How did they create this image?

[AndreNapier]

I think it might be interesting and fun topic as well as learning process. So often we look at an image and try to figure out how was it made.
In recent issue of V Magazine ( 64 ) Spring 2010 at the beginning pages is a full page add for Guess showing nude model laying on an old sofa. It looks very simple for as long as you do not pick up a camera and try to find a lens that could have captured that. I have all lenses in a studio from super wide for FF to full range of MF and can not find the one capable of this perspective.
Any ideas? After so many years behind camera it is quite puzzling.
http://andrenapier.com

[klane]

I like topics like these they are a good way to learn and discuss. Do you have a link to the image?

[AlexM]

http://www.vmagazine.com/page.php?pn=V64%20SPRING%202010

Do you mean image on page 18-19?

Yeah, looks interesting. The perspective is distorted in an unusual way. Maybe it's just photoshop.

Alex

[shelby_lewis]

Hmmm... at first, I though "nothing special"... but the more I look at it, the more it puzzles me.

I'm wondering if it may be "de-fished". My other thought is a perspective corrected ultrawide, like the 17mm ts-e.

Cool, though.

[JonathanBenoit]

Looks to be around 10 ft away from the couch, maybe less. Either a pano camera or a composite. Thats my guess, no pun intended.

[CBarrett]

Looks like they took that Hitchcock move (where you dolly in while zooming out) and distilled it into a single frame.  Creepy/Sexy/Cool

[haefnerphoto]

I think it's just a wide lens but thanks for the link to V magazine, I wasn't aware of it and the photography was excellant!  Jim

[Joe Behar]

http://www.vmagazine.com/page.php?pn=V64%20SPRING%202010

Do you mean image on page 18-19?

I was curious, so I did a little bit of measuring....

The models foot measures just shy of the distance between her shoulder and elbow...she must be a size 16 shoe

From the tip of her fingers to her wrist is about 1.3 times the width of her thigh. She does not look anorexic, so i assume she also needs custom made gloves

The length of her forearm, from fingertips to elbow appears to equal the distance from the top of her shoulders to about the middle of her ass...that's her forearm only!

If anyone thinks all this was done with a lens only, I have some fine property for sale, that happens to span the Hudson River.

[gwhitf]

Girl got some big-ass feet.

[Rick_Allen]

I wonder if its a 37RZ with some correction to remove the barrel.

[JonathanBenoit]

its shot slightly from the right side, so her foot looks a little longer than it really is. Shes a tall girl with big feet, nonetheless. And yes, she is anorexic

Edit, Also, the photo is on a seem that extends the photo an extra 1-1.5 inches

[AlexM]

its shot slightly from the right side, so her foot looks a little longer than it really is. Shes a tall girl with big feet, nonetheless. And yes, she is anorexic

If it was shot slightly from the right, the right arm of the couch would be straight to the camera. However it's open even more than the left side. Something's fishy.

[JonathanBenoit]

If it was shot slightly from the right, the right arm of the couch would be straight to the camera. However it's open even more than the left side. Something's fishy.

Sorry, I meant slightly right of center. It is a very wide lens. I was just observing that it isnt exactly straight on. I think this shot is much simpler than we are assuming. I really think its just the binding of the magazine that is throwing us off

[AndreNapier]

Well,
the story goes like this. Couple days ago I had a  young celebrity client coming to my studio for a shoot with VM in her hand  pointing to the image. That was what she wants and nothing else. First impression not a big deal wide angle, we will manage. When she was getting H/M I was swapping lenses and felt my hands sweating while trying to test shoot with my assistant.
Soon I realize that even 37mm on Rz is not going to cut it on digital back. The body of a model is about double of the size that I was getting. Next step I removed the mask and started playing with with full frame polaroids. Not that easy.
The moment the body comes to similar size the distortion on face is very visible and not pleasing. Over all it did not look nothing like the image.
By the end of a day our model realized that this shoot position was not really for her since her legs were of normal size and thus for not really cut for extremely wide angle and we settled for more standard poses. She walked out happy I was left with realization that whenever I think that I already know everything I better think twice before I open my mouth.

Andre

[gwhitf]

Well,
the story goes like this.

This is reading WAY too much into the original question, but these two short articles came to mind when you asked that original question.

http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/2010/04/christ...to_paul_graham/

http://stocklandmartelblog.com/2010/04/12/...-photoshop-cs5/

Point is: I looked at that sofa picture, and the first thing I thought (assumed) was: "How many images are buried here?" As in, was the sofa shot separately? Was the woman even lying on a sofa? Was that wall even there? Point being, there is so much strip-together in Fashion now that I almost begin the viewing of a new image by assuming that it's fake, and that the scene i'm viewing never actually happened. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, but I am saying it's true. And I think it devalues the impact that photography can have when a viewer begins the process of viewing a photograph by assuming that they're being lied to.

And you know that feeling when you view a painting, and it doesnt seem as "real" as a photograph? I think with so much Photoshop/stripping out there, that photography is now perceived in a similar fashion as painting. As in, it's one step removed from reality.

In addition, the retoucher for that Guess ad is now laughing his butt off, to see people analyzing his image so much.

[ixpressraf]

Maybe just a small sofa, a 1,5 person sofa or a wierd custom made thing and a wide angle lens on camera.

[DanielStone]

to my eyes, it looks like two vertical shots stitched together, hence the choppy rear leg, and hands looking long and alien-like. probably a 24mm or wider, close up to give the looming effect.

but what do I know   ?

-Dan

[michele]

Maybe just a small sofa, a 1,5 person sofa or a wierd custom made thing and a wide angle lens on camera.

I think you are right

[feppe]

It's always amusing how laypeople make medical diagnoses based on a single photograph; I know plenty of girls and women who are naturally skinny but eat healthy diets and exercise.

But back on topic. Joe's measurements get to the bottom of it. Fashion shoots and especially ads have very little to do with real-world measurements or average proportions. There's this recent more blatant example, then there's this clip showing how an exceptionally pretty lady is taken to whole another level in post.

There was an online article a couple of months back where one post-processor for the biggest high-end clients talked about his trade, which was very insightful. This gentleman had very little interest in retaining any semblance of realism in his subjects. Unfortunately I wasn't able to locate the article with quick googling.

I wouldn't be surprised if the shot is a composite since it seems to be a fad after Annie Leibovitz's Lavazza ads. But most of the otherworldly nature of the shot comes from turning her body into one with Martian proportions.

[JonathanBenoit]

It's always amusing how laypeople make medical diagnoses based on a single photograph; I know plenty of girls and women who are naturally skinny but eat healthy diets and exercise.

Going by the proportions of this model, she is extremely underweight. Assuming a model is anorexic isnt too far of a stretch. Probably shouldn't be assuming, but when this type of model is used for a shoot, there are more serious issues than someone assuming a model is unhealthy