Evaluation

My initial idea was to create a special set in the studio in which I would ask models to work and pose. This was really inspired by Nick Knight’s Spring/ Summer 2004 Dior campaign. The idea was to use materials that would reflect the light, over exposing certain parts of the photograph. I wanted to be quite experimental with my lighting set up.

All my images would be taken with a digital SLR camera and converted into black and white images afterwards. Instead of focusing on the clothes and fashion I really wanted to focus on the silhouette of the model and her hair. I wanted the shapes, tones and highlights to be the main focus of attention in the images. A theme of silver and solarization was developing within my research. Following this theme I also wanted to incorporate some kind of body paint or makeup to enhance the tonal range and add a sense of drama.

My first shoot in the studio was to practice the type of lighting techniques and set up I wanted to use for my final images. I wanted to use quite harsh directional lighting behind and to the side of the model, overexposing the hair. This was influenced mostly by Glen Luchford and Rasmus Mogensen.

Getting the light exactly how I wanted it was very challenging and I encountered a number of problems. First of all I did not meter the lights correctly meaning there was not enough light on the model’s face, her eyes look dead as no catch lights can be seen. As a result the photographs had to be heavily edited, which I was not happy about and which did not help with my understanding of the studio lighting set up and application. Another problem was that the body paint I used did not reflect the light well and was patchy on the model’s skin. This made for a distraction in the image rather than an enhancement, which is what I was hoping for.

Due to the problems I had during the first shoot it became apparent that my idea of creating a big set was a little too ambitious. I felt my efforts should be to try to master the lighting and achieve the lighting effects I wanted to show in my images rather than spend a lot of time building the set and maybe running out of time to experiment with the lighting.

I researched the beauty photography of Ben Hassett in more detail and decided to steer my work in this direction, simplifying it so I could really focus on the lighting.

For the next set of images I used a variety of make-up, glitter, talc, a fan, reflective material and mirror card, inspired by my research. I started by using only one light to the left, level with and pointing slightly up at, the model. This light was metered at f5.6 and had a snoot attachment to make the light more harsh and directional. A fill light was then introduced on the right hand side with a honeycomb attachment and metered at f4. Although I liked the dramatic shadows I felt the looked a bit flat in some cases with the model fading into the background. Some of the photos were also slightly underexposed. So I decided that in the next shoot I would concentrate even more on the lighting set up, as I felt more comfortable and confident with the element of directing the model and asking her to pose in the way I wanted her.

During this shoot it became clear to me what type of poses I wanted to achieve and what looked best. I experimented with directing the model and getting her to position herself exactly as I wanted it to look in the final image. I think it is important to achieve as much as possible in the shoot itself without relying too much on post-production cropping and rotating.

The third set of images were taken with the intention of separating the model from the background. To achieve this I set up a key light to the left, metered to f8 with a snoot. The fill light was to the right and slightly behind, metered to f5.6 with a honeycomb. I also had a kicker, to the left behind the key light and the model. Finally a hair-light was introduced above the model with a honeycomb attachment. The kicker and the hair-light were both metered to f10 as I wanted to exaggerate the highlights. I feel this was the most successful lighting set-up and I am quite pleased with the results as they are how I had envisaged them looking in lighting terms.

The last set of images I took – the fourth shoot - experimented again with rim lighting. The rim light, behind the model, was metered to f16 as I wanted to overexpose and bleach out the hair. The key light was to the right, above the model and pointing down at her. The key light had a snoot attachment and was metered at f8. I took these images with the intention of using more of the resources I collected such as the reflective material, tin foil, talc and glitter.

The three final images I have chosen I believe to be my strongest, in terms of lighting. The first of the three was taken using a macro lens, I am particularly happy with the composition and depth of field of this photograph. The second image is strong in terms of composition because there is just enough of background space to emphasize the light on the shoulder and show it’s separation from the backdrop. Although I do not think the third image is as strong as the other two in terms of composition I chose it because each of the four lights used can be seen clearly. The problem I have with this photo is that there is quite a distracting fold of the skin on the neck. There are visible highlights on the model’s back, which I like most about this photo. With my lighting set-ups I wanted to use hard lighting yet produce images that had a delicacy and femininity about them. I think my three final images best portray this.

As a series I think my final images work quite well together. There is a clear theme running through all of them yet each one is different. I chose these three as they show the overall lighting and mood I was trying to achieve. I also wanted to show different types of composition. Viewed vertically from the extreme close up, to the headshot, to the head and shoulders shot a v-shape can be seen and I think this allows the eye to flow smoothly up and down.

Something that has been highlighted as a problem with some of my images is that in some of them the shadow of the nose, caused by the key light, is quite distracting. Also there is some distortion of the nose, making it appear bigger. This is called foreshortening, and occurs when a wider lens is used too close to the subject. I will be aware of this in future portrait shoots perhaps working a little further back from the model and using a longer lens to get close-up shots.

One regret I have is that I did not use any film within this project. I would have liked to solarize my images in the darkroom as well as using Photoshop.

In terms of site and audience I see my photographs in a beauty, fashion or lifestyle magazine possibly as make-up or even jewellery adverts. The landscape orientation would also be well suited to billboard advertisements. They may well be regarded as art photographs as well and as such could be marketed via a gallery or online shop to sell as pieces of art.

As part of the brief we had to produce an A5 group flyer. Our group’s flyer was based upon the theme of theatrical photography. Our aim was to promote a photography company specialising in photography for actors, models, dancers etc, attracting clients who could build their portfolio with us.

We decided to make the flyer double sided, black on one side and white on the other, portraying our diverse range of work as a group of photographers. Our names were included on both sides and if this flyer were to be sent out it would obviously have to include contact details as well and a website address. I quite like the fact that we have not given a title or overloaded the flyer with information. I think this creates a sense of mystery, intriguing the viewer and hopefully leaving them wanting to find out more.

My image chosen for the flyer was a close up of the model’s eyes from my second shoot (my first final image). This was chosen as it showed the detail of the glitter, which could possibly look like stage make-up and therefore best fitting with the theme of the flyer. It also illustrates how we could produce extreme close up portraits and not show all the flaws in the model’s skin. One crucial factor in this type of portfolio photography is that subjects (potential customers) need to feel confident that the photographer will show them at their best and produce images that flatter them. Close up work is usually something that people, especially women, are not comfortable agreeing to as they know it has the potential for showing all the imperfections. I wanted to show that we had the ability to do these shots and show the model in the best way.