DAY 187

FASHION & BEAUTY

Urban Location Scouting

TAKING IT TO THE STREETS

The world is your studio! The best way to scout for new locations is on foot or bicycle. This allows for the discovery of the subtle nuances of the location that are missed in a car. Pack a small, lightweight camera with a wide-angle lens, make a preliminary drive by of unvisited neighborhoods, then circle back, park the car, and head out on a scouting adventure.

Pay attention to the surrounding architecture and the local color and textures. Stray from the traffic routes, and explore side streets and alleys. Look for out-of-the-way nooks and passages. Note where the sun is at the time of the scouting photo—this information will come in handy when planning your return shoot. Perform a 360-degree pan of the location, taking photographs at every 30 degrees for future reference.

The girl with the flower in her hair was shot on the sidewalk of a busy street in San Francisco at a 2.8 aperture with a 200mm lens, shutter speed 1/60. The shallow depth of field was chosen to isolate the subject and create a soft color palette out of the background that complements the model’s makeup, clothing and floral accessory. To illustrate the compression of space created by the 2.8 aperture, the yellow-colored shape in the background is actually a person and the parked cars are reduced to organic shapes. The blurred urban background is a welcoming contrast against the beauty of the subject. —MR