Shoot with Biomechanina

Model/Styling/Hair - Biomechanina

Photography/Set Design/Post-production - Me

Assistant - Ruth

Here are some of the final edited images:

Here are some pictures of the set up (Thanks to Ruth for the photos!)

Commercial/Brand Product - Little Apple Dolls - Final images

I decided for the Commercial/Brand product image i would use my Little Apple Dolls again, i wasn't very keen on any of the images i shot before and saw them more as a test. This time i drew out a background of a forest scene, slightly inspired by tim burton. I used this photo of mine as a loose reference, although im not sure you can even tell!

I decided to have a go at using different focal legnths aswell, because i have yet to do this part of the brief.

28mm

35mm

50mm

80mm

I think that 50mm works best with this subject.

Here my favourite images:

Fortnightly Picture Project - #3 Treasure

For this weeks task the theme was treasure; the first idea i had was to take a photo of a hollow book with a few 'treasures' in, but i didn't have access to one.. or the time/patience to make one. So, i had to rethink, and came up with the idea of using a vintage key - i love the mystery of this.. a key lost in time.. whatever door or box etc it opens is up to the viewer. I decided to use a tattered old book in the picture so it has a sense that its been found.. between the book pages, with the chain hanging out.. in the back of the closet, or somewhere in a box in the attic.. perhaps. I also scattered some stars around the set, to give it a little magic :)

Translating my ideas into words is proving to be a bit harder than expected, i hope that this makes sense! 

ISO 100 - f/4 - 1/60sec

This is the final image i chose. I turned it sepia, adjusted the contrast and added a texture and vignette - i wanted this image to look quite antique, and i think it works quite well. I am really pleased with this image.

Here are a few alternatives:

ISO 100 - f/4.5 - 1/60sec

 

ISO 100 - f/5 - 1/100sec

 ISO 100 - f/5.6 - 1/60sec
The last image was taken because i had an idea to do the image as a diptych - to sort of narrate finding the key, as i described before. Although it didnt quite work the way i wanted it too, and i think the image i chose is strong enough on its own to pull it off.

Slow Shutter Speed/Motion Blur

These images were all taken with either a 5 second or 4 second exposure and so the model is a little blurry and not very well lit. I think next time i try this i will use some fill in flash - which with illuminate the model and also freeze the action of him, so he wouldn't be as blurry.

5 second exposure

5 second exposure

This image is very blurry, although quite effective, since all the other images there is just a slight blur.. but this is obvious and looks intentional (even though it isn't intentional) I like it.

5 second exposure

4 second exposure
This image is my favourite out of the ones i took, the model isn't too blurred in this image, and i really like the bus in the background... and how you can faintly see someone walking across the background! 

Different Light Sources - On Location (Sodium/Fluorescent)

So, today i went on location to photograph some different light sources, i chose to go to Blackpool since there alot of interesting lights. The model is Jordan Shepley, it's my 3rd time shooting with him, so it was quite relaxed. Jordans facial structure works really well with this kind of lighting.

The above image was taken with the model stood under a Sodium light, although there is a mixture of different light sources in this image - a neon sign above his head and the fluorescent lights in the shop. I think this image is really effective and the colours from the light sources give an almost cinematic feel..

These two images were taken under two sodium lights. Sodium light seems to be quite overpowering in an image, especially because of the colour of the light. But i think in this instance the lighting is quite nice.

 

These images were taken in front of a shop window, with lots of red light.. i'm not quite sure what kind of lighting it is, but due to the colour it's not a very flattering light source anyway.

These images were also taken in front of a shop window, although this time with very bright fluorescent lights. I think these images are quite effective as portraits, because the light is so bright it illuminates his face and there isn't any unsightly colour casts. 

 

These images were taken in a phone box, i'm pretty sure this is also fluorescent.. but it seems to have a yellow cast. These images also seem a little cinematic to me and i think the way the light hits the models face in the first picture is quite flattering.

This is also using fluorescent lighting, it was shot outside the train station and the light was fairly bright.. but directional, so i positioned the model under it. This almost reminds me of Film Noir - minus the glamour and smoke machines. I may see how it looks in black and white!

Drop Focus

For part of the systems & processes brief i have to take a photo using the "drop-focus" technique. At first, i was a little confused as to what this was since i couldn't find anything about it online. Andy explained to us that drop focus is - in macro and close-up photography - when you get a band across the image in focus and the rest is blurred, this usually happens when shooting across the subject.. rather than shooting from above, where you would get more of the image in focus. I decided to use some tiny confetti/sequin stars, these things are really small.. and tend to get everywhere! I thought they would be interesting to use, because they are 'sparkly' the out of focus highlights give a bokeh effect.. which looks quite magical! I took these images using extension tubes with a combination of different lengths.

This image is a clump of stars i found which were stuck together, i decided to photograph this on its own on some glittery paper. I think this image looks really nice, and the bokeh effect really adds the the image.

These 3 images were all taken of just the stars, again i feel the bokeh effect really adds to the images. I edited the colours of the images using Adobe Lightroom, and added a slight vignette.

Birdcage

Incandescent, Fluorescent and Halogen Lighting

Fluorescent

These images were taken using a Fluorescent energy saving bulb. 

Halogen

These were taken using a desk lamp/spot light with a halogen bulb. The light is alot harsher since its a very direct light, it also has a pink tinge since the lamp head is pink (see second image)

 

Incandescent

 These were taken using an incandescent bulb, The images seem to have a yellow tinge, which doesn't look so nice with the pink.

 

 

 

Daylight Balanced (5500k) Bulbs

These images were taking using my 5500k continuous lights, I have included this lighting to use as a comparison.