Light and airy

• Low sun: shoot near sunrise or sunset.
• High-key: expose for the shadows, so the bright background goes towards white.

Shadow edges

Shadows that fade gradually from light to dark, cast by a large or diffused light: a window, a softbox, a cloudy sky.

Shadow depth

Shadows kept light and full of detail by a reflector, a fill light, bounce or bright surroundings (a low lighting ratio, up to about 3:1: the shadow side at most a stop and a half darker).

Highlights

The brightest parts burn out to pure white with no detail, on purpose or because the light was too strong.

This plan is worked out from the style’s choices, so it is drawn as a schematic. The set-up at the top of the page is the one we rendered, to scale. One way to get the light, not a record of how any photograph was lit.

Then

35–85 mm · f/1.4–f/2.8 · 1/2000–1/250 s · ISO 100–400 on 6 × 4.5 cm, documented. Digital: fast primes wide open. Shutter speeds are inferred.

White balance

Daylight-balanced colour negative (Fuji Pro 400H) or auto white balance, scanned or graded slightly warm for peach skin and cream whites, not strictly neutral (inferred).

Focus

One plane sharp, the rest melting into blur and bokeh.

Rendering

Light striking the lens: flares, streaks and lifted contrast.

Angle

The camera at the height of a standing person or of the subject.

Distance

Whole figures and their immediate surroundings.

Crop & fill

A small subject in a large empty field.

Couples are prompted into gentle, unforced moments rather than lined up facing the lens: walking hand in hand, standing close with foreheads touching or heads bowed together, turned in towards each other or away into the sun, eyes down or on each other, with soft smiles and easy laughter and only now and then a look to the camera.

Body position

Caught or posed in mid-step, one foot lifted, clothes swinging.

Head & gaze

Looking down, or eyes shut: inward, modest, asleep or praying.

Line & energy

Loose and unforced, as people stand and sit when they forget the camera, whether caught or coaxed by prompts.

Expression

A smile, posed or natural, lips closed or showing teeth.

Several people

People holding, hugging, kissing, leaning on or carrying one another. People talking, playing, working or dancing together, absorbed in each other rather than the camera.

With the sitter

The subject performs for the camera and shapes the picture.

Outfits in whites, ivory, blush, peach and soft neutrals (lace, linen, flowing skirts), groomed but natural-looking hair and make-up, few props beyond loose flowers, and bright places chosen for their light: beaches, meadows, wheat fields, palms or white rooms with big windows.

Clothes

Best clothes, jewellery and accessories put on for the studio or the occasion.

Hair & make-up

Groomed hair and finished make-up that still look natural: even skin, defined eyes, neat brows.

Set & props

A real place picked for its look as the setting for a shoot, not the subjects’ own: a street, a field, a palace, a hotel room.

Look of the styling

Clothes, props and set kept to a few chosen colours that work together.

Colour

Pale, light colours. Lifted blacks and washed-out colour, like an old print. Colour held back towards grey.

Film

Printed colour negatives: soft, forgiving colour. Roll film in a medium-format camera, often square.

Digital & other

A modern digital camera: clean, detailed, neutral.

Post-production

A ready-made grade laid over the whole image.

Shown in

Prints for an album, a card or a frame at home. Pictures made for magazine pages and spreads. Pictures made for a scrolling feed.

Stay away from low-key & chiaroscuro, direct on-camera flash, hard, direct sun, coloured gels, saturated colour, high-contrast black & white, hdr & tone-mapped, deadpan, rows & tiers, stiff & held still, stern & intense and black shadows.