College Art

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Work Experience Final Day: So today was my last day in the studio. In preperation for some of the superhero sessions that will be going on tomorrow I made some courtesy calls just to double check with the clients that they are still happy to go ahead with the sessions and also to answer and questions they might have before the session goes ahead. 

For the rest of the day I finished working on the flower background for the timelapse video. I didn’t get it one hundred percent finished but it only needs tweaking in one or two places. 

Finally to wrap up we had a superhero session come in. I had a lot of fun and did the session unsupervised. I’m really happy with images I got and can’t wait to see how the end result turns out. 

I am really lucky to have had the opportunity to work with Katie and Tom and look forward to working with them on future projects  

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Work Experience Day 15: This morning I had a viewing for the family shoot I did during my first week. It went really well and the clients might be coming back in the next few weeks to buy some acrylic blocks as well as prints. 

After this I continued working on the background design for the time lapse video. While the next layer of hair spray was drying Tom showed me how the pictures are edited and the tools used to do it. After he showed me the process I edited three photos for a viewing tomorrow.

Finally we had a shoot this evening with four kids under the age of five. It was a bit challenging but we got some nice shots and the clients were really happy with the results 

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Work Experince Day 14: This morning I spent confirming bookings for customers for the superhero shoot at the weekend. Katie and I then discussed new products she wants to sell and how best to implement them into the studio. She also discussed the idea of creating space for my own viewing area.

For the rest of the afternoon I started working on a background with flowers Katie wants to use for newborn shoots. To help promote it when its finished we are creating a time lapse video of me designing the background. I managed to complete about a third of the design. I drew it onto an older background that Katie wants to recycle. I used coloured pastels and set what I completed today by coating it in two layers of hair spray. 

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Work Experience Day 13: Today started off with a viewing for a new born shoot done last week. Katie used both of our finished props the bed and swing and the photos of them came out really well. 

We then did a sitter shoot with a 7 month old wearing his Dad’s firefighter helmet. It was a lot of fun, I am becoming a lot more relaxed with the shooting sessions as I really feel I have a good grip on what needs to happen. 

The rest of the day was spent doing the last of the prepping for our superhero shoot this weekend. We are pretty much ready to go and we have at least five to six sessions booked in. Above are the photos from the family shoot I did during my second week. The bottom images were our test images for the superhero shoot. In the end we used bought stock images for the backgrounds, however Tom has been changing and tweaking them slightly so as to better suit our needs. The test images were the first shoot I did by myself without supervision. 

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Work Experience Day 12: My first task today was to do a viewing with a client who had their shoot last week. I feel a lot more relaxed doing viewings by myself and I think its just down to practice. The more I handle clients by myself the more confident I am becoming. If I am ever unsure of anything I always double check with Katie. 

After the viewing was finished we tested out our poses on the green screen for the superhero shoot. We also finalised our background designs and finished editing them. I then put some of the finishing touches on the set pieces for the superhero shoot.

I then took my first booking over the phone. I was very nervous as dealing with people over the phone is something I rarely have to do, but Katie was happy with how I handled it. To finish up we had a delivery which we had to sort through and oragnise the photos for each client so they are ready for them to collect.    

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Work Experience Day 11: The newborn session cancelled this morning so unfortunately we didn’t get to test out the new props we made which was the dolls bed and the swing. 

Instead my focus for the first half of the day was working with Tom to organise and design the backgrounds we will be using for the superhero shoots. After a lot of research and discussion we settled on the images we would use. They will be a mix of stock images and designed ones. We won’t be using any of the backgrounds in the raw form they were found. We will be adding filters, changing colours and altering details so that they will look the way that best suits the shoot. We also made a list of the super poses we’ll be using and then matching them to the set pieces as well as the backgrounds to achieve the best overall look for the photos.   

For the second half of the day I met with clients who had the newborn shoot on Tuesday for their viewing. It went really well and the clients were really pleased with their photos. This time around I was allowed to create the mock ups for the frames as well as process the order.

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Work Experience Day 10: Today we had no shoots going on so we just did a day of prop building. To start I worked with Tom on carving out sculpting styrofoam to create props for the coming superhero shoot. The first two squares were painted black as we plan to paint road markings on it and then crack it into pieces to make it look like broken chunks of road. 

For the last square of styrofoam we carved a circular bowl shape into it as we want to create a piece that willl look like the models punched a hole in the ground. This was harderest piece to make as the styrofoam is very tough. In the end we had to use a wood chisel to carve it. We plan to sand it down tomorrow. I then created cracked designs around the top of the circles edges to make it looks like the impact of the ‘punch’ will have a ripple effect. 

I then created pieces of rubble out of smaller styrofoam and built two steps of different height for the models to use for one of the poses. I tested it but putting my own weight on the styrofoam. It took my weight quite easily so I have no worries that it can the weight of our smaller superheroes when they come in for their shoot. 

To finish up Katie and I finally finished building the newborn swing we started making during week one. We hope to use the swing and the finished dolls bed in the newborn shoot booked in for tomorrow.  

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Work Experience Day 9: So after a week off due to Katie closing the studio I arrived back today to my first newborn shoot. I won’t be able show the photos as the parents didn’t want us to use the photos for promotional material or to be put online which is understandable. 

Most shoots on average take a half hour to an hour to complete. Newborn shoots on average will take two to four hours to complete. This is because of the age of the baby we need to make sure they are happy and settled before posing and shooting happens. We also needed to take several breaks so baby could be fed, changed etc. I learned the difference between posing newborns when compared to say a three month old baby. Shooting the newborn was a longer tougher process compared what I have done so far but that is what made it more rewarding. 

For the rest of the day I painted the prop newborn bed in grey chalk paint as Katie and I hope to use it in the next newborn shoot on Thursday. I also attempted to finish my first costume design however we had problems with the sewing machine so I will try again tomorrow 

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Work Experience Day 7: So I covered quite a lot of new ground today. First of all I made a feedback advert for Katies website asking customers to leave feedback about their expereinces with having their pictures taken in the studio. It was sent to a list of Katies customers and within an hour or so of sending the emails we had 2 google reviews. The first picture shows how the advert would look in email format on a PC and the following 3 pictures show how it would display on a smart phone.

We then did my first sitter shoot with a little girl named Aoibhinn (pictures to follow). Sitter shoots are typically done with children who are a year old when they can sit up by themselves. The positions are different to that of the other shoots I have done so far. 

After this I did my first viewing session with a client by myself. This involves showing the client all pictures taken and helping them to choose the best pictures for them. I also talked them through pricing as well as packages offered and the products availabe. I felt it went really well as the client was really happy and expanded to a bigger package than the one she origianlly intended to go for. I then worked out her total cost, wrote out her invoice and talked her through payment options. 

Lastly I started a new form of prop making today which was making outfits for newborn shoots. Katie showed me the templates she uses and I began with making a pair of trousers. To do this I pinned the template to a t-shirt and then cut around it. I then pinned the two pieces of fabric together to ensure they were the same size and shape. Tomorrow I will finish making them and then move onto making more complicted outfits. 

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Work Experience Day 6: So today I covered a variety of things. First off we started off with a model call for a sitter session where a baby of seven moths or older would sit in the bucket (pictured above). However our poor little model wasn’t in the greatest of moods today so we’ll try again tomorrow.

I then helped Tom with putting together the facebook advert for our up and coming superhero themed photoshoot. The colour schemes are based on classic comic books form the 70′s to 80′s era in particular. For the remainder of the day Katie showed me how to break down costs for selling her work/pieces/frames etc. as well as some prop building. It was really interesting to see how much, one has to take into consideration when pricing ones own work especially factors I had never though before such adding in the weekly cost of the camera itself.

We then did some prop work. We built a dolls bed which will be used for newborn shoots. After we built this Katie showed me the bean bag she usually puts newborns on to take photos. I myself won’t be taking pictures for a newborn shoot for another two weeks. 

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Work Experience Day 5: So today for work experience we had a client come in for a viewing which usualyy happens two weeks after the shoot. In a viewing the client picks which photos they want watch size they want printed, if they want the pictures printed on canvas, or acrylic blocks and/if they want the images framed. Its then another two week wait while the images of their choice are printed in the format of their choosing. 

We then had a family shoot with 3 children and their mother. The shoot overall was done in about 20 mins and the kids were great to work with. Hoping to post the pictures soon. For the remainder of the day. Tom (our editor) and I planned out and started to put together the facebook advert for our new Superhero promotion. We wroked on the typography as well as colour pallets and layout  

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Work Experience Day 4 continued; So above are a small sample of photos from my first day of shooting the top most picture is on Hallie, the second picture is of behind the scenes pics from the shoot and the last picture is of Camilla. Both little ladies were amazing to work with  

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Work Experience Day 4: So today was my first day of shooting with Clients. I worked with 3 little girls ranging 3 months to a year old. The first shoot was for a client while the following two shoots were for modelling calls for promotional material for the studio. I had a lot of fun working with the little ladies and learned a great deal about how to posing, composition, lighting and getting to grips with the camera.

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Work Experience Day 3: Today I praticed posing my subjects and shooting with the camera before I do my first shoots with clients tomorrow. I also learned more about the editing of photos as well as setting up white balance on the camera. I also practiced setting up the camera by myself. The Camera used in studio is a Canon 6D ii 

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Work Experience Day 2: For my second day of work experince I started to paln and sketch out a concept for a superhero background design and set for future photoshoots. I also did some prop building with Katie who can be seen holding Hoola Hoops we were wrapping with Twine to build a swing for newborn photoshoots

[natashaduffy22-blog]

Day One of Work experience. Today I was shown around the studio and was taught how to use and set up the camera as well as the lights. I was also shown the props and other equipment that I'll be using when there. I also started working on plans to create props for future photoshoots

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Lip Sync

My First ever Lip sync in Toon Boom. Its also the first time I have animated an anthropomorphic animal character

Assignment 9: My first lip sync in Toon Boo.