Planning the Shoot: Lighting, Makeup, Hair and Poses

Lighting
To create the soft focus images that I really loved on my model, I will place her infront of a large rectangular soft box so the background will be bright and gentle on the outlines of her hair and face. I will take photos front on in front of a white background to help lighten the image with reflection. To add to that, to remove any shadows where I don't want them I will have a helper to position the reflector where I need it. I will use 50mm and 80mm lenses to create the close ups and shoulder-up images we need.

For the harsher, sharper images I will place the model in front of either a grey or black background (I will aim to use both to get a mixture of atmospheres and see which is the best outcome) and will use a reflector to remove any unwanted darkness and lighten to models face even more. I will use a beauty dish on the light instead of a soft box to create a bright and more direct source of light, but also to show her her natural beauty with the dish. I think for this set up with use both the lenses again to get various shots of her from every angle.

Makeup Look 1 (for setup 1)

For the first look, I want a perfected and flawless base with subtle highlight across the face. I will define the face slightly with contour to bring out my models natural beauty. The eyebrows will be filled in natural to add structure the the face and I want to add a simple sheen of bronze onto the eyelid with lots of mascara (no clumps though!) to emphasis my models eyes. The lips with either have a nude lipgloss or just vaseline to make the lips look healthy and moisturised.

Poses and Hair for Makeup and Setup 1

My model has shorter hair than these images, but I will still style it in a similar way. I want to loosely curl her hair to create 'beachy' waves or a messy look to add to the minimlistic makeup. I want these black and white photos to be strong, beautiful images of her natural beauty so the harsher light will be focused on her face from different angles (front on and side on as the brief requires) but I would like to include the shoulders to switch up the poses.

Makeup Look 2 (for setup 2)

As I am planning on creating both looks in the same session, I will add to the minimal natural look the model has on already. I will deepen the eye with darker browns and smoke out the lash lines. I will make the contour strong and add a red lip. I may also darker the brow if it is needed to tie the look together.

Poses and Hair for Makeup and Setup 2

For the softer lighting set up, I had a stronger makeup look and want to reflect this in bolder poses. I will ask my model to use her hands and shoulders more and hopefully the soft light will make the images less intense and create a eye-catching contrast between the styling and lighting. Her hair will also be tied up and away from her face in a messy bun to keep the focus on the more extreme makeup and bolder poses.

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Test Shoot with Chosen Model 4/11/15

In our last lesson before our final shoots, I asked my model Phoebe to come in so I could test what lighting, poses and lenses would be most flattering for her and produce the most professional, beautiful images. I have posted a colour and monochrome version of my 5 favourite images below. My initial plan was to use harsh lighting (a beauty dish facing the model against a white background) for black and white images only and soft focus (model in front of a soft box and a reflector to aid the lighting in front of model) for colour images. However, with my test shots I think this may vary depending on her pose, makeup look or which suits it best on the day! 

I have also posted some pose inspiration which I will take with me as a hard copy on the day to help Phoebe portray what I would like in my photos. I will also print these images out to re-create them as I feel they are the most successful.

These images are my inspirations for poses that I would like Phoebe to interpret herself on the day of the shoot. I showed her the 2nd and 4th one in my tests shoots but I found more inspiration from the black and white images for close up and more harsh lighting photos of her.

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Mood Board Practise

In Kat's seminar, we chose a word at random in the dictionary and were asked to create a mood board of poses and lighting to reflect how we would style and portray this idea. Mind was my chosen word and I began by brainstorming synonyms and meanings that spring to mind and then developed these into ideas and designs for hair, makeup and styling

For this concept, I wanted to portray clean, crisp images of strong women representing awareness of themselves and their mind. In regards to makeup designs, I would have simple looks that would leave emphasis on the eyes and highlights around the forehead representing the mind. The makeup would be fresh and subtle to make sure it did not detract from the concept. To extend the simplicity idea, the hair would be slicked back or kept away from the face to leave the focus on the emotion and features of the model. The photoshoot setup would have the lighting directly on the models faces, to again highlight the head, and the background would be plain with the space around the model staying empty to represent spacial awareness (a human aspect of the mind) as well as emotional awareness. The emphasis in this concept is to leave the eye on the face of the model and the whole photo would centre around them.

The first layout shown here demonstrates my collection of relevant images I would include in my mood board for the 'Mind' concept to communicate to my 'team' that I would be working with. I have included a mixture of monochrome and colour images to display the different and striking effects you would get with each, but both could be used. Each model has a strong emotional pose with the focus remaining on their faces and looks. The second layout is another way I could display my visual ideas alongside my written work to help my 'team' further with my concept.

Overall, I feel this lesson was very useful to get to grips with the reasons behind using mood boards to communicate your ideas as well as making your idea clear in your own mind as well by whittling down the options you would use to inspire your stylists, models and photographers.  

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Low Key and Monochrome Test Shoots 28/10/15

Low Key Tests

The setup that was used to create the soft focus photos

The images above show my first ever attempts at 'low key' lighting. To begin with, I set the camera up with the correct setting (manual mode, shutter speed 1/160 and ISO 100) and set the aperture to a low number to allow plenty of light into the image. Beth was positioned directly in front of the softbox light with a reflector above the camera. The first image shows the overexposure that was created. I turned up the number for the aperture and the second image is showing a better light but is still not in focus completely. The third image's aperture was slightly increased and the final outcome was in focus with the face lit up softly, making the face smooth and the hair lighter. This setup up, I feel, is one of the best for a colour beauty photograph as the natural beauty is enhanced and focused on through the lighting and the washed out background. I plan to use this lighting arrangement for my colour beauty photo.

For the second setup, I had Charlie stand in front of a white background with the softbox facing her behind above the camera and a reflected on the side (to highlight any shadows). The result was a crisp image with her skin perfected. However, it is not as soft and forgiving as the first low key trial. I think the sharp quality of the image would be effective if it were to be transformed into black and white and I want to explore this further for my beauty images. I will either use a light with a beauty dish or softbox to create my black and white image.

These are my favourite images from today's test shoots with the soft box for lighting. It was positioned directly behind Charlie with a light flashing behind as well when the photo was taken. The soft-focus effect through the lighting setup is one I am going to use for my final beauty images but I will most likely take the portrait photos so I can include more of the neck, collarbone and maybe shoulders into the image. As well as that, the portrait space will allow the model to vary their poses more with the upper part of their body - resulting a more striking and professional image.

Monochrome Photos

A task was set to use a direct light on our group members in black & white and see if we could create flattering images. The exercise was fun to explore how contrasting they are compared to the rest of our shoot in the lesson and to see how shadows can be really evident in monochrome images. The clarity this technique leaves the image with is one I would like to use in my monochrome beauty image in my final assessment. 

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Camera and Lighting Test Shoot 14/10/15

Test Shoots 14/10/15
For our first practical lesson Bronya, Charlie and I were in a group getting to grips with setting up a beauty shoot and taking our first portrait photos. Throughout the lesson, we were adjusting the height of the camera and light and playing with the brightness of the lamps to perfect the beauty photography skill.

The first set up looked like this. We sat the model down and took the camera to that level on the tripod. The light were also set up on a tripod with a beauty dish over the bulb and we set this up, again, directly infront of the models face. We tested a few shots to begin with to get to grips with the lighting and got used to the exposure. Our first few shots were bright and washed out. The girls looked great and the skin looked flawless, however, it was bleached and there was no depth to the photographs. It gave us a good starting point to work with the lighting, poses and height of camera.

For the second setup, we raised the light to above the model and brought the camera up to her face whilst she was standing. Some of our photographs in the first set up were often from underneath the models face which did not create the most flattering images. This technique also allowed us to produce more interesting shadows under cheekbones and jawlines - emphasising the girls' naturally beautiful attributes. The skin for both of them became clearer but nonetheless flawless. The images below are some experiments with posing with hands and my favourites from the test shoots from this lesson (including an image of myself as the model being directed by Bronya.)

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