Photo Shoot 4: Terminator (inspired)

Plans for the shoot:

I am going to be creating a look today that is inspired by Terminator.  I'm not sure how this idea came about, but I wanted to look at representation of human figure through technology or something of the sort, and we rely on technology so much today.  I couldn't think of anything to photograph that would be both visually interesting, fun and conform to the concept that I had, so instead I thought I'd just turn the human bionic/ into a robot and Terminator came off from it!

I am going to be looking at lighting today and how I can use it to my advantage.  As the look is going to be quite dark, I think using the boom light like I did in my first skeleton shoot will give me a nice effect, as well as using regular lighting.  I am going to use a black background as I think this will compliment the metallic makeup I am using to create the look.

I am going to be editing my eye in Photoshop in various different ways to create that glowing red effect after the shoot.

Shoot Evaluation:
Today's shoot went well.  I was happy with how the look turned out and think it photographed nicely.  The boom light worked out well too, creating the shadowy, dark effect that I wanted.  I ended up by editing the eye in two different ways too, both were trial and error but I quite like how they both look.  Here are some of my best shots from today:

This is one of the photos where I used the boom lighting.  I like the shadowy effect and this has made the makeup and eye in particular really stand out.  The expression is strong and this has added a powerful feel to the photo. To create the eye effect here I selected the eye area, filled it in red and the faded the colour, blending it in and adding a strong white accent in the middle. 

In this photo I used the same effect for the eye.  Regular lighting was used in the photo and I also added a gun as a prop to add to the more Terminator feel.  I think this has worked well as the subject has angle it in such a way to hide half her face and only make the eyes visible - his in turn has really made them stand out and accentuated the focal point.






This photo is where I edited the eye differently to make it red.  It's not as vibrant as the other two, but I like it a lot.  For this way, I simply selected the eye area again, and changed the colour levels, pushing it more towards to get the colour to change.






Overall I am happy with this shoot and would like to do something like this again.  I am enjoying these kind of shoots as they are fun to create and photograph.

Photo Shoot 3: Pop Art

Plans for the shoot:
Today's photo shoot is going to be pop art inspired.  I thought of this idea as human representation could be through a painting, drawing or cartoon etc. and then though I could create a makeup look that makes a human themselves, look like a cartoon.  I will be using myself as a subject in this shoot.

Colour will be a key thing for me to pay attention to in this shoot.  Cartoons in a pop art style use minimal colours and usually stick to bring, primary colours.  The makeup look itself is going to include red, so I think the aqua blue background will be a nice contrasting background that will conform to colour style of the cartoon.  The whole idea of this shoot is going to be to make my face look '2D' and to create the illusion of a cartoon.

Shoot Evaluation:
I am EXTREMELY happy with how today went!  The photos turned out fantastically and I think I achieved what I was going for.  Although I found this difficult to create to begging with, I the end result has been well worth it.  Some problems I encountered was trying to get the pose right and this has to correspond with the makeup - I created the look so it would appear as 2D as possible and therefore I had to angle my face to compliment this.  Once I had worked these angles out though everything ran smoothly (except for my wig moving around a few times).
Here is my favourite shot from toady:

I am happy with the pose and expression of the subject and think it imitates perfectly that of a pop art cartoon.  Everything in the photo as created using makeup, however, I wasn't happy with the hair so I played around with different effects in Photoshop till I go this.  I created this effect using a filter, then erasing and fading it out where I didn't want it.  The cropping of the photo of centre, something I am fond of, and the sterile aqua background really made the subject stand out as the hair and makeup colours contrast well.





This is another photo very similar to the first.

Here is an example of what the photos looked like with out the editing. I am happy with this too, although I definitely think adding the filter so the hair matched the makeup enhanced the photo and made it 'complete'.  This shoot has again lead me to want to try out more subtle editing tools in Photoshop - so far experimenting with them has worked out well for me

Photo Shoot 2: Broken Doll

Plans for the shoot:
In today's class I am going to be conducting a shoot where the concept is focusing around a broken doll.  I have chosen to look a doll in this shoot as I thought it would be a good representation of a child's human figure, or even imitate that of adults who strive for superficial perfection, like that of a doll.

The 'broken' idea behind is purely because I think it will make the shoot look more visually interesting. Nevertheless it could hold a deeper meaning reflecting that of a individuals state of mind.

I am planning on using the aqua colour background as I think it will compliment the colours I am going to use in the makeup best.  I want to get a variety of different shots in the shoot e.g. close-up portraiture,  full body etc. and work on my editing skills to enhance the look I am going to create.


Shoot Evaluation:
I am really happy with how the shoot went today.  I think I got some interesting photos and everything seemed to run smoothly.  Looking at my editing more has definitely benefited my this time and I am pleased with the result that I have gotten - the 'liquify' tool is something I particularly like.  Here are tow of my favourite shots from today.

I love this first shot!  I think it looks visually interesting and has a eerie kind of feel about it.  For this photo I angled the camera very high so it would in turn a make me look small (it would also accentuate my eyes too which helped with the doll effect).  I tried out lots of different poses, trying to make my body look stiff and awkward like a doll - I was happy with this pose, I think the stances of the subject resembles that of a doll.  I then went on in Photoshop to distort the body and make it look like a creepy doll.  I used the liquify tool mostly to pinch in my waist and slim and shape my legs into awkward proportion.  I made my nose and mouth smaller using the same effect, then enlarged my eyes, head and feet using the 'bloat' feature.  I am extremely happy with the effect.  The cropping of this photo is something else I like - it's not central and I think the aqua background has worked excellently with the look.

This second photo is my favourite from today.  I wanted to look at some close up portraiture shots and this worked amazingly for me and the effect I wanted to create.  I cropped this photo down so the hair was farming it and there was no other visible background showing - this allowed the facial features to really stand out.  I desaturated the photo and then change the exposure levels to get the colours to look this way.  After this, I turned my attention to the facial features.  I didn't want to manipulate the photo a lot as I was happy with how the makeup looked, but I accentuated the eyes slightly by using the bloat tool in Photoshop again to make my pupil look bigger.  I also pinched in my nose slightly too.  I think this photo is quite haunting and drawing to look at.  OI am extremely happy with the end result.







Overall I think today's shoot went really well.  I like the photos and am glad I have started to be more adventurous with editing my photos, as I think in this instance it has really enhanced the photos and made them better.  I will definitely be using the liquify tool in my work in the future as this is something I really liked.  The idea and concept of this piece was fun to create and I would love to do something like it again.

Personal Shoot 12: Ring Flash

Plans for the shoot:
In today's class I am going to using the ring flash.  Given I am looking at makeup/beauty photography for this project I think it is important that I experiment using this as it is used a lot in close up beauty shots.

I am planning on using myself for this shoot again and just doing a daily makeup look that is more simple and refreshing than some of my other photos and seeing how it works with the ring flash.  I am going to be using the white background as it will provide and clean, sterile environment that provides no distracts from the subject.

I think facial expression would be a good thing to experiment here with seeing as everything else in the shot is going to be kept quite simple.

Shoot Evaluation:
I am relatively happy with how this shoot went, although I this is a shoot where I would have preferred to work with a model.  Using myself as a subject in this shoot was more difficult for me as I didn't feel as confident trying to get lots of different expressions.

Other than this though I am liked the effect of the ring flash and think I got some good shots with it.  Here is my favourite shot from today:

I like this photo as it was taken when I wasn't expecting it to be, and therefore the pose and expression are more and natural.  I love how the ring flash has made everything in the photo look more flawless e.g. the skin.  The sterile background has worked well here too and imitates that of what you would see in published beauty shots etc.




Here is another photo from today, though I am not as happy with it:



Although I like how the ring flash has been used in this photo, I am not fond of the expression of the subject.  Again, I think this could have been avoided should I have used a model as I wasn't comfortable myself tying to get lots of expressions.





After today, I would definitely consider using the ring flash again in another shoot where I felt it fitting to do so as I like the effect it gives.  I wasn't happy with my photos overall today though and think raw beauty shots are something I would avoid in the future, or at least where using myself as a subject is concerned anyway.

EXAM: FINAL PIECES

Exam final pieces from Kate-Anna Smith