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

Exam Plan

For my unit 4 fifteen hour exam I am going to be conducting four photo shoots.  The exam topic that I have picked is 'Representation of the Human Figure', and for my exam I have given more thought into how I can accurately represent this in different ways.  I have chosen to do this by looking at 3 main categories that I have identified within this topic; culture, animal and death.  I will be using myself as a subject in all of my shoots and all shoots will be taking place in the studio.

Looking at culture I am going to be conducting two different shoots with a similar idea, one in which I am looking at the Chinese culture and creating a Geisha girl, and another where I look at Native American and create a girl from a tribe.

With the animal theme I have decided to create a fawn/doe/deer inspired look and photograph it as if it were hanging on the wall on a plaque.

My final idea of death is going to be looking at a zombie/ dead girl inspired look, making it a darker shoot in comparison to the rest.

Winking Doll Animation

Photo Shoot 1: Skeleton

Plans for the shoot:

In today's class I am going to be conducting my first photo shoot for my unit 4 project.  I have chosen to look at 'Representation of the Human Figure' a thought a great way to start the project would be too look a the human body in a literal sense and photographing a skeleton.  As I love using makeup in photo shoots though I have decided to create the skeleton on the body itself using makeup.

During the shoot I am planning on using the boom light to light my subject from above and create a more dark and shadowy look.  I want to create and eerie feel in my photos I feel this kind of lighting will help my achieve this.  I am also going to experiment with my subject lit using more regular lighting and see the difference in effect this gives.  I think the black background is going to work best for in this shoot as I want everything to be dark, so only really the skeleton features have be seen clearly - therefore I am also going to ensure that my subject is wearing all black too.

The focus of this shoot is really going to be lighting and how I can use it to my advantage and create different effects in my photos.

Shoot Evaluation:

I am really happy with how today's shoot went.  I am pleased with the feel all the photos have and the way the lighting definitely had an impact on this.  The makeup look I created, though slightly difficult to do, photographed really beautifully and I think this overall made the shoot better as opposed to if I used a literal skeleton - it gave it an edge it otherwise wouldn't have had.

These first two photos from the shoot are when I used the boom light.  I really liked the effect this gave in the end, even though I had a struggle getting it right in the first place.  For example, at one point it was too dark and I had to reposition the subject and where she stood in correspondence with the light, and then I had a problem with getting flare.  To eliminate this I clipped card around the the edge of the light so it was only in contact with my subject and not hitting the lens on the camera.

After this the shoot ran really smoothly.  I was able to get a variety of shots, including these ones.  I really like the way the subject is looking away from the camera but is still connecting with the viewer really well - I think this is due to the strong makeup look and the way I have really accentuated in the light and putting it against a dark sterile background.

This next photo is from when I changed the lighting to using regular modelling lights set out in an ordinary fashion.  This photo has given a different overall feel - I don't think that it's as dark and eerie as the other photos.  It's softer, but this compensated for with the connection the subject has with the camera and the eye contact they are making with the viewer.














This shoot has really made me think about my lighting more in future shoots and how I can use in different ways to get different effects - it can completely transform the overall vibe a photo has.  I am also really happy that I have continued to carry on using makeup in this project (carried over from my unit 3 personal project) as this has given such a nice effect and always photographs really beautifully.  This is something I am going to continue in all future shoot.

Best Work

Best work so far from Kate-Anna Smith