Taylor Swift’s “Life of a Showgirl” bathtub cowl seems to be like a unique individual in comparison with the matching second within the music video, and that has individuals leaping to conclusions about retouching or AI. Here’s a take a look at why.
Coming to you from Chelsea Nicole Photography, this insightful video makes use of the viral aspect by aspect to indicate how lighting decisions alter the best way a face reads on digicam. Chelsea begins by breaking down the similarity in gentle path between the video body and the quilt. The separation comes from how every setting handles the spill. The cowl was shot in a white tub, surrounded by brilliant surfaces, milky water, and certain bounce playing cards, all of which push comfortable gentle again into Swift’s face. The video body sits in a black room that absorbs the identical gentle, which deepens shadow transitions and shapes the face extra aggressively. Chelsea factors to catch lights to verify that the video really makes use of a bigger gentle supply, nevertheless it nonetheless seems more durable as a result of nothing within the room returns the sunshine to the topic.
Chelsea additionally calls out a small shift in Swift’s head angle. The cowl provides you extra of every eyebrow and a rounder eye form, which adjustments the perceived symmetry. The video body reveals a slight flip that narrows the face and sharpens the cheek construction. Chelsea mentions a little bit of retouching within the cowl picture alongside the cheek line, the place softening that transition creates a fuller look. These are minor changes, but they stack to create two totally different impressions, with one studying softer and the opposite extra outlined.
From there, Chelsea highlights what she considers the true driver: lens focal size. The video was probably shot on a wider lens corresponding to a 24mm or 35mm, which fits a transferring narrative and provides room to indicate extra of the scene. The album cowl, alternatively, was virtually actually captured with an extended lens corresponding to an 85mm or 105mm, taken from increased up and far farther again. Chelsea explains that the space required for longer lenses naturally compresses facial options so eyes seem a bit bigger, cheeks look fuller, and the face shortens barely. With a wider lens, you progress nearer to the topic to maintain an identical framing, which removes that compression and may subtly elongate the face. Chelsea overlays outlines of Swift’s face from each angles to indicate how dramatic the distinction turns into while you evaluate them straight.
Chelsea follows with examples from her personal classes, inserting two photographs of 1 shopper aspect by aspect with solely the focal size modified. The wider picture stretches the face and makes faraway parts shrink. The longer lens makes the nostril look smaller, the hair really feel fuller, and the background broaden. She notes that she avoids going underneath a 50mm for a decent portrait and infrequently makes use of one thing like a 200mm when a shopper desires to calm down sure options by means of pure compression. She retains a lot of the technical nuance and reside demonstrations on display, so you continue to get extra element by watching the total breakdown. Check out the video above for the total rundown from Chelsea.