Melissa Morrell

Considering my work throughout this assignment I think my work was successful. I think it went well because of my photographic techniques and skills i.e. lighting, composition, vantage points and more.

The reason why the lighting went well in my photo shoots is because with the sports shoot I used two soft boxes 1 on both sides of the model at a 45 degree angle two get evenly spread lighting across his face and clothes and no shadows on the background. Meanwhile with my other shoot I used one lighting source to the right which created a lop shadow around his nose and a light shadow on the background to the left, which I wanted to create with this model when wearing the black suit. I wanted this because I found having a small amount of shadow in some fashion photographs especially shooting men in smart outfits adds a little extra feeling and atmosphere to the model and the image.  My camera settings for my fashion shoots were set to the same settings because I used the same light output which made having the same IS0 and the same shutter speed which was good.  My camera settings were ISO 400 – 1/125 seconds and the aperture was about f/10 which is a small aperture that lets less light strike the sensor and making a large depth of field making the whole image in focus. When taking my photographs of the watch in the light tent, I changed my camera settings twice to capture didn’t images. When photographing the watch with a wide angle so you can see a lot of the watch in the frame the settings I used were IS0 400 – 1/125 second shutter speed and an aperture of f/10. These are the same setting to what I used for my fashion photographs which will give me the same effect of a full focus. However my second set of settings were ISO 100 – 1/125 second shutter speed and an aperture of f/5.6 – this is where I have a large aperture which allows more light to strike the image sensor and giving me a shallow depth of field. I did this by increasing up the light output to allow more light out. 

The reason why the lighting didn’t go so well in the video clips is because I hadn’t set my camera setting back to the appropriate white balance. This is because when I took the photographs I set my white balance to flash but I didn’t change the white balance back to tungsten as the lights I was going to use were on all the time and not flashing. Not doing this gave some of my still life video clips a warmer light tone which I didn’t want. To improve this I could have re-filmed the certain videos or I had an idea to change each individual clips into black & white to see if that would make any difference. In my opinion I that having warmer lighting tones in my videos was good for me because then it gave me the idea to change my video into black & white which made a huge difference to my video for the better. Having the video in black and white was good because it added to the dramatic feeling and atmosphere to the video and it also gave off an old feeling towards the video which I also liked. Overall I found a solution to a complication and ended in a good outcome.

I think my posing for my model for both photo shoots went well however I still think I need to improve on this area to find more interesting and effective poses. Before my photo shoot I did effective research of men’s fashion photography with google images and photographers to see how males pose as they are different from women.

I think my composition improved during this assignment because I thought a lot about how I was going to pose my model and how I would photograph from different vantage points and what close up shots I wanted around the watch. I did my research beforehand on how different people advertised watches and when it came to shooting I remember what I saw and generated new ideas which I wanted to experiment with.  I thought about what I wanted in the frame and what I didn’t want and this made it easier for me to think about my vantage points.

I think my video is successful because of the filming techniques that I used to make it effective and I used panning; camera hand held; tripod, changing focus; close up, mid shots and wide angle shots, product movement, short clips and long clips.

The product movement was effective in this video because I used this technique a few times in different video clips which is where I moved the watch instead of the camera.  I also think changing the focus is effective as it makes the audience expecting somethings and wanting to see the end result. From videoing out of focus to manually changing the focus while filming is skillful and effective for the video.

What I also think that went well was the sound track that I choose because I achieved what I picked out to do, which was to pick a suspense and dramatic soundtrack as well as having the videos in time with the music which worked really well and made the full video feel dramatic. 

I found my investigation to be useful especially at the beginning of the assignment when I did my light testing and developing my knowledge of posing models and generating my own poses. Researching and investigating was a big influence on my work as fashion photography wasn’t something I wanted to do at the beginning of this assignment. Throughout this assignment I have been looking at a lot of photographs from historical to contemporary artist images like Chris Davis and Terence Donovan and several images off of google – this was to give me ideas of vantage points, composition, what to include in the frame and what not to, poses and lighting. I also looked through magazines like Vogue and dazed to look at their poses and lighting techniques.  My research for my video was useful because i look at two watch commercials for an omega watch.  Watching these to videos have inspired me and have given me ideas for my own video. There are two things that i want to achieve in my video from watching these videos are: the sound track in (omega globemaster) this is because it has a suspense and dramatic feeling to the music and secondly in both clips there are close ups of the watch, which was achieved when using either a macro lens or a macro filters. This is what i really want to achieve because it will help me gain my photographic techniques using macro filters and it will be really good when filming as it will make an effective commercial.

During this assignment I have learnt how to record from my canon camera and how to make a video on Imovie; How to get a really shallow depth of field. I also found an interest in fashion photography and that I want to develop my skills further and I know how to take better still like photography using the lighting tent and macro filters.

Final Images - Fashion/Still Life 

Here is a total of 9 images, including fashion photography with sports clothes and a black suit and also still life photography using macro filters to get really close to the watch. The reason why i chose these images for my finals is because i think that these images show my techniques and photographic skills well. These images are successful because i used soft lighting, large depth of field and a shallow depth of field, models poses, macro filters, low vantages points, composition and a strong contrast between whites and blacks. 

I experimnted with a shallow depth of field when i was photographing the watch. I did this so i could only get a little part of the watch in focus and the rest of the image blurred out. I did this by having a large aperture at f/4.5 or 5.6 and getting the right focus i used manual focus on my lens so i was in control of what part of the image was in focus. 

I also focused on how to pose my model for both shoots because i didn't want to use the same poses because he was wearing two different outfits that come across different to people. So picking the right pose is ideal for two different shoot i.e. when photographing a male in a black suit you want to make him come across dominate and focus on his clothing and when photographing a  young male wear sports clothes you would want more or a fun and relaxed poses.  

The video above is my first attempt at a watch commercial fashion video. I think this video went well because i mixed both fashion and still life videos together; I used several filming techniques; the videos were in time with the music; I achieved a dramatic suspense sound track and i added i added a photograph of the watch with the companies logo and slogan. 

The filming techniques that i used to make an effective video was panning; camera hand held; tripod, changing focus; close up, mid shots and wide angle shots, product movement, short clips and long clips.The product movement was effective in this video because I used this technique a few times in different video clips which is where i moved the watch instead of the camera. 

What I also think that went well was the sound track that i choose because I achieved what I picked out to do, which was to pick a suspense and dramatic soundtrack.  Which is also good because i got the videos in time with the music which worked really well and make the full video feel dramatic. 

What I could do to improve my video is the lighting. What i mean by this is that in my clips sometimes the lighting could become a warmer tone instead of a white even colour. I could improve this by going into imovie and adjusting the colour balance in every single clip or i could try and change my clips in black and white to see if that looks better. 

From here i have gone though each video clip and changes the colour to black and white and increased the contrast slightly to each clip. By doing this the video have become much better .i.e. the lighting and it makes the video feel complete as having the black and white has added the dramatic suspense and also makes the video slightly old which i like. However i kept the ending of the video in colour as it shows the logo and the watches true color.  

My final video for this assignment is the video below which is the black and white version of my video, which in my opinion looks better. 

I have chosen my final images that i want but i didn't need to edit them in Photoshop at all because I only needed it adjust them slightly in post processing. Here are some examples of what i did to some of my images below. In most of my images that I adjusted i only needed to increase the clarity and contrast however in some photos i needed to slighting adjust the highlights and shadows. 

In my opinion i think this is one of my best images because i think i captured the lighting and composition well. I also think this because when i opened my raw file to do the post processing I really didn't need to change a thing. However i did because i wanted to improve the clarity in the watch - so I increase the clarity and i also wanted a stronger contrast between the whites and blacks - so I increase the contrast slightly. 

As this photo is of the full face of the watch i wanted the photo to have evenly spread lighting without shadows and to have a strong contrast and clarity. In the post processing of this photo i decreased the highlights and shadows but also increased the whites and blacks. This was to make the contrast of the different shades of blues better. however I didn't need to adjust the contrast panel at all, so then i just increased the clarity slighting to make the watch pop out a bit more. 

With these fashion images i adjusted the slightly differently from the still life photographs because i don't want them same out come. This is because I don't want a high strong clarity. However with these images i still want a sharp image but I also want a soft image at the same time. With this photo I decrease the highlights and shadows quiet a lot meanwhile increasing the whites and blacks slightly. I did this because with the blacks i wanted a strong colour but I didn't want to lose the detail. So therefore while adjusting the blacks i was looking at the trousers t get the right shade and detail. More over i did still slightly increase the clarity to bring out his facial features slightly. 

New Rolex Sky-Dweller Watch Commercial (2012)

OMEGA Globemaster

Concept: A commercial fashion video - this video will be mainly made of clips of the watch and then some clips of the model with the watch to show his fashion sense. 

location: studio

Equipment/props: the watch, macro filters, tripod, canon digital camera. 

lighting: soft lighting from two softboxes from both sides - upon the watch. Using softboxes when videoing the model - even lighting. 

Model: young male model

mood/atmosphere: Dramatic, suspense and cool. 

Fun Behind the scenes 

Practise Video:

I have taken short video clips in the studio of my friends to make a behind the scenes 1 minute movie clip. This was my first time shooting on film and the first attempt to work on Imovie, which is the programme that i used to put the clips and music together. 

The techniques i used in these clips were: panning, focusing, close-up, low vantage point, high vantage point, lighting off and on, jells, camera hand held, tripod, rule of thirds and camera zoom. Using these techniques made this video more interesting then just having a simple video throughout. 

This went well because i achieve the theme that i wanted, which was behind the scenes - which is seeing them pose and mess about. It was also successful because the clips are in time with the sound track; used different techniques all the way through and also kept the length of each clips different and mx and matched, so there are quick clicks after longer clips. 

In class we got to choose a video off of vimeo or Youtube and fully analyse why the video is a success. In our small group we chose this is video of The 1975 - the City because we knew the video was based and shoot in a studio setting and thought this would be better as our video as well has to be shot filmed in a studio environment. 

While watch the video we has to not down what filming techniques was used to make the video successful, we find: slow motion, fast transformations, lens flare, projections, tripod mounted, short and long clips, panning, mid shots, close shots, wide shots, lighting from above, black & white and rule of thirds.  

From watching this video and knowing what type of filming techniques can be really useful and successful gave me the knowledge to practice my own filming techniques and practicing making my own video. Now I would like to practice with filming techniques like panning, changing focus, close ups and more.

By watching this video and other videos in class i wrote down how many seconds each clip were and got to to know the routine of how they put the video clips together .i.e. putting small clips next to longer clips then small clips after like 2 seconds, 5 seconds and then 3 seconds. 

In these two print screens blow show a contact sheet of my photographs that i have taken, from my still life to fashion, from sorts wear to a black suit. Through out these photo shoots i was practicing my photographic techniques like shallow depth of field, composition, manual camera settings, low vantage points and more. 

This was my set-up for my photo shoot of the watch, I used the the same layout when I was filming the watch. For this photo shoot i used two light sources, a tripod, a sync lead, a soft box, a spill kill, a standard 18 mm - 55 mm lens, 2 macro filters and a lighting tent (white). 

A light tent or light box is a contraption with translucent sides that diffuses light coming from multiple sources. This allows for even, nearly shadow-less lighting against a simple, solid background. So therefore i thought using a light tent for photographing a watch was a good idea as i can get good even light across the watch. 

I used two light sources, 1 coming from the right side and another 1 from the left. I was using two because i think thats enough light for a small little space and using 1 more on top of the tent would be too much light. I wanted to use soft lighting and thats why i used a light tent and a soft box. I would have used two soft boxes if they were available but they weren't so i used a spill kill. Using a spill kill would give off hard light however because I used the white light tent which defuses light, I can use that to softened the light coming the left side. While taking my photographs I put the light output for both light sources to about 3 because the light sources i was using were flash lights and i used a sync lead to control the lighting for each of my photos when I pressed the release button. However when filming I took the sync lead out and turned up the light output to the highest at 6 on both light sources. This is so I could good white even lighting when filming. 

I used a tripod when filming so i wouldn't get any camera shake and make my video more professional for a commercial. 

I will be doing a test shot for different lighting positions like split lighting, Rembrandt lighting, Clamshell lighting and Badger Lighting. Here are those four examples of lighting:

1. Split Lighting

Looking at this image the split lighting doesn't look good on this model as its not very appealing. So therefore if it doesn't look good now it won’t when I photograph him later. 

2. Rembrandt Lighting

I Like this lighting effect on my model because the lighting is appealing on him and flattering. I will use this lighting effect when i am photographing him in his suit as it makes him look more mature. 

3. Badger Lighting 

This is my first time using this type of lighting effect and and this type of lighting set-up. I am happy that i wanted to experiment with new lighting effects because i like this lighting on my model. I like it because it looks dramatic and appealing which suits my feel and atmosphere to my photos and video. To achieve this lighting I placed 1 soft box to both side of him at a 45 degree angle from the back and that’s how i have create a dark line in the middle of his face and that’s where the light a finished and cant reach too. 

4. Clamshell Lighting

Here are some test poses before i carried out my main photo shoot. I went to the LRC and looked through fashion magazines to look at how the models where posing. With the photos I found in the books, I photocopied them so I could recreate the poses with my models. From looking at those poses of what i liked and got my models to achieve them, so i knew that i could achieve it in the future and they would be effective. 

From there I also got my models to pose to how i would like them to pose because I thought of some poses that would look good in my main photo shoot, so I wanted to see if they would be effect before my main shoot. 

I like this pose for a lady because it makes her look elegant and the way she isn't looking at the camera is effective because it comes across that she doesn't care what others think and that she likes how she is. If i were to use this pose another time, I would use this when my photographing an women’s fashion shoot wearing elegant dresses.   

I got this photo from another photo that i have - this photo is a cropped version of another image. From looking at other images online and photographers, this idea came to me to crop around the watch and I caught this interesting pose and composition which i find interesting.   

To get this pose that i captured i was using a small prop black chair which I liked and took a few poses with him shitting down. I wanted to experiment with a chair because not all models and clients stand up so its good practice to know some poses of models sitting on different sized chairs.

Concept: From a person that wears sports clothes to a guy that looks strong in smart clothes with the help of this watch. In time you can be this person from being this person. 

Location: I will be shooting in the studio as this unit is studio based. 

Lighting: I will be trying out different lighting effects from soft light to hard lighting and different styles like split lighting and rembrandt lighting. 

Equipment/props: Digital Camera, tripod, white backdrop, flash lights, watch, a hat, a chair and a sync lead. 

Model: A male model - young adult. 2 sets of clothing: sports and Smart wear.

mood & atmosphere: Strong, dominate and cool. 

Brand: Lorus + Watches 

I will be changing the advertisement of Lorus watch campaign to a whole different style. I want the ad and my photographs to come at strong and powerful. Advertisement: ‘when your wearing lorus watches you can achieve high in life’.

Here are some of the watched of the lorus brand already:

Fashion photography + watch photography 

From this mood board you can tell that i will be shooting a male model for fashion photography. These images will be helping me pose my model depending on his outfit.  I will be photographing and filming for a watch ad, so the images below show some close-ups and stills of the watches. These images also show different lightings, which are helpful for my light testing. 

Peter Lindbergh - His work has influenced me, especially with this photo below with the lighting and the composition. 

Chris Davis - He has mostly influenced me the most because he does shoot male models; so this helps me pose my model and how to make him look strong and powerful in they images - this connects to my concept. 

Photo analysis Overview of these Male fashion photographs by Chris Davis:

Some of Chris Browns images are in the studio but also out side, however these images will influence me with the poses to the models and the use of rim lighting in the studio portraits and also the vantage point of the images, making the male models more dominate to the camera. 

The lighting used in the studio portraits are hard lighting but with more than one source of light. This is because two lights are placed at a 45degree angle from behind to create a rim lighting to separate the model from the background and then another light place in front of the model but places higher than the models eyes because the light will be tilted down and give hard shadows below his chin and abs. So having this type of lighting makes the image and the models body look more dramatic. 

Here are a few examples of Donovan’s work which are i like and that had given me influences to help with my shoot, from his composition, vantage point and poses. 

Photo analysis Overview of these female portrait/still life photographs by Terence Donavon:

Throughout these photographs the lighting used was Hard lighting as you can see from the sharp transition in the shadows from highlights to the blacks. Only one source of lighting was used and that was placed to the right side of the model, you can tell this in the models pupil and by the shadows on the left side of her face and body. 

In the first two photographs the focal point to each photograph was the jewellery and because these jewellery was earrings and a necklace the objects were put onto female model and pose in the to advertise them. The models were posed and positions in certain ways to get the way the photographer wanted to see the objects on them. 

For example, in the top image her face was moved to one side to manly see the earring but also kept her side of her face. This image was an example of a shallow depth of field because her face was out of focus and the earring was really sharp.