I once had a painting teacher who felt that a picture can have either strong tone contrast or strong color contrast, but not both together, for best results (or, tone music and color music, as he liked to call it). Chiaroscuro works best with more monochrome palettes, and impressionism with almost primary colors. A scheme of warm and cool for shadows and light does bridge the two, but will excel at neither.
Using this thinking for fashion photography, clothes with big blocks of tone are a perfect candidate for black and white and strong light and shade.
And for bold prints or bold color blocking, better to stick with high-key lighting.
(http://benjaminkanarek.com)
As always though, this is art, not science, so sometimes photos can and do have both strong tone contrast and strong color contrast. But I do think the below example muddies the prints, and isn’t as effective at showcasing them.
In the end, however you decide to light and style it, try to make it sign out loud.
Using this thinking for fashion photography, clothes with big blocks of tone are a perfect candidate for black and white and strong light and shade.
And for bold prints or bold color blocking, better to stick with high-key lighting.
As always though, this is art, not science, so sometimes photos can and do have both strong tone contrast and strong color contrast. But I do think the below example muddies the prints, and isn’t as effective at showcasing them.
In the end, however you decide to light and style it, try to make it sign out loud.
