IN THE STUDIO/BEGINNING OF CRAFT
WEEK 1:
We had to choose three magazine covers that we liked and stuck out to use. Then we needed to explain why we hose those specific ones.
I like the way that her posture and hairstyle represent her personality and the characters she portrays in films. The white background complements and relates to her makeup as it looks quite natural. I get vibes of a witch from the eyeball in her mouth and her hair that looks like a witches hat which relates to her character in Harry Potter. I know from watching films she stars in that she is a quirky and odd person and the hairstyle suits her whereas it probably wouldn't if it was another person. I also like the way that the red lipstick highlights the fact that there is something in her mouth and makes it stand out.
I would improve this photo by either changing the colour of the background or to relate to the witch vibes I get. I'd also change the way she is looking into the camera to a different angle and have her upper body in a different direction. I think different angles of her hair would be interesting to see.
I think this taken in a studio with soft lighting focused directly on the left side of her face/cheek. I think a white backdrop was used with only her shoulders in view and the rest of her is covered as not needed in the final photo.
I would improve this photo by either changing the colour of the background or to relate to the witch vibes I get. I'd also change the way she is looking into the camera to a different angle and have her upper body in a different direction. I think different angles of her hair would be interesting to see.
I think this taken in a studio with soft lighting focused directly on the left side of her face/cheek. I think a white backdrop was used with only her shoulders in view and the rest of her is covered as not needed in the final photo.
With this magazine cover, I like the way that the model's clothing and head dress looks like a flower which relates to the fact she is pregnant - the theme of (new) life and growth is portrayed to me through this connection. I also like the way that the bottom of the lettering of BAZAAR disappears into the flowers however, it does get a little confusing to understand what the title of the magazine is called especially sally if you didn't know the brand well.
I would change the colour of the backdrop as it doesn't suite the colours of the dress even though it's pale enough for the head dress and dress to stand out. I would also change the angle of the model so that her arms were in a different position which was more loose.
I think this was shot in a studio with possibly a white backdrop but the lighting angles create shadows which therefore changes the shade making it seem more grey.
I really like the way that Billie is looking to the side where the type is as it directs you to what it says. I also like the way that her face is closer to the camera which also makes you focus on what her face is doing. Her natural makeup and the pink tones work well with the colour of the font and her hair colour. The backdrop colour and the colour of her clothing clash a little bit as her jacket blends in with it and almost makes her body disappear but at the same time again, makes you focus on her face and the stronger tones on her face. I can see a smirk in the way her mouth is open and curved and it looks as if she is humoured by the font she is looking at which shows she agrees with what it says.
I would change the way her hair hangs down as it would be better if it was more symmetrical. I'd also make her head less tilted so it lines up with the type a bit better.
I think this was shot in a studio with the lighting being focused on the right of her as the reflection in her eyes in her pupils looks as if she is looking in that direction.
WEEK 2:
THURSDAY 7th OCTOBER 2021
NOTES FROM TODAY:
We went through the risk assessment and what to include in it so when we book out equipment or the studio etc, we know what to avoid.
These are the different types of camera I own along with my DSLR camera. It was interesting to learn about the different types there are today and what they do. I found the pinhole camera really interesting as its amazing how simple it is but works.
We were put into groups and asked to research different types of compositions so I chose rule of thirds and symmetry.
HOMEWORK:
TASK 1:
Todays lesson was very productive for me in the sense that I know what lenses do what so when it comes to shooting, I know that a large mm lens means smaller angle so better for portraits and a smaller mm lens is better for things like landscapes. The camera settings were explained to us and I found this very helpful as even though I have been doing photography for 5 years, I still get a little confused sometimes with setting the right aperture, ISO and shutter speed.
TASK 2:
GUARDIAN SATURDAY MAGAZINE
I quite like this cover image as the model is looking directly at the camera and not (distracted) at what is happening to his clothing. I think the shadow helps to create a sense of depth. I can tell that the lighting is to the right of him due to the direction of the shadow. I also think that the position of the type works well as there is a lot of blank space around his leg area so that the font doesn’t distract you from what is going on.
We have been asked to look at two of the articles and analyse the supporting images and what the articles are about.
The first article that stood out to me was this one:
I liked the way that the model (Ed Balls) had tried to wear almost he exact same clothing as he wore as a child in this photo as I have tried this sort of shoot as have never managed to get similar clothing as to the ones worn in the photo taken as a child. I like this kind of shoot as it looks like a time machine has been used to see what that person would look like in the future. The original photo of the child would probably have been shot in front of a backdrop at his school where as the recreated photo would have been in front of a backdrop in a studio. I think the lighting would be set up similarly to the original photo but located slightly differently as the lighting hits in different areas on his face compared to the original photo. I find a bit of humour with the recreated photo as the hairstyle and clothing is not what you normally see nowadays.
From reading the article with these photos, it tells a bit of his life story from when Ed Balls was at school and how his mum really made an effort for him to look his best for the school photos. It also tells a brief story of his life from being born to meeting his wife Yvette and having his own kids.
The other article I saw was:
What I liked about this article was the way the images show a journey living in a cave. Every photo documents what she has done throughout her experience. The article is about her living in a cave and about how a man influenced her.
TASK 3:
LIGHTING DIAGRAM:
A lighting diagram helps to show where the lighting for a shoot would be, how many lights would be used and also where the photographer and camera would be positioned. It also shows all the equipment that will be used for the shoot. The diagrams help to see how the shoot would work and if anything needs to be added or taken away. The more detail in the diagram, the better.
WEEK 3:
THURSDAY 14th OCTOBER 2021
RECAP FROM LAST WEEK:
F Stop Progression: 1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8,11,16, 22
Shutter Speed: 1, 1/2,1/4,1/8,1/16 etc
ISO: 100, 200,400,600,800 etc
Exposure looks at the depth of field.
Shutter Speeds controls motion blur. The lower the number the more blur and the higher the number, the more crisp the image.
ISO / Exposure looks at the noise/grain in the image.
Set camera to RAW, set White balance set to auto, set camera mode to manual, set ISO lowest as possible.
RAW is uncompressed, can do anything to a raw and will not be ruined when edited.
I can tell that there is more than one type of lighting here from the reflection in her eyes, the highlights in her hair and the bottom right corner.
My lighting diagram:
After sharing the image of Dakota, It was said that there definitely was a light - a strip soft box in front of her and possibly a second light behind her to get the light reflection on her hair.
LESSON REVIEW:
I enjoyed this lesson as it was helpful in knowing exactly that different lighting sets ups look like and do to an image. I think lighting diagrams are handy in knowing if something will work and how it would work.
HOMEWORK:
The Inverse Square Law:
The Inverse Square Law is an equation that relates the intensity of a light source to the illumination it produces at any given distance. The further you are from a light source, the more of that light will be lost. The closer the subject is the the camera and lighting, the brighter the face/front and the darker the background. The further the subject, the darker it appears and the lighter the background.
2 more Lighting Diagrams:
In this image I think there is a large round soft box directly in front of the model, behind the photographer. I also thing there is one behind her on the left hand side which is low and angled up.
In this image, I think there is a light to the right, in front of the model.
WEEK 4:
I created a mind map so that I could get a better idea as to what I was going to photograph for the last brief. What stood out to me was teachers and in school however, getting permission from the parents would be a long process so then I thought deeper and then charity shops came into view. I know what charity shops do and ones like Cancer Research I can relate to as I've had it myself. I thought that choosing something close to home would help me to create better images as i will be more comfortable.
THURSDAY 21st October 2021
Today we learnt about treatments and what to include in them. I created these treatments which show my idea briefly and how i'd like to set up my shoots. There will be some things that I will change as when I am actually shooting, I know what will be working ad what wont be so I can change a few bits around.
WEEK 5:
This lesson was formative and we were put into small groups where we worked together to set up some studio lighting. Myself and a peer chose 2 lighting set ups from 4 and we chose the easier ones which was helpful but they were still quite challenging as we hadn't used the equipment before. In the first set up I set up the camera tripod and held the reflector. in the second set up I put up one of the lights and made the soft box to go on it. I was also the one to hold the light meter to get the exposure correct.
WEEK 6:
This week we learnt the basics of photoshop, Indesign and capture One. We started off with Capture One and went through all the tools and options. We also chose 10 images, then we marked them in terms of stars. 1 meant poor and 5 meant great. I ended up with about 5 images that I graded 5 star. With those we then again, marked them but with colours. We used red, orange and green. I marked three images with the green.
As we were going through the different tools, I played around with them and created some interesting images. Below are the images I created when using the tools in Capture One:
With this image, I changed the colour balance to create more of an autumn vibe.
This image was edited using hue and saturation and I like the way it looks like a polaroid in a way.
With this image, we used the mask tool to be able to change only one part of the image. I chose my boots as they stood out the most to me. I like the effect created as it completely changed the focus of the image.
This image was created the same way but I went the opposite way.
I changed the contrast and brightness with this image to create dramatic depth.
I used the vignetting tool with this image and I really like the effect and think it suits the vibe of the image.
WEEK 7:
To start planning further for my studio and location shoots, I decided to look into lighting as that is the main element in out shoots. I began with studio lighting as I will be shooting my studio first. I looked into the different lightings you could have and chose my favourite three from them.
STUDIO SHOOT:
I really liked the Rembrandt style of lighting and the way it creates a sense of depth. I think this lighting would really suit my idea of having a model in a roll neck jumper the lighting is mainly focused on the face than the neck.
I'd like to try a more flatter lighting too to capture the features on the face and highlight the natural essence of the make up.
The final lighting style I would like to try is either broad or short light as I like the less harsh Rembrandt lighting.
In my studio shoot, I'd like to create a sense of humour and as if the model is having a good time to represent new year and the celebrations people have so that the magazine cover is more relatable to more people.
I like the idea of being 'snug' and warm so I looked into some jumper advertising to see what positions the models were in. I like the look of the model hiding some of their face with the jumper.
LOCATION SHOOT:
For my location shoot, I have decided to experiment with different angles as I'm not really sure what to photograph exactly. I know I would like to include the staff in the shop to emphasis their role in building a better future. I would like to capture the staff working and placing stock onto shelves to show their part or bringing items out of the stock room. I think including the shops logo would be helpful to identify their role. I don't plan to photograph the staff's faces as I feel like actions speak louder than words but if they allow me to include their faces, then I will experiment further with that idea.
PHOTOGRAPHER INFLUENCES: STUDIO SHOOT
Annie Leibovitz
I like the way Leibovitz's black and white images have strong contrasts. If I am to change my images to black and white then I will create a heavy contrast as I like the vintage feel. I quite like her images that don't have a lot of space around the model as the closer the model is to the camera and less space around them, makes their features stand out more and being in black and white, this exaggerates and brings the features out more.
EXAMPLES OF B&W MAGAZINE COVERS:
PHOTOGRAPHER INFLUENCES: STUDIO SHOOT
STEVE MCCURRY
In McCurry's images, I like the way the backgrounds are blurred and the colours are quite vibrant so if I choose to keep my images in colour then I would like the colours to stand out like his. Although I plan to use neutrals, I still think that I can make the colours pop like including a colour such as blue or orange. I notice a theme running with McCurry's images and that is the colour green. I would like to make a specific colour stand out in my images.
SOFT BOXES:
WEEK 8:
This Thursday I performed my studio shoot and it went really well. I like the images which included scarves in particular as it broke up the image and added some more detail. If I was to change anything, it would be the colour of the backdrop. I used a blue gel and I think a taupe backdrop would have been a bit nicer and more suiting to the models's colour clothing. I do think however, the blue backdrop goes well with the scarf images as the blues in the scarf match the colour of the gel. half way through I removed the gel and I liked the colour created from taking it away. it was a white backdrop but the lighting created a greyish tone with suits the images more than the blue.
MODEL RELEASE FORM:
CONTACT SHEET: STUDIO
These are CR2 files but I exported them onto my laptop from Capture One.
I used a white backdrop with a blue gel and between the gelled images and the ones without, I prefer the white images as the colour works better with all the colours the model was wearing. I do think however, the images where a scarf is included work well with the blue background as the there were blues in the scarf which worked with the background.
FINAL IMAGES: STUDIO
I chose this image as I liked the natural look I managed to capture. I do really think that it is a fashion magazine cover in the sense of the facial expression and pose. I don't think that the background suits this image as it isn't fully blue so when editing i will either make it more blue or change it to B&W. Sometimes too much space is a bit distracting but I like it in this image but I might choose to crop this image to zoom in on the details of the face and scarf. The tone of blue matches with the tones in the scarf so I think that worked well. I think next time instead of using blue gels on a white backdrop, I will try a beige backdrop as from looking at my peers photoshoots and those who used a beige backdrop with the same colour clothing as to the ones my model is wearing, I think that it went really well together.
I chose this image as one of my 3 magazine covers as I like the little smirk on the models face and the amount of empty space around her which could represent space for thoughts. I do like the blue in this image as it goes well with the pale cream of the jumper. I get a feeling of calmness looking at the image due to the smooth outline of the model and the clear blue backdrop colour.
I also chose this image as my last magazine cover as I really liked the images that included the scarf and this was one that stood out to me. Although I don't like the colour of the background, I liked the pose and the models facial expression so when editing, I will either change the colour of the background or turn it into black and white or maybe a sepia tone.
LIGHTING DIAGRAMS:
I roughly drew what lighting set ups I used from memory.
FINAL MAGAZINE IMAGES:
I really liked the colours in the scarf and though that I could highlight it so when editing in photoshop, I adjusted the brightness and contrast then duplicated the image and with that duplicate, I changed it to black and white. I put the B&W layer on top of the colour layer and rubbed out the part where the scarf was so the coloured version showed from beneath. I did try to edit the face as I didn't think the model would let me use this image with this expression but she she quite liked it so I used it.
I chose to focus on her position when editing and although her face isn't entirely in focus, I liked the placing of her hands. I like the effortless look so I wanted to exaggerate that by zooming in. I originally planned to have her smaller, in the middle with lots of space around her like the original image but it was just a bit too much space so when playing around with the image, I came to this size and placing to the left. I didn't want to cover up The Guardian lettering and
I again, chose this image due to the inclusion of the scarf. I wanted to try something different so I changed the duo tone to a sepia one. I liked he browns and beige in the clothing so that led me onto choosing this colour.
WEEK 10:
I was meant to perform this photoshoot on the Monday of this week, however, my assistant damaged part of the equipment when we got there which no longer allowed me to start my shoot. I rearranged to go on the Thursday instead and I had to change my assistant as they were not available when I needed them and I couldn't change the time I was going to shoot. When I did manage to do my shoot, I was taken back to where the volunteers who work in the Cancer Research UK shop sort out all the donations which was perfect as I wanted to capture how these people 'Build a better future.' I chose to perform my shoot in this specific branch charity shops as I can relate to it due to having cancer myself. I know what charities do to help and some donations that made it to me when I was having treatment made my time in hospital less boring and more fun. If it wasn't for the money raised with these charity shops then cures for cancer wouldn't be possible so by the volunteers contributing their time to the shops, people who have and are going through cancer have a chance of light at the end of the tunnel.
MODEL RELEASE FORMS:
The first two forms are from the Monday. this shows that i was ready to shoot but then i had to reschedule for the Thursday.
CONTACT SHEET: LOCATION
LIGHTING DIAGRAM:
I quickly drew a rough sketch of what lighting set up I used. The space available was a small so the lighting had to be close to the model so I changed the exposure so that the image wasn't over exposed.
FINAL IMAGE: LOCATION
I've noticed that Brian is a little out of focus but I like this as it shows whats going on around him and what he's doing which contributes to a better future.
BRIAN:
When I walked into the Cancer Research shop and was led to the back of the shop floor, I immediately heard laughter. I was then brought into the back where all the ‘magic’ happens. I saw a few people around a table, labelling and hanging the donations that were kindly given to the shop. The assistant manager introduced me to those volunteers and Brian. Brian, who was the source of the happiness and the echoes out of the doo in which I was led into. He was the chirpy, happy and funny man who had taken time out of his day to come in and sort out the donations which would help raise money for research into cancer treatments. I spoke to Brian and asked him how long he’d worked in the shop and to my amazement, he said 5 years. 5 years that have contributed into saving lives. I also found out something interesting which would relate the two of us. He told me he had pancreatic cancer in 2013. I also had cancer but in the brain. Both being very serious. Pancreatic cancer is one of the lowest survival rates and the treatment he received might not have been created without the funding for research by these charity shops. I asked him why he chose to work in the shop and he replied the he wanted to give something back and I thought that was sweet and selfless.
PEER ASSESSMENT FOR STUDIO & LOCATION:
