STUDY OPTION MINI BRIEFS: FASHION PHOTOGRAPHY
WEEK 1:
WEDNESDAY 20th APRIL 2022
Todays lesson started off with the tutor introducing us to the new brief which is to photograph a model in garments inspired by our chosen sport. Mine was swimming so I had a few ideas immediately but they would only be achievable if my model is comfortable being in a swimming costume in the studio. I also think that a female model would be more appropriate than a male one as when shooting the head shots and 3/4, there will be more in the frame in terms of fashion, although I could use body paint on the male torso but at the moment I don't have many ideas.
The tutor also showed us some examples of fashion/designers/photographers and how style has been implemented. They also recapped some camera techniques and went over the different types of lenses whilst getting us to shoot with them and physically seeing the difference and what each lens is more suited to.
NOTES FROM LESSON:
Nick Knight, Mert and Marcus, Thomas Gainsborough, Paolo Reversi, Alexander McQueen, Javier Vallhorat - examples we were shown.
We need 1 full body image, 1 full body or 3/4 B&W image and 1 really cropped/close up/headshot image.
Ideas that popped into my head: Items you wouldn't normally go swimming in be ridiculous!, maybe crochet things like a swimming costume/bikini, 60's vibes, Towel around model, flippers, hat you wouldn't wear to swimming, floaty ring and ball, goggles/snorkel, lots of floaties to make a dress and arm bands as sleeves?, wet hair.
Fashion is about freedom, be fun and imaginative. bring accessories and clothing to next lesson as it will be a rehearsal for actual shoot.
Based mainly on lighting and camera techniques.
Get some lighting references.
Moodboards - composition, styling, hair and make up, lighting
Telephoto - narrow angle, ok for close up portraits (bocce)
Prime (50mm)
Wide angle - wider angle
Zoom
Shutter and aperture are related, you change one and you change the other.
Michael Langford - basic photography
This was the layout of the practice shoot we did. We had one main light on the model and a diffused light on the backdrop to slightly brighten it.
We were using different lenses to see how different they made a model look.
This lens was a wide angle one and the difference between the 50mm lens and this one was amazing to see it visually.
We tried different distances from the model to further witness what each of the lenses could do to a model or subject.
This image was taken with a wide angle lens and it made the things closer to the image larger than the ones further away. I liked this look as it was very surreal and abstract.
We then got 3 people to stand in front of the camera to see what the image would look like. Lots of us said it reminded us of a cd cover.
I really like the outcomes of using a wide angle lens due to the distortion it creates.
HAIR:
For the hair of my female model, I'd like it to be wet/damp as I like the way the stands clump together and gives a romantic feel. I also like how easy it is to style when wet and it can be both messy or neat so I will be able to play around with it. I think it will also add to the swimming feel as it will seems as the model has just got out of the pool.
In terms of clothing, I have a few ideas that I think are more experimental and abstract than going down the route of using sportswear such as goggles and swimming costumes etc. The first idea I came up with included inflatable pool floaties in different sizes and deflated arm bands to create a dress and sleeves. The fashion designer Issey Miyake influenced this idea with one of her dress designs. The next idea I have is inspired by the 60’s as when I think of swimwear I automatically thing of the 60’s and the swimsuits the women use to wear. It is to make a long skirt in blue fabric to imitate water with red stripes to resemble the lane ropes in the pool. I think the simple stripe design with relate to the 50's/60’s as it is simple and abstract. Another one is to make a tutu out of blue tull material and add in strips of red and white ribbon to again, look like lane ropes. I like the idea of a female model as I feel I can work with more in terms of styles and types of clothing, although I could dress males in these types of clothing. The last idea I have is also inspired by the 60’s but to use a flower swimming cap (either make one or buy one) and to use clothing inspired by the 60’d in terms of style. For props I’d use things such as beach balls, pool rings, arm bands etc.
I went up into London with some of my friends from class and we went into the Magma shop to see if we could find any examples of sports fashion photography. I found some examples but not many.
I thought this image related to my theme as the skirt looked like water in terms of form and one of my ideas was to use fabric in a similar way to this. I also liked the blue background as to me, it had connotations of being underwater.
I took a photo of this page as the model was wearing blue and also due to the compositions as they relate to the frames we need to create ie. 3/4 and close up shots.
IDEAS:
Ideas I have come up with at the moment is to have the model wearing a long blue skirt made out of a silk looking material so when moving, it imitates water or a tutu skirt made from tulle so it looks again, like water. For the tops on both skirts, I like the idea of having a tank top which will look similar to a swimming costume as I don't know if the model will be comfortable wearing one. In terms of accessories, I think lane ropes are quite easy to replicate into jewellery with beads so for earring, I would chain red beads and make them into drop earrings and for a necklace, I would do the same but possible make the with larger beads. Another prop idea I have come up with is to make a larger chain of balls to look more life size to the lane ropes. I like the idea of the 1950's swim wear from briefly looking for ideas so having a swimming cap instead of an actual swimming hat would be more fashionable and stylish for a fashion shoot. I will be crocheting one with flowers on so it relates more to fashion.
I did some research to see what the caps looked like in the 1950's and they looked exactly how I had imagined them. For mine I think I will keep it white and add crochet flowers as it will add a bit of fashion to the swimming concept.
Frost. M, (2018) 1950 Daily Mail Cross-Channel Race. Available at: https://www.channelswimmingdover.org.uk/content/history/channel-races/daily-mail-races/1950-daily-mail-cross-channel-race
SLIM AARONS
I found this image called 'Penthouse Pool' which was taken by Slim Aarons in July 1961 at the Canellopoulos penthouse pool in Athens, Greece. The women in the white costume caught my eye as she was wearing a flower swimming cap.
Penthouse Pool
WEEK 2:
WEDNESDAY 27th APRIL 2022
In todays lesson we did another shoot practice using different techniques such as using a torch and gels. It was to help us to come up with some ideas in terms of angles and poses for our fashion shoot. I took some ideas from this shoot which I think will help me with my own. The angles in particular being the main thing I took from todays lesson and also the colour of backdrop as I think the pink used was quite fun and related to my idea of the 50's/60's inspiration.
We started off by getting the lighting correct. We used a light meter so that we could adjust the lights according to what it read.
After this lesson, I started to create a mood board to help me come up with some ideas in terms of fashion and poses and it has really helped me develop some ideas as I don't really know where to start when it comes to fashion.
I have come up with a final idea, which I might tweak if I cannot find the clothing etc, which is to have the model in either a long sleeve or short sleeved white top with white leggings and for her to wear a crochet swimming cap that women in the 50's/60's use to wear when they went swimming. I will be making flowers to attach to it too. I do still like the idea of the model having wet/damp hair so if I feel like doing this part of the shoot at the time, then it will be after taking photos of her in the hat. I will also include beach balls and pool floaty rings for a fun look and also to add to the clothing as a skirt/dress. For the accessories and jewellery, I will be making earrings and a necklace with red and possibly blue and white beads to imitate the lane ropes as well as a large string of red balls to again, imitate lane ropes. I think this will help to add to the costume. I think less is more so in terms of the clothing, the plain top and leggings will not only relate to the 50's/60's simplicity but also will look abstract and make you focus on what the model is doing.
I did a quick sketch whilst the ideas were in my head, of what I wanted to use but I was also open for changes to this especially if I couldn't find exactly what I had planned.
LIGHTING:
For the lighting, I liked the idea of using a torch as from last lesson, the images created reminded me of the refections water can make then the sun hits it. I'd like to use this so that if it did work out then, I would consider using it as one of my final shots. I also liked that when the torch was drawing light, the shot was dark apart from the areas what had been lit with it and I like the depth that was created.
CLOTHING:
With the clothing, I am keeping it simple but relating to my idea of the 1950's/1960's. I will be crocheting a flower swim cap as during these eras, they were worn by female swimmers, although when competitively they were just plain but as a fashion shoot, I wanted to add the sense of style. I also will be getting the model to wear large round or cat eye sunglasses in place of googles as they aren't very fashionable or exciting as much as the glasses are. For the actual clothing, I've chosen the model to wear plain white leggings/tracksuit bottoms or a red skater skirt and either a short sleeve/tank top or a long sleeves shirt as the swimwear in these eras were quite plain in terms of the competitive wear and I'd like to add the styles and patterns in with accessories. I’d like to add a well know swimming brand logo to the white t shirt so when editing, I will photoshop one on to link the outfit more to swimming.
UPDATE: After going out shopping and looking for clothes that match my idea, I bought a plain white t shirt and a light green skater skirt which relates to streetwear but also to the concept of 50's/60's clothing style.
ACCESSORIES & PROPS:
For the accessories, I have chosen to make most of them as what I thought of using are abstract representations of the actual object such as lane ropes for example. I will be making the jewellery using red beads in various sizes and these will consist of earrings, necklace and bracelets. To make the accessories more streetwear, they will be chunky and statement pieces. I’d also be making a large chain of red balls to imitate lane ropes and have them as another statement piece in the images. I will thread balls of a scale of either ping pong size or a small melon onto string.
UPDATE: I went shopping and was able to find an inflatable ring which was patterned like a watermelon which is perfect for relating the my chosen era. I also found some small watermelon beach balls which I think will work well in the shoot.
POSES:
For the poses, I just jotted down a few which I thought would be good to try but I would also experiment whilst in the studio.
WEEK 3:
Jana. R, (2019) 14 designers whose fashion is out of this world, literally, Vogue. Available at: https://www.vogue.in/fashion/content/14-designers-whose-fashion-is-out-of-this-world-literally. I did some research into some fashion designers and on this website I found one designer that created clothing that looks similar to an idea I had, one of which includes inflatable rings and their dress looks like a tall stack of them. His name is Issey Miyake and he is a Japanese fashion designer. Miyake is well known for his technology-driven clothing designs, exhibitions and fragrances, such as L'eau d'Issey.
Issey Miyake, Spring/Summer 1995
This dress is called a flying saucer dress and combined the classic Japanese paper lanterns with biomorphic sculpture and UFOs. This was produced in numerous shapes and colours during the 1990s. The pleated polyester garments looked like “saucer” shapes cascading over the body, giving the wearer the look of something extraordinary in motion—a curiously eye-catching object hovering just above the ground.
Another dress by Miyake was this one and it also has similarities to my idea of using inflatable rings. The bottom of the dress looks like the inflatable rings stacked. This image is included in Issey Miyake's Spring 1995 Ready - To - Wear collection.
Although my initial sport was swimming as in training for competing, I thought that I could make it fun using inflatables, especially when it comes to fashion. I found some images in which include some more poses that I would like to try. I think my choice in using white will be a good idea as it seems to be very contrasty in the black and white images and I will need to create one.
THERESA ELVIN:
For the black and white image, I did some research into black and white images and what you can do with them and I quite liked the idea of having a hint of colour to highlight a certain subject in the image. I love black and white images however, in this case, due to the fact that I would like to use bright and colourful inflatables, I would like to add a bit of that colour to the image.
Elvin is a Doncaster based portrait photographer, although photographing other subjects during her career. She works with her Husband and is said to deliver "a professional, friendly service, either in the relaxed homely atmosphere of my studio or out and about on location around the Doncaster area." I cant seem to find much on her but from looking at her images, she appears to be very experimental with not only her images in either colour or black and white but by the different lenses she uses and combining the idea of black and white and colour. I also like the way she performs her photoshoots in a studio and outside so she has a very varied portfolio.
RISK ASSESSMENT:
At the time I expected to use my camera and thought we would also have the phase one camera in the studio but we weren't going to use that at all however, it didn't affect the risk assessment.
WEEK 4
This week is the week of my shoot and I am looking forward to see what images I create with my choice of outfit, accessories and props. After collecting everything I ended up with an outfit consisting of a white t shirt, a pale green skater skirt, fishnet tights and white Dr Marten boots. For the accessories, I crochet a white retro swimming cap to look like a 1950’s/60’s one, inflatable watermelon beach balls again to consist within my chosen era theme, inflatable watermelon ring, a variety of vintage style sunglasses to imitate goggles, a red beaded necklace to replicate a lane rope. I started off by buying the inflatables as they were an important part of my shoot and then the clothing colours followed along, which is why I went with greens and reds more than colours of water like blue.
MONDAY 9th MAY 2022
SET UP:
I had previously taken this photo and chosen what colour backdrop I was going to use from this selection and it was the pink as it suited the colour props and clothing I had bought for the shoot. I think the red/orange would go well with the outfit but I dont want the inflatables to loose their colour and identity as they are watermelon themed so If I have time, I might try that colour backdrop. I could use the baby blue to represent water however, I will have to see how well the clothing and props look in front of it.
This was the set up I used throughout the shoot, with a few changes with the positions of the lighting. ⬇️
IMAGES FROM MY SHOOT:
I asked my assistants if they could take some photos/videos of my shoot so I could evaluate how it went and to remind me of what equipment I used.
I was so happy and ecstatic with the outcome of my shoot. I was a little nervous photographing someone I didn't know but I had nothing to worry about as she was really nice and willing to do what I asked and dressed in my clothing I brought for the shoot. I used a Sony camera and the focus was really great in terms of capturing everything as if it was a statue, even if I caught the model moving slightly to another pose.
WEEK 5
I found it quite easy refining my images which consisted of over 200 as I looked out for ones that had poses I liked the best as well as if they were in focus etc. I came down to about 20 which I will refine down further so I end up with the 3 required shots. My favourite shots over have to be the ones that included the inflatables as they made the images relate to swimming a little more than the ones that didn't have them in. I also liked the addition of the glasses as that transformed swimming goggles into fashion.
UPDATE: After looking at my images when editing, I noticed that a vast majority of them weren't completely in focus when zoomed in, although they looked fine when not and I am a little upset with that as I really like how a lot of the images looked. I dont think the digi op zoomed in when I asked them how the images looked during the photoshoot so they could tell me whether to reshoot or not which is a little annoying as I could have adjusted the focus but when I come to editing any salvageable ones then I will try to sharpen those images. Overall I am really happy with the way the images I took look but when zoomed in, I am not that pleased with them however, what's done is dont and I will have to work with what I have so I will choose the least blurriest when zoomed in images. I was also using a different camera to the one I use so I was also working with one that I wasn't use to.
WEEK 6
EDITS:
When choosing what images to have as my final three, there were lots I wanted to use such as the ones where the watermelon ring was held over the models face and the ones where she is sitting down with all the floaties however, I was worried when it came to getting them marked that the tutors would zoom in and realise that those images weren't up to my normal standard and not give me a good grade. The 3 images I have chosen to use are ones I do like but not the ones I would have liked to have used but due to the others not being in focus when zoomed in, I had to compromise.
In this image, I removed the dust marks and any marks on the bottom of the backdrop by using the clone tool in areas of similar colours and tones. Then I adjusted the brightness as the RAW image was a little dark so I brightened it up and used contrast and curves to bring out the tones of the glasses and ball. I noticed that the black sunglasses hid the eyes a little so I copied the layer, put it beneath and enhanced the brightness so that the eyes were more obvious. I then erased those parts of the image above so the layer beneath showed through. I used a low opacity so it didn't look too edited.
When editing this image, I started off by copying the original image and then edited out the dust marks, foot marks and scuffs on the bottom of the backdrop. I also noticed some creases in the backdrop I clone stamped out but then I cropped the image as there was too much empty space at the top. I then used brightness, contrast and curves to bring out the colours, especially in the inflatable. I then cloned that layer and worked on the copied layer. I changed it to black and white and changed each of the colour values so I could darken or lighten the right parts. I went back to the colour version and as I wanted the inflatable to be the only coloured part of the image, I enhanced the contrast further but not too much so that it looked flat. I then went back to the black and white layer and started to erase the floaty so that the coloured version showed through from underneath. I noticed that you could see the backdrop colour reflecting on the green of the watermelon so I used the clone tool with a low opacity to tone that down. The highlights on the floaty were a little too strong so I used a low opacity clone tool to blend it down.
I didn't do too much to this image in terms of removing marks left my dust or food prints but I did alter the brightness/contrast and curves to bring more of the colours out. Looking at the hat, it seems a bit over exposed so I will re edit this image to bring out the contrast and define the individual flowers.
After asking my tutor about the blurriness, they mentioned about zooming into 100% and so I did and the images look perfectly fine so I am less worried about how the shoot went so as backup, I will edit a few more images that I originally wanted to use to see what ones work well and to get some opinions on them. I'll edit them in the same way as I did the previous 3 in terms of removing spots from the lens and marks on the backdrop eg, creases and footmarks.
BACK UP EDITS:
This was one of my favourite images but when I was worried that it was too blurry when zoomed in, I decided on another image that looked more like a model photoshoot, however if I get feedback on this thats better than the other image I chose as the close up image, then I would swap them over. What I liked about this one was the composition of framing and the fun expression on the model's face. When shooting it was said to me that this mage reminded others of an advertisement for a drink.
I edited this image to remove a lot of dust marks made my the lens as well as brightening up the image a little to bring out the colours of the inflatable.
This image was another one of my favourites but I was so hard tying to choose just three especially when they all had to be different compositions/crops. I like the landscape layout of this and the way that the blue background acts like water and the model looks as if she is floating. I would consider swapping this image out for the one where she is wearing two sets of glasses as I prefer the pose and composition however I wanted to include glasses to represent goggles to relate the shoot more to swimming.
When editing this image, I started off by removing dust marks which were scattered about on the backdrop and then removed shoe marks on the base of the backdrop. I was going to remove the ripples in the backdrop but in this case, I like how it looks like ripples in water. I also brightened up the soles of her shoes as thy looked dark and dirty so I duplicated the layer and changed the brightness and contrast of that and placed it beneath that layer. I then erased the sole parts of the top layer to reveal the cleaner and brighter image beneath. I wasn't very confident with masking although I could've tried a bit more, so I did it a way I knew worked and how to make part of the image brighter.
WEDNESDAY 25th MAY 2022
In todays lesson we went over editing and I found out that using curves is much better than using brightness and contrast as its more adjustable. I do normally use brightness and contrast and sometimes curves as well but from now on, as I've seen the difference visually, I will be using curves a lot more. Throughout the lesson we watched the tutor edit two images, one black and white and the other colour. It was helpful to watch how masking was done but I have trouble with remembering and taking in lots of information at once so when I work on my own images, i tend to 'mask' in a different way by having two layers and then removing parts of the top layer to reveal the more edited layer underneath. I was shown as a one to one making and it made a little more sense and I was able to edit one of my images which even though I edited, it was still a bit over exposed so the tutor showed me masking again and then I continued on until I liked the result.
This was the image I re edited as her face was a little too shiny and the hat's details were lost as it was white and the lighting was a little too strong for it. I used curves to tone down the shine on the face, mainly the forehead, nose and cheek and then to bring out the details of the flowers.
WEEK 7
This week's lesson was our last chance to talk with the tutors and get some help and advise on our images and magazine layout. Whilst talking to the tutor, he suggested some changes I could make and I agreed. Some of those were to move images, add text and to re edit as I had missed some dust marks on one of the advertising images.
This was the image that had some dusk marks left after editing and I noticed some of the smaller bubbles looked a little distracting so I also edited those out. I edited these in term 2 and it is interesting to see how my editing has changed as now from looking at the first image, I don't know why I didn't edit further and more in detail.
MAGAZINE IDEAS: MOODBOARDS
Something that stands out to me is the headers of the articles due to a couple of things. The font differs as well as it being bold at some points to make certain words pop out as they are more signifiant than the others such as the article about size has a message which is important in bold - 'Size does matter' I like this concept as well as having different sized font like 'The New Normal' article. I think that the alternating of size and font makes the article look more engaging and interesting. I also like the way that the first word at the beginning of the article starts large and bold so I will try that with mine. We were told that we didn't need to write in the article parts of our magazines but I feel like mine would have to have some relating text in order to look right for me so I will try and make up some text which relates to the images used for them.
This is my final magazine layout:
The quality isn't the best as I could only screenshot the pdf in order to add it to behance.
I am really happy with the way my magazine looks. At first I was a little dubious with the idea of InDesign as I hadn't used it anywhere as near as I did photoshop so was worried that I wouldn't be able to so some things to the magazine that I wanted but with a little help and guidance, in the end i was able to create this. I decided to add some extra images after asking the tutor as I didn't think there was enough fashion images in the overall magazine and felt it was over powered by the sport images. I added the two images where the model is sitting in the watermelon inflatable and the one of her poking her head through it. I was going to choose those originally as parts of my final 3 but then I was in the situation of worrying that they were too blurry but after discussing them with my tutor, I found out that I was zooming into them too much so then they would be blurry.
I decided on the name Serenity as I originally liked the word 'Vogue' so researched into words like it and Serenity was one to appear. I also liked the way it paired up with the image I chose for the front cover as well as it suited the idea of water, tranquility and calmness. I did try the name in white but it started to disappear with the white hat so decided to keep it black. The font was chosen to complement the meaning and sensation of the word 'Serenity' which has the definition of 'the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled.' I thought that the idea of swimming, being in the water and floating went well with that definition.
I decided not to add any text onto this image as there wasn't really enough space to put some and I had already added branding to 2 images, one of which was an image these flippers so you already knew the brand. I was also told by the tutor that this magazine showcases the images so text wasn't necessarily important.
I didn't just want to add text over the image as it blended in as well as looked a little messy so I trialed different ways of adding over the image and I liked this way the most as it matched with the feeling the image gives which is fun. I also tried different colours using colour swatches from the image and thought that this shade of green went the best out of the reds, blacks and darker greens.
I wanted to showcase the photography off more here but there was a big empty space so I added a little bit of text which wouldn't take you long to read and didn't take up any of the main image. White text didn't work however, black did but I had to make sure that you could see it clearly. There was a dark patch of the image that I tried to avoid covering so placed that part in between the two lines of text.
We were told we didn't need to write the longer pieces of text, only the captions and titles but I thought that my images and layout was missing something and needed some text that spoke about them. I spoke from experience as I was a competitive swimmer and I also waffled on to fill up the text box as I made the font size 12 so I had lots of space left. I did originally have a mix of male and female swimmers on this page but the colours of their costumes and the tones of the water didn't quite match so I used the 3 images of some male swimmers which were taken in the inside pool which meant that the lighting would be similar in all 3. I liked the way that I placed the large image on the pace looked like the swimmer wanted to swim out of the paper so I decided to keep it that way and the fact that there was a lot of water contrasted to the white on the opposite page. After talking to a tutor, I make the title with the word 'Art' larger than 'The' which I had originally put larger from looking at existing magazine articles as 'Art' is more interesting than 'The' as well as being a noun.
I did want to use the square version of the black and white image as there was too much space above the model however, it didn't fit in the layout so I used the image with space which for in nicely and then decided to add some text which wouldn't intrude in on the image. I like the way that the hint of colour in the black and white image related it to the colour one next to it so they dont look out of place together.
With this page, I decided to add a logo which I made to look like the actual logo and then created my own slogan as there was some space that felt empty. I looked up some swimming slogans and this one was the one that stood out to me and related to the idea of flippers.
With this page, I did the same as the previous article page in terms of writing my own text as it didn't look right with the text that was originally on the layout. I felt like the article parts of the magazine had to have text relating to the images in order to satisfy me.
This was the other image I decided to add into the magazine as it was another image that I wanted to use as part of my final 3 but had too many good images to choose from.I liked the way that a different outfit was worn but still related to the other fashion images by the use of the coloured backdrop and the inflatable.
This page was the same as the other page I decided to add a logo on as again, there was a space that was just too empty so I added the brand of swimming costume the swimmer was wearing and made my own slogan which I came up with myself as I couldn't find any online that I liked.
WEEK 8
WEDNESDAY 8th June 2022
Today I handed in my prints after collecting them from print shop and cutting them down. I was really happy with the way they looked and glad print shop knew how they were to be printed. Some of the prints however, especially the ones of the flippers, they appear darker and loose some of the details you can see on screen but that was to be expected as screen is different to print. I like the texture of the prints too although from looking at other people prints, glossy did look nice too.
EVALUATION:
Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome of all 3 mini briefs and how they look when presented in the magazine layout and as prints. I have enjoyed this brief overall as I was able to work with something I enjoy (swimming) and therefore was able to produce some strong work and I think with my knowledge of swimming, I knew what to look out for when photographing the swimmers in the pool and when it came to translating swimming gear to fashion. I can also tell how much my photography skills have evolved and improved from the first brief to the last and if I could've reshot the swimming shoot I would've as I'd know what settings that I'd use rather than relying on ISO which made my images quite rainy but I think it worked in that case. I know after the past weeks how aperture works when it comes to changing the other settings and that has allowed me to improve my skills up to the now. These briefs have also made me more confident in contacting people to photograph so thats a positive that has come out of this along with improving my skills.
