Friday Challenge 2/18/21: Dressing Up Tweed

[jdhoop]

It’s my turn to set up a Friday Challenge, so here we go!

Given the polar freeze this past week across most of the States, I felt the need for tweed. Now we all know tweed as a go-to casual country fabric that pairs well with denim or chinos, but I thought it’d be interesting to see how we might go about dressing up tweed.

So the challenge is to post a pic wearing tweed in a way that’s less casual, more smart than you typically would wear it (artful photos encouraged). How far can you dress up this casual fabric while still looking cohesive?

Any part of the outfit can be tweed, (or conceivably any heavier, textured casual fabric even if it’s not technically tweed). Outfits must be from within the past few weeks.

The poll goes up Saturday, Feb. 27.

The winner of the challenge must organize the next challenge. If you win and are not able to you must find someone else to set up the next challenge—usually the 2nd or 3rd place winners will step in.

 

[An Acute Style]

Timely theme. I’m in!

 

[khughes44]

Me too!

 

[psb]

I will try also !

 

[jdhoop]

To kick things off, how about...tweed with pink? Not a combo I would have normally thought of, but trying it on I was surprised how much I liked it.

Looking forward to seeing you guys' shots!

 

[shrink1061]

Quite how you guys manage the photography I’ll never know. Do you get someone to follow you around

as they say, it’s the taking part that counts, from a wet and grey day in Scotland:

 

[jdhoop]

Quite how you guys manage the photography I’ll never know. Do you get someone to follow you around

as they say, it’s the taking part that counts, from a wet and grey day in Scotland:

View attachment 1558999

Haha, well I'm a photographer and I just set up my camera on a timed release. The hard part is standing in just the right place to be in focus.

Wearing tweed on a grey day in Scotland? That's about as authentic as it gets. Nice!

 

[Evacipator]

Haha, well I'm a photographer and I just set up my camera on a timed release. The hard part is standing in just the right place to be in focus.

As a photographer and a Styleforum member, do you have any general (or specific) equipment recommendations or key tips for someone considering upgrading from using their phone for the sake of these kinds of casual OOTD / holiday snaps / general life stuff? I know next to nothing about photography and find it hard to research because the people who do know and are talking about it online (actual photographers) are talking about stuff way over my head.


As for the tweed, it might be a bit too hot in Australia this week, but I'll see how it goes by the end of the week!

 

[psb]

It became warmer in Germany but for today tweed is still possible.

 

[jdhoop]

As a photographer and a Styleforum member, do you have any general (or specific) equipment recommendations or key tips for someone considering upgrading from using their phone for the sake of these kinds of casual OOTD / holiday snaps / general life stuff? I know next to nothing about photography and find it hard to research because the people who do know and are talking about it online (actual photographers) are talking about stuff way over my head.


As for the tweed, it might be a bit too hot in Australia this week, but I'll see how it goes by the end of the week!

Well I'm still new to taking these sartorial self-portraits, but I would recommend either a DSLR or mirrorless camera body and a 35mm or 50mm prime lens (prime meaning it's a fixed focal distance, rather than a zoom) with a low f-stop number (such as f/2.8 or lower). The lower the f-stop, the wider the lens's aperture can open, allowing more exposure in low-light indoor settings and also shallower depth of field (a more blurred background). You can get a prime lens with a low f-stop for a couple hundred dollars, whereas zoom lenses at f/2.8 or lower are usually over $1k. And you don't really need a zoom for portraits. You'll get a much more artistic quality from a low-f-stop prime lens than from the cheap zoom lenses that are often sold as a kit with the camera body. Instead of kits, I always recommend buying the camera body and lens separately, so then you can choose a lens that fits your specific needs.

My camera is a Nikon DSLR (D810), and you can't go wrong with Nikon or Canon. A tripod is also important.

I'm pretty sure you can get a remote shutter release for most camera models, which would be handy. I don't have one currently, so I just set mine on a timed release and run back and forth! My setup is not the most practical (as I said, I'm new to the self-portraits and still experimenting). The best lens I have at the moment is a telephoto zoom (70–200mm f/2.8), which makes great images but I have to stand pretty far away from where it's set up. To focus, I put a chair or something where I plan to stand, autofocus on that, and then turn autofocus off. Then I move the chair and just make sure I'm standing right where the chair was. It takes a few tries to get in focus, but it generally works!

For lighting, I have a Nikon speedlight flash and a radio remote flash trigger (the remote trigger allows me to put the flash anywhere, rather than attached to the hot shoe on top of the camera). Aiming the flash up at the ceiling creates nice even, soft light. However, you can get nice lighting without a flash just standing by a big window, either standing perpendicular to the window or turned 3/4 in toward it. You just want to avoid any lighting that creates hard shadows.

Hope this helps!

 

[Evacipator]

Hope this helps!

Amazing, just the kind of advice I was looking for! Thanks for explaining the basic jargon and stuff, it's so easy to get lost in it and not know where to start or what's practically important. Cheers!

 

[An Acute Style]

Quite how you guys manage the photography I’ll never know. Do you get someone to follow you around

as they say, it’s the taking part that counts, from a wet and grey day in Scotland:

View attachment 1558999

It became warmer in Germany but for today tweed is still possible.

View attachment 1559657 View attachment 1559658 View attachment 1559659

Are pants required for the challenge? If so, these guys should be disqualified.

 

[Nobilis Animus]

Are pants required for the challenge? If so, these guys should be disqualified.

Pants haven't been required since 2019.

Seriously, they don't even kick me out of liquor stores anymore as long as I'm wearing a mask.

 

[shrink1061]

Are pants required for the challenge? If so, these guys should be disqualified.

you mean trousers

if I wasn’t wearing pants we’d really be in trouble!

 

[shrink1061]

Are pants required for the challenge? If so, these guys should be disqualified.

if it’s important to you ?.

and as if from the Uk I’m wearing both trousers and pants!