#hnd2c

[juliebalfourhnd2cphoto]

Lighting up the Dark ...previously illuminate (This is a reposting of my work from HND1)

So back to Pollok park and a bit more prepared this time.

checked on time of sunset

makeshift snoot for Rotolight

darker clothing for model & photographer

homemade mask

dog securely out of way

head torch for adjustments etc.

bribe (beer) for model

This was the latest I had been outdoors since the lockdown and to be frank I was a bit nervous, but I had dog walking as my reason to be in the park and, surprisingly, there were several dog-walkers there! I wasn’t confident I could explain the tripod, light, and camera if someone came along halfway through the shoot.

I used the “live comp” setting on my camera set at 15 second intervals and started by illuminating the ruined tree. First of all the grassy hillock in front of it and then the trunk itself. Next I lighted a pathway between the trees and then the second tree and the stick structure around it. Lastly I introduced the masked figure and illuminated him using an old flashgun triggered on my other camera.

Some of this went well, the trunk in particular, however I did still get some bleed from the LED on the back of the light which I had to sort in edit.                      The flash on the figure only partly illuminated him, fading off towards the feet, but I was quite happy with this effect as it added to the overall eeriness. 

This post is an initial rough edit. 

In an ideal world I would have had at least one other person to assist and that would have made all the difference. In an ideal world I would go back and do another shoot. However ,at the moment, this is not an ideal world, so I may shoot something else closer to home, or submit this less than perfect shot as my final submission...

[heatherr0-photography]

Smirnoff Style Edit

[hnd2crachelboyce-blog]

Fashion front cover research: Wes Anderson

For the ‘fashion front cover’ brief, I chose to take inspiration from ‘Moonrise Kingdom’, a film directed by Wes Anderson.

Wes Anderson is an American filmmaker and director. He’s created countless iconic, successful films such as: ‘the grand Budapest hotel’ (2014), ‘fantastic mr fox’ (2009) and his most recent film ‘isle of dogs’ (2018). Anderson is known for his unique style and colour palettes.

After researching his style I found out the following about his filming techniques:

• Wes Anderson heavily incorporates symmetry into his films. He does that by centering the subject right in the middle of the frame.

• Anderson uses flat lighting and composition, no harsh shadows or awkward lighting is used on the subjects which creates a more 2D appearance.

• He is also known to shoot directly above the subject to emphasise smaller details that tend to involve inanimate objects and hands that still convey things such as the time, place and the character.

• Lastly I found that he always sticks by a specific colour palette for each film. He mainly uses vibrant pastel and neutral tones.

As I’m basing my fashion front cover off of the film moonrise kingdom I’ll be taking inspiration from the scene shown below and aim to follow the colour palette of the specific scene.

I chose to take inspiration from this scene in particular as the composition and use of the rule of thirds really intrigued me as the frame is quite simple with few aspects to it which helps emphasise the subject.

For my front cover I aim to use a female model, one who has a younger/youthful appearance that could loosely resemble the character Suzy from the film. I will position the model directly in the middle of the frame and have her looking directly into the lens to create the symmetrical Wes Anderson look, I’ll also use even lighting to create a 2D effect.

For the set I’ll be using cloud wallpaper to replicate the background of the scene, I think this will work well as it will follow the colour palette I’m aiming to use. I will also include binoculars to add some contrast and personality.

In post optimisation I will colour grade it to follow the colour palette which will involve creating a vintage/yellow toned image.

[hndrachel]

Lab Class: Frequency Separation

In Imaging we have been learning how to retouch skin in photoshop using the Frequency Separation technique.

Before Image:

After:

As yo can see I didn't want to retouch my image too much. I think that this has just the right amount of blur for it to look slightly retouched, however I don't think that it looks harsh. 

We also had to make an action of this process. An action can be saved in your version of photoshop so that you don't have to keep re-making the selections. Once I was shown how to make an action I have now begun creating my own. This has been great when editing batch images as it saves me a lot of time. 

[samantha-skelly-blog]

Project-follow inspiration and guidelines from image provided by lectures, our image is the one above with low lighting reflections, elements of ambient light in the background, cool colour tones and a subject behind a window panel possible with a pillar or light stripe to their side. hopefully we manage to show our interpretation of this.

This city look with a male model will also help me with my second part of my fashion editorial shoot where I will be showing a nighttimes male version of the ‘smart casual look’ The female version was already shot during the day- both these shoots are in the city of glasgow as a location that connects them all.

[lucymortonphotography-blog1]

Research, planning and inspiration for my fashion major shoot. More logistical research to come.

[hnd2cemmagillanders]

Aye Write Festival

Last night, Hayely and I attended the Aye Write festival at the Royal Concert Hall from 5:30pm til 10pm. I can say it was good experience, as I have never photographed an event before. However, as usual with these sort of events, things did not go to plan. When we arrived, the receptionist told us they weren’t expecting photographers for the evening, not a good start. We were then told to walk through many doors and corridors, and eventually we found our way to the auditorium. We met with the stage manager who said we had full access to the balcony, meaning we could walk around and get pictures from each side of the stage which was great. We dropped our stuff off and got the cameras out to go find some authors to photograph. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to know where the authors waiting before going on stage. A volunteer kindly told us that we should try take the authors aside after their book signings, but nobody could tell us where the signings were happening either. We rushed back to the auditorium and got to photograph the one and only Elaine C Smith! Her talk was hilarious, as she discussed the books which have shaped her life. I feel like I got some nice pictures, but because flash was not allowed during the talks, the lighting situation was quite difficult to work with. We eventually found where Elaine was signing after the talk, so we took some candid images during the time and we got a few minutes with her to take a portrait after she finished. The second talk with Tim Burgess was quieter, so we could wonder downstairs and get closer to the stage. He talked about his book, which is based on his travels to find certain vinyls in record shops across the world. We later took some images of his book signing (which took well over an hour) and luckily got a hold of him to take a portrait before he had to leave. Overall the festival was great to be a part of, but it was very tiring and required a lot of strength to stand for several hours with camera equipment. Thank you to @hnd2chayelysmith for being great company during the evening!

[juliebalfourhnd2cphoto]

Lighting up the Dark ...previously illuminate

A wee phone snap I took when I was out with my dog. I think I can build on this.