Mark Hives

A few months ago I mentioned in a post that I wanted to shoot shoes and hand-bags. As if by magic, Instagram connected me with the wonderful shoe designer @via_sprezzatura His shoes are quite literally perfect in their design, choice of materials and manufacture. He and I share an aesthetic vision and are both perfectionists in our creativity, so we were a good match. @tania_watson98 was similarly perfect. When I shared her images with @via_sprezzatura he agreed she was the best model for the assignment. He even noticed she had narrow feet: something that only a shoe designer would spot. I create most of my photographs using wide angle lenses, in this case 21mm. This focal length produces amazing images if you get it right. I used the lens to elongate Tania’s legs and draw the viewer’s attention to the shoes. The lighting was quite complex. Enormous windows behind me were the main source, but I also wanted to use the backlighting from the window beyond the open doorway to create a halo around Tania and produce a small catchlight on the heel of one of the shoes. When people look at paintings or photographs, their eyes are instinctively drawn to bright areas of the image. photographer: @markhivesphotography shoes: @via_sprezzatura model: @tania_watson98 @tania_wportfolio #fashion #style #vogue #fashioneditorials #highfashion #fashionphotography #fashionmodel #fashionphotoshoot #modelposes #ukmodels #ukmodel #zeisscameralenses #zeissdistagon #longlegs

Joseph Wright of Derby is not the world’s best-known painter, but he’s one of my biggest influences. His mastery of light is a skill every photographer should aim for. I planned this photo for some time, and Joseph Wright was definitely in my subconscious as I did so. To the right hand side of these gates is a hedge, which throws the bottom right of the image into shadow when direct sunlight is used to light the scene. I deliberately used this shadow to draw the viewer’s attention to the dress. Behind the gates is a store-room filled with all kinds of unsightly stuff. I slightly underexposed the photo and took it with a 50mm lens wide open to remove these unwanted elements from the scene. I knew the gold gilt would look best under bright sunlight: it shines and glints so much more than when flatly lit. So I waited for the right day. I also knew the scene needed a gold dress, which is why I asked @antoniayorkclothing to borrow one of the beautiful kimono dresses I had seen on her website. The inspiration from the pose came from my vast database of images I have built up from many years of magazines. @aimeenicole2 gave the pose a slight twist to make it even better than the image I showed her. And hey-presto, I pressed the shutter release, and the image I held in my mind’s eye was transferred to the sensor of my camera. Some photographers have the ability to pull off great photos intuitively. Mine require great planning and I stand on the shoulders of giants like Joseph Wright of Derby. Photographer: @markhivesphotography Model: @aimeenicole2 Dress: @antoniayorkclothing Studio: @portland_works_studio #fashion #style #vogue #fashioneditorials #highfashion #fashionphotography #fashionmodel #fashionphotoshoot #modelposes #ukmodels #ukmodel #zeisscameralenses #zeissdistagon #longlegs

I’m fascinated by the ability of wide angle lenses to distort perspective such that models’ limbs appear more like the perceived ideal proposed by the fashion industry and its illustrators. This shot was one of my experiments with this perspective effect. In order to include the floor, arches and distant parkland I used a 21mm lens. I originally intended Aimee to pose with her legs pointing more towards the camera to elongate them to this fashion industry ideal. However, the highly distorting nature of the 21mm lens pushed me towards a pose where she sat parallel to the back of the camera: Mother Nature, with a little help from this beautiful @antoniayorkclothing dress, gave Aimee legs which were already more than long enough. Photographer: @markhivesphotography Model: @antoniayorkclothing Dress: @asos Topshop mini slip dress Studio: @portland_works_studio #fashion #style #vogue #fashioneditorials #highfashion #fashionphotography #fashionmodel #fashionphotoshoot #modelposes #ukmodels #ukmodel #zeisscameralenses #zeissdistagon #longlegs

What is blur and what is bokeh? When one focuses a camera lens, either manually as I do or using auto-focus, the lens redirects the rays of light emanating from the subject such that they converge to a single point on the sensor or film. Rays from any part of the scene which is further away or closer than the focussed subject will not quite converge to a single point. Instead, they will be spread over a circle, called a “circle of confusion”. When this circle of confusion becomes large enough (0.029mm on a 35mm camera), it will appear blurred to the viewer. Smaller apertures reduce the size of this circle of confusion, which is why more of the scene appears to be in focus. The engraved 4, 5.6, 8...22 that you see on manual focus lenses are the ranges in which the circles of confusion are less than 0.029mm. Circles of confusion give lenses two of their creative properties: blur and bokeh. Using a large aperture on a longer focal length lens (I used f2 on a 50mm lens for this image) enables one to blur much of the image, so that the viewer’s attention is drawn to the subject. I emphasised this further by boosting the saturation of the model and her dress. Bokeh are the circles of confusion created by bright areas of light in the image. There are a few in this image near the tree at the bottom left of the image. The bokeh’s shape depends on how many aperture blades are in the lens, and whether they are rounded or straight-edged. Bokeh is a massive area of debate amongst photographers, with some liking the retro look of straight edges and others preferring the perfect circle of rounded edges. Photographer: @markhivesphotography Model: @aimeenicole02 Dress: @asos Topshop mini slip dress Shoes: @drmartensofficial Studio: @portland_works_studio #fashion #style #vogue #fashioneditorials #highfashion #fashionphotography #fashionmodel #fashionphotoshoot #modelposes #ukmodels #ukmodel #zeisscameralenses #zeissdistagon #longlegs

Heavily influenced by the Renaissance, painted ceilings were popular from the 1540s to the 1640s. They featured common themes such as mythology, morality, symbolism and coats of arms. I photographed the amazing ceiling of the “Heaven” room at this location on a previous shoot. This time it was the “Hell” room, although photographing Keira Prosser in this Tilda Fuller dress was anything but Hellish. Unfortunately painted ceilings fell out of fashion and were often replaced by highly ornamental plasterwork in later houses. The shot I posted last summer of Cindy Jin wearing Quiyi Laing”s spider-like creation featured a classic plasterwork ceiling. Either way ceilings often create wonderful backdrops for fashion imagery. Ensure you pack a wide angle to capture them: anything from 17 to 25mm depending on how small the room is. This is the final image from this shoot. I hope you enjoyed these photos, and I very much hope to shoot Keira again as she was an absolutely wonderful model. Photographer: Mark Hives @markhivesphotography Designer: Tilda Fuller @tildafuller Model: Keira Prosser @keirafayeprosser Model agency: First Model Management @firstlondon Studio: DCC Studios @dcc.studios Styling: Drawing Cabaret Couture @drawingcabaretcouture #hautecouturephotography #fashion #style #vogue #fashioneditorials #highfashion #fashionphotography #fashionmodel #londonfashion #fashionphotoshoot #modelposes #centralsaintmartins #centralstmartins #unioftheartslondon #bafcsm #1granary #upnextdesigner #zeisscameralenses #zeissdistagon #ukmodels #ukmodel

I’ve spoken before about switching off the auto white balance on one’s camera and setting the white balance to 5560K. To do so replicates slide film and one can achieve some interesting results. The stones and windows in this old house took on a blueness that really worked to give mood to the shot. This is the penultimate shot in this series. I’ll post the final one next week. I’ll miss this editorial as I enjoyed planning and shooting it so much. Photographer: Mark Hives @markhivesphotography Designer: Tilda Fuller @tildafuller Model: Keira Prosser @keirafayeprosser Model agency: First Model Management @firstlondon Studio: DCC Studios @dcc.studios Styling: Drawing Cabaret Couture @drawingcabaretcouture #hautecouturephotography #fashion #style #vogue #fashioneditorials #highfashion #fashionphotography #fashionmodel #londonfashion #fashionphotoshoot #modelposes #centralsaintmartins #centralstmartins #unioftheartslondon #bafcsm #1granary #upnextdesigner #zeisscameralenses #zeissdistagon #ukmodels #ukmodel

I like rain. I always have. I relish childhood memories of sitting indoors with a book, watching the rain fall outside. Which is just as well given the British weather. Beautiful sunny weather brings out the crowds, and I’m definitely with Jean-Paul Sartre’s “Hell is other people” view of the world. When I took this photo, it was bucketing down. I’ve been to this location a few times to reconnoitre and ultimately shoot. Each time I go there it rains. And each time I go there I pretty much have the place to myself. For photographers, rain is wonderful. Overcast skies are perfect for lighting as they act like a giant softbox. And dry, barren surfaces take on a new life with saturated colours and specular highlights. @keirafayeprosser modelled this beautiful @tildafuller dress perfectly. Keira was a joy to work with, her mum was great, Tilda’s designs were amazing, Lucia @firstlondon was perfect and Jan and Matt were wonderful as always. Some people are not so hellish. Photographer: Mark Hives @markhivesphotography Designer: Tilda Fuller @tildafuller Model: Keira Prosser @keirafayeprosser Model agency: First Model Management @firstlondon Studio: DCC Studios @dcc.studios Styling: Drawing Cabaret Couture @drawingcabaretcouture #hautecouturephotography #fashion #style #vogue #fashioneditorials #highfashion #fashionphotography #fashionmodel #londonfashion #fashionphotoshoot #modelposes #centralsaintmartins #centralstmartins #unioftheartslondon #bafcsm #1granary #upnextdesigner #zeisscameralenses #zeissdistagon #ukmodels #ukmodel

The human visual experience is complex and far from fully understood. I remember digging into it a few years ago when I tried to recreate the human visual experience using an artificial intelligence neural network. One of the first ground breaking studies included Hubel and Wiesel’s experiments on cats which showed that some neurons fire strongly when they see movement from left to right and other neurons fire when they see movement from up to down. Thus what we “see” is very different to an objective television-screen type experience. The rods and cones in our retinas provide raw data to the visual cortex, but then neurons within that part of the brain filter and adjust the “message” based on past experiences. For example, the cat might associate left to right movement as a mouse, and vertical movement as a bird. One of the “tricks” the neurons play on us is filtering out the colour of the incident light which illuminates whatever we are looking at. This is obvious in the very orange lighting we all use in our homes. When we “see” someone in this light, our neurons adjust for it and we see a person, not an orange person. Many people set their cameras to automatic white balance adjustment to strip out this orange light, or whatever other colour the incident light is. However, when I do an editorial shoot, I always set the white balance to 5560K daylight and then adjust later. I adjust only if it improves the final result. In a previous post I used the very blue light of an overcast sky to add a cold feel to the image. The image in this latest post was taken under very green light caused by skylight passing through the chlorophyll of the trees above and around this staircase. Photographer: @markhivesphotography Model: @aimeenicole02 Studio: @portland_works_studio #fashion #style #vogue #fashioneditorials #highfashion #fashionphotography #fashionmodel #fashionphotoshoot #modelposes #ukmodels #ukmodel #zeisscameralenses #zeissdistagon #longlegs

My workhorse focal length for fashion photography is 28mm, as it creates perfect female proportions: or the current media-accepted ideal of female perfection anyway, and I’m too small a fish to fight against that ideal. If you ever want to make a woman look good, stick a 28mm lens on your camera, get down low as if you’re about to propose to her, and tilt the camera upwards a small amount. You will make her legs longer and her upper body slimmer. I mainly use Zeiss lenses, but for this key focal length of 28mm, I also use a Nikon 28 2.8 ais. The Nikon is better in some respects, and the Zeiss in others. For this particular photo, I used the Zeiss. If you zoom in to 100%, which many photographers do, then the Nikon would probably win. But that is, quite literally, missing the bigger picture. Viewing the image as a whole, the Zeiss offers a wonderful three-dimensional effect to photographs which is visible in this image. Photographer: @markhivesphotography Model: @aimeenicole02 Dress: @antoniayorkclothing Studio: @portland_works_studio #fashion #style #vogue #fashioneditorials #highfashion #fashionphotography #fashionmodel #fashionphotoshoot #modelposes #ukmodels #ukmodel #zeisscameralenses #zeissdistagon #longlegs

The lighting in this shot was quite tricky: there were many sources of natural and artificial light in both the room in which I was standing and the room behind Aimee. However, one can use these many layers of lighting to create three-dimensional depth to a photograph. Especially if one uses a slightly wide angle lens: 24mm in this case. Instagram is a wonderful tool if used properly. Since I moved into fashion photography two years ago, I’ve met a lot of really great people through Instagram: some virtually, many in real life. Model Aimee Nicole is one of those people. We initially connected through a wonderful designer @antoniayorkclothing . Then eventually Aimee and I did a shoot together. She truly was a wonderful model to work with. This photo is one of the results of that collaboration. I will post others in the weeks to come. Photographer: @markhivesphotography Model: @aimeenicole02 Dress: @asos Topshop mini slip dress Shoes: @drmartensofficial Studio: @dcc.studios

One of my photography goals is to shoot shoes and hand-bags. The creative in me sees the great beauty of these luxury items. The mercenary in me senses this is where the money lies. The pose in this image was inspired by a @jimmychoo advert published in the major fashion magazines a few years ago. The pose is so wonderful it’s been in the “top priority” section of my vast database of poses for sometime now. The pose just needed the right model, the right shoes and the right location to pull it off. On the day @tania_watson98 improved on the original pose by leaning slightly forward to create more of a triangular shape. Photographic composition is about placing elements in the frame, in this case a triangle and a sofa-shape - the best approach is to keep it simple. photographer: @markhivesphotography model: @tania_watson98 @tania_wportfolio shoes: @asos Natia knotted platform heeled sandals dress: @meshki Briah diamante rope mini dress studio: @dcc.studios #fashion #style #vogue #fashioneditorials #highfashion #fashionphotography #fashionmodel #londonfashion #fashionphotoshoot #modelposes #ukmodels #ukmodel #zeisscameralenses #zeissdistagon #longlegs #meshki

Like many film photographers in the 90’s, one of my first purchases was a flash gun to provide enough light to expose the relatively low ISO colour films available at that time. After reading a few books on photography, I quickly ditched the flash gun and used a tripod instead to subtly use natural light. The transformation was astounding. I recall my first ever window-light shot: chess pieces on a chess board. The photos were beautiful. I’ve loved natural light ever since, and even my studio work seeks to replicate natural light. Window light is especially wonderful: soft enough to flatter the human face, but contrasty enough to give three-dimensional modelling. Rembrandt knew what he was doing when he chose to paint his subjects using light from a window in his studio. The windows in this shot (to the left) were huge, and the fall off (difference between amount of light on the side of the model near the light and on the side furthest from the light) was higher than I would have liked, giving quite high contrast. But to reduce this contrast would have required a reflector in the shot, or perhaps a soft box on the model’s left side. But as I once explained, I hate lugging gear around. Another solution would have to move the model further to the right to even out the amount of light on each side. For the mathematicians out there, light intensity observes an inverse square rule. But then her position in the photo would not have felt right in the composition. As I’ve mentioned before, photography is about optimising within a series of constraints. photographer: @markhivesphotography model: @tania_watson98 @tania_wportfolio dress: @meshki studio: @dcc.studios #fashion #style #vogue #fashioneditorials #highfashion #fashionphotography #fashionmodel #londonfashion #fashionphotoshoot #modelposes #ukmodels #ukmodel #zeisscameralenses #zeissdistagon #longlegs #meshki