the landscape frame, and with greater detail. Until the shape of your TV screen (which is now offered in wide screen) or computer monitor changes to fit photography, we are generally stuck with dead space.

TVs and computer monitors do not have anywhere near the resolution that a typical digital camera can produce. If we were to display an image as captured, the size of the file as well as how it was displayed would be difficult, but further we purposely turn down the resolution partly to save space and to prevent those from printing the images without our permission. If they attempted to print an image, they would get a pixelated image back.

"By the way - what is the purpose of slanted camera? If the photographer is not good enough to create something outstanding, but nevertheless wants something special, he can of course always slant the camera, but to me it looks absolutely crazy."

What makes for great photography is the ability to compose an image, rather than to just take a snap shot. Most people simply take pictures, centering the subject in the frame. This is ok if you don't care about the quality of your work, but if you want your images to stand out, you need to compose each shot. The classic technique is to use the "rule of thirds" method to capture your image. Here is an example (from SOG466);

The model isn't located at the center of the image, she is offset to one side of the frame. The purpose of this is to attract the eye. Things that are symmetrical are expected, and therefore do not generate enough interest to capture attention, but we notice things that are asymmetrical. The rule of thirds is we compose images by offsetting the subject or elements we intend to highlight within the image to draw the eye to it. Likewise tilting the camera is another simple technique to capture your eye. In the absence of the rule of thirds, the diagonal frame, a form of composition, has the same effect on the viewer as does the rule of thirds.

In this image, (from set SOG457) the horizon isn't discernible so the diagonal frame isn't unusual.

In this image where the horizon is discernible the only advantage of the diagonal frame, is to capture attention to the image as this example from set SOG191 shows;

The most basic of professional photographers is understanding the concept of capturing the interest of your audience. Look at the ads in high end fashion magazines. Although the ads are to highlight a product they use a wide variety of techniques and a ton of creativity to highlight the subject of the ad. BTW, the same holds true for videography, but unlike photography, it's far more difficult to pull off a portrait frame (turned on it's side) video. TVs and computer monitors are far more ideal to vids than photos.

"I have been photographing all my life and definitely prefer quality to quantity. To me a good picture is a picture, which tells a story, and a picture, which you can hang on your wall and look at every day for more years without being tired of it. Ask yourself if this is the case for your pictures or it perhaps is worth spending a little more time on planing and photographically qualities - and perhaps on model and clothing selection."

As one whose been photographing most of my life I can say that, yes while a good picture tells a good story, I never rest on my laurels. I do get tired of looking at my own images. Not for any reason other than I'm never really content, always feeling that I could had done it better. It's my nature. Besides my work in wetlook photography, I have other "more professional" works which I display. These two disciplines require a different method and style to my work flow. With wetlook photography, my goal is to shoot more than enough content material to appeal to my customer base. I don't spend much time in post production because the sheer number of images I create, would consume much of my life. With my artistic stuff, I'm not shooting for content. For that, all I'm looking for is that one perfect shot and I'll spend a far greater amount of time working that image until I'm satisfied with it, but even then, I'm always looking to out-do the last image.

Wetlook photography is something I love and we have a great time doing it. I know there is conversation about posed vs natural wetlook and many of you concern yourselves with things you can't possibly know, during a production. The bottom line is that there are tons of sites to choose from, all having their own unique look and style. Its just a matter of finding the one that best suits your desires. For us, I try to produce images at the best quality possible, with as many variables possible, but I do know that not everyone will be attracted to it, likewise, this is a fact for every producer.

EdR