Richard Tatham photo shoot outcome and pictures

Perfection – this is a must-have when it comes to Richard Tatham’s photography. Working for a range of international magazines, Richard is a fashion photographer whose clients expect perfection in every picture - and he certainly knows how to deliver it! You can take a look at his portfolio on www.richardtatham.co.uk

Despite his busy schedule, Richard Tatham was looking forward to having a photo shoot with WannabeStar June/July competition winner stephlink (Stephanie). Although it took a while to schedule the session, a suitable time slot finally opened up in mid-August, when Richard returned from a shoot in Las Vegas and had some time to spare between client projects.

Whether working for clients or just taking pictures for fun, Richard approaches every session in the same meticulous way. Everything – the location, light set-up, technology, styling, model and concept are given careful consideration to ensure the desired results.

Wanting to have full control over the light conditions, Richard picked his local studio in Nottingham for the first part of the session. This was then followed up by a location shoot in a nearby warehouse to get some more atmospheric shots. The camera and lens choices were easy as well – you cannot really go wrong with a Canon 1Ds Mk III and an 85mm f1.2 lens for a portrait shoot. In fact, the whole session was done with the 85mm f1.2 lens – a real favourite of portrait photographers due to its ability to produce superbly sharp images and a pleasing background blur.

Another important consideration for the shoot was the choice of make-up artist and styling for the shoot. For the make-up and hair, Richard asked make-up artist Leanne Shaw to participate – having worked with Leanne before, Richard was confident that she would be able to help him create exactly the kind of crisp and visually perfect images he was looking for.

To add a bit of challenge for himself, Richard had left it up to Stephanie to come up with the desired looks for the pictures. He had, however, advised her to bring along a few pictures she liked to help her communicate her ideas – while happy to go with the flow, Richard still likes to work efficiently!

When Stephanie arrived in the studio (escorted by her mother who was interested to see her daughter in a modelling session), the first order of the day was to come up with ways to produce the desired looks. After a brief discussion between Stephanie, Leanne and Richard, the plan for the day was set.

The first look mimicked and advert with Gwyneth Paltrow – a classic image with a very commercial feel. For that, Stephanie was wearing an oversized white shirt which allowed her to show off her long legs. The image was shot against a white background and then processed in PhotoShop to add that glamorous magazine look.

(c) Richard Tatham

(c) Richard Tatham

For Stephanie, the greatest challenge here was to appear completely natural in a somewhat contrived situation; after all it was just her, a white background and the large flashlights. “Remember, the models in Marie Claire don’t just smile for the camera… a range of different expressions is part of model’s assets,” said Richard when peparing for the shoot.

The first set was followed by a few clothing changes, making full use of the wardrobe Stephanie had brought with her. During the shoot, it quickly became apparent, that Richard’s choice of make-up artist was an excellent one. Leanne was up to every challenge, creating the required looks between outfit changes – even correcting a stray strand of hair or adding yet another touch of lip gloss between each individual picture. Clearly, she shared Richard’s view on every detail having to be perfect!

For the final set, Stephanie wanted to go for a “rock chick” look. Having done enough of the standard white studio background shots for the day, Richard decided to move the shoot to a nearby warehouse, to get a more varied background for this series of pictures. He also decided to add a few twists in the light set-up. The background was blanketed in “soft” diffused light, whereas the light covering Stephanie was kept more focused to bring out the texture of her leather jacket.

Understanding light and how it affects the model, the different fabrics of her clothing and the form and shape of shadows in the background is part of a good studio photographer’s bag of tricks. And Richard certainly knows all of them! "Details are very important," he explains "I have to look how the shadows fall, maybe the model has to move half an inch - then once we've got it, it's 'Hold!' and I take the shot."

(c) Richard Tatham

(c) Richard Tatham

(c) Richard Tatham

Looking at the pictures afterwards, Stephanie was amazed by the results – while posing for the camera, one doesn’t always realize that magic that is created through the combination of setting the right lighting, choosing the right lens apertures and picking the exactly right angles for the shot. And with the make-up, styling and a bit of post-processing, the pictures are ready for a commercial publication – or as in this case – a great addition to the portfolios of the photographer and the model.

“It was a great experience for me – loved the styling and the photos... and I also got in touch with a modelling agency that Leanne recommended. They were happy to sign me up!” were Stephanie’s comments a few weeks after the shoot.

For Richard, the shoot was a successful experience as well. "Sometimes it's really great to do a shoot without a specific client brief – to set up a studio, get a make-up artist and stylist involved and go with the flow…" he said afterwards. “I do a lot of commercial work – and Stephanie has a very good commercial look by the way – but one must not forget the fun and enjoyment that comes with taking pictures! ...Especially that moment when you really get every little detail just right…”

Going forward, Richard will keep working on taking those perfect pictures, both for his clients and for his own enjoyment. “I do have bit of a dream, though,” he confesses, “as I work a lot for hair saloons, some day I would like to shoot the winning entry for the British Hairdressing Awards”. And looking at the quality of his work so far, this day just might come along sooner than you could expect!

If you would like to see more of Richard Tatham's work please follow the link www.richardtatham.co.uk to his home page

Should you be interested in participating in a photo shoot like this - please check out WannabeStar competitions - it's all FREE!