By Malbon, 1549874430
I was talking to someone about my editing/retouch service and he asked me if I could guarantee an FPI.
He was joking, and I don't think he was at all surprised when I said no, I couldn't.
But it made me think again about how to get an FPI, and some of the things that will improve your odds.
Let's just look at some of the images on today's Front Page, and see if we can figure out how they got there.
1) It's a low key portrait, shallow DOF. It's technically very good, but the main event is the expression. She is beautiful but there's more to it than that - she is telling us something about people, about life, it's moving and affecting.
2) It's a beauty image with very strong colour composition and high impact. It's creative, making clever use of a prop which matches the model's styling, and it's very well executed.
3) It's a creative composite, with a strange, magical feel and a great colour comp - it's intriguing and different, we've never seen anything quite like it.
4) It's a lingerie shot with a very nice informal, organic, relaxed feel. It's a great capture of a lovely model, and the distribution of light definitely favours her.
5) It's a portrait of a model wearing a hoodie of some kind. It's a very dark, low key composition but with enough light on the subject to really make her pop. It's intriguing and unusual - a very well executed creative concept.
6) It's a boudoir image with a strong contemporary feel - very skilful use of natural light and a very simple and powerful colour composition give it a lot of impact.
7) It's an art nude image, outdoor setting. The model's pose conveys a strong mood and emotion, the colour composition is unusual and effective.
8) It's a portrait but a very unusual one - the model is yelling or screaming, her face is contorted, and she's reflected in a mirror as well. It's high impact because of the model's very strong expression, and because of the very bold colour composition.
9) It's a lingerie image but in a very unusual setting -a travelator on the underground. The setting gives the image considerable impact and surprise factor - it's an unusual place to find someone in sexy lingerie. We're intrigued by it.
10) It's a b&w portrait image - it's very simple, just a very beautiful model, very well captured, composition and distribution of light are very pleasing. It's expressive as well - she's communicating with us, telling us something.
Why are these very different images FPI's? Because each one is, in it's own way, ticking one or more of the magic boxes of composition, execution, creativity, impact, and affect.
What unites them? They are all the result of a great capture, but that on its own is much less likely to get you onto the Front Page.
All of these images have something else going for them - a creative, artistic, and well executed edit.
