Overlays & Blendings

Grooming Day

If you’ve spent anytime perusing my Hal’s Detail Sheets’ archives, you’ll see I have a rather eclectic number of projects and ideas posted there in.  With two exceptions, the projects detailed here remain open and active, though perhaps not quite as active as I could wish. 

Collaborators, no matter the project, are ALWAYS welcome and ALWAYS needed.  That’s a gentle hint, Friends.  Future Friends, too!

…but I digress.  Time to focus again.  Ready?  Here we go…

Each of my projects have a unique “hook” or “focus” of their own.  Wander thru and check ‘em out – I think “eclectic” pretty much says it.  There’s been some unintentional “blurring” across Project lines, from session to session and shoot to shoot.  Sometimes, props or concepts from one project are used in an unrelated project, yielding images that I think are stronger for the melding.

Gibson Girl

For example, at right you see the results of a melding of an “American Postcards” nude with a set of “Martini Life” props.  I’ve titled the capture “Gibson Girl” and I absolutely adore it.  It makes me smile…

When this happens, I call it an overlay.  The use of one concept, theme, or prop used in a second, unrelated project.  Sometimes the results are quite startling – which brings me to the Detail Sheet you’re currently reading.  Let’s stretch a few boundaries, shall we?

Lady Bird...

The Bird

An exceptionally simple “overlay” that can cross Project Lines with startling ease.  Whether a nude shoot, a concept shoot, pinups, fashion, editorial or simply a portfolio shoot, throwing in a few shots of the model “throwing The Bird” is bound to bring a few smiles…

I think I may make a point of requesting it in all my model shoots from now on.  There may even be a book in it.  Who knows?  Not me, but it ought to be fun…

Marlissa Beside Herself...

Multiplicity

I've been "toying" with creating 'Multiplicity' images for a few years now.  Not familiar with the term?  No worries – look at the samples posted above & at left.  Simply put, it’s a “freeze frame” of sorts in which the model appears in multiple locations within a static scene.  Above is Marlissa Beside Herself and below is A Gather of Tiffany.  Marlissa’s  session was a portfolio shoot, while Tiffany was working on creating some American Postcards with me.  I like ‘em both…

A Gather of Tiffany...

Imagine window shopping every store in a single shot.  Or being Pitcher, Catcher and Batter in a “Batter Up!” pinup session.  So many possibilities…

Happy New Year!

The Masquerade

Part of the fun of model photography is crafting concepts in which real life “ain’t necessarily so…”  Enter The Masquerade, where the simple act of tying a kerchief about your lower face & donning a cowboy hat transforms you into a trail hand or bank robber from the Wild West.  Yes, this overlay is all about masks.  From as complexly beautiful as a bejeweled opera mask or as simple as a brown grocery bag with eyeholes cut into it, masks can add immeasurably to a scene or moment.  

Primary Colors

Making A Splash...

At left you see a shot from a long defunct fashion project of mine I titled "Splash."  The idea was to have my model attired in black or white with a single, brightly colored accessory.  The idea was a "Splash" of color would make really make the scene pop.

The "Primary Colors" overlay is much the same idea, minus the fashion component.  The idea is to use a single, high saturation prop, accessory, background - whatever - as a component in the image to make the image really pop and the subject stand out in juxtaposition to it.

Examples?  How about being a Lilliputian navigating your way across a pool table’s green felt?  Or doing an American Denim set in front of a Fire Engine?  So many possibilities...

Tools

I adore creating images that will make the viewer stop and think.  Something out of the ordinary that is completely unexpected.  Imagine a “Batter Up” pinup using a crowbar in place of a ball bat or an “American Postcard” wearing a carpenter’s tool belt instead of a necklace.  Perhaps an “After Dark” denizen taking a wrench to a mail box… 

The Musical Tree...

Musicality

I shot the image at right a few years back with a lovely young lady who has moved on from modeling to a career in Dance.  While the focus of this particular session was supposed to be her shoes, we free styled a bit late in the session.  It turns out she had her guitar in her car’s trunk, so we included it in a few shots.  In this case, I raised the camera above shoe level and the results, it turns out, would work very well for “American Denim.” 

Guitar Support...

I would dearly love to include a Musical component of some kind into my projects.  Do you write Music?  How'd you like to be a Lilliputian dancing across your very own musical score?  Or perhaps lying across the score w/pencil in hand worrying a bridge or choral arrangement?  (Hope I used those terms properly; my instrument of choice is the car radio.)

I’ve included guitars & keyboards in a couple American Postcard sessions – I’d like to do more featuring a saxophone, harmonica, drums…  Maybe include a Boom Box for an American Denim session, or a flute used in place of a Batter UP! bat? 

Balls

Nothing Up Her Sleeve...

Here we see a vintage shot I captured a few years back for Batter Up!   Truthfully, I’ve shot something similar in nearly all my Batter Up! sessions.  It occurs to me, though, that while this makes me smile, perhaps replacing the baseballs w/a football might make me guffaw.  (Proper guffaws by fat men are awesome to see – trust me!)

Or we might have the batter swinging at a soccer ball.  Maybe the umpire is wearing a ball gag?  I’ve already included a basketball into an American Postcard session, but it might be fun including golf balls in the next one.  Or one of those red rubber dodge balls. 

Can you imagine yourself as a Lilliputian peering around from behind someone’s prized autographed baseball or football on the mantle?  I can… 

Free Throw...

Let’s see where imagination takes us, shall we?