#shoot1

We had so much fun working together. Thanks to: Joshua Boeddinghaus

I am very pleased that I was able to get two final outcomes out of this shoot that are diverse in both lighting and composition, especially considering that it was the first shoot of my project.

I chose this as my first final image as I feel it utilises the space effectively in order to separate the two different colours of light. The way the light bleeds out of the window also looks really nice and creates a nice gradient with the blue thanks to the smoke. The addition of a subject also helps to create a more cinematic and mysterious feel which is what I want to emulate in my images as stated in my project plan.

I chose this as a final outcome because the denser amount of smoke creates a really nice quality of light emerging from behind the door which I would say is the clear focal point of the image. Furthermore, I feel this creates the narrative that the person is opening a sort of portal which gives the image narrative and a more cinematic feel.

After conducting this first shoot I have decided to maintain a consistent colour scheme of blue & red/pink throughout the whole of my project, as these colours contrast with each other very well and it makes sense to keep a consistent aesthetic across all my final outcomes as I think this will look best when in an exhibition format.

Because I knew I wanted to create a composite images using the photos I got in my hallway, I knew I would have to edit the colours that were on the subject (me) in order to best match the colours on the background in order for it to be more effective.

After selecting and creating a new layer with just the subject,

I did this by adjusting the colour mixer on camera raw, particularly to get the blue hues on my right side to match with the blue emerging from the right hand corner. I also de-clarified the subject in camera raw in order to match the level of haziness produced by the smoke in the background image.

With the background, I also adjusted the colours slightly to best match up with the subject. I also removed the blown out portion of the red light coming from the corner window as it was a bit distracting.

Then after layering the subject on top of the background, I think the resulting composite is quite effective in terms of light and colour, particularly with the red from my hand reaching out matching particularly well with the red light which was a portion I was worried about looking not right.

I then boosted the saturation and brightness of the image to really bring out the vibrancy and richness of the two contrasting colours within the image.

The original image was slightly underexposed because of the amount of smoke that was present, so I fixed this by boosting the exposure a bit in camera raw, I also boosted the whites to make the light coming from behind the door more prominent which also helped with the exposure. The blue quality of the light was another thing I liked about this image so I increased the saturation to make this another focus of the image. I felt the writing on my t shirt was a bit distracting so I removed this using the clone stamp tool.

Boosting the exposure and the whites in this image helped bring out the vibrancy of the colours while also creating more of a contrast with my silhouette which I liked.

Too much smoke present in the scene resulting in a loss of detail and image looking flat.

Colours are nicely balanced with good amount of red shining out from window onto ceiling and wall - Will use this as the background for my composite image. *(Image looks grainier than it actually is due to Tumblr reducing image quality slightly)

I positioned an LED panel near where the red light is coming from in the background image and shone it on the model in order to best match the background to make for an effective composite. There is also a nice amount of blue light on my right side and on my left arm which will also help match the subject with the background when editing.

Subject is blocking too much of the light resulting in image being underexposed.

Good amount of smoke creates a nice beam of light, and subjects arms in the doorway interact well with this.

good amount of light emerging from the closet, with smoke giving a nice quality and gradient from light to dark - almost looks like a portal being opened.

The addition of red to the left of the door creates a nice contrast of colour within the image and makes it more dynamic. Also composition is more balanced with half red and blue with the slightly silhouetted subject being framed in the middle. Slight amount of red on the subjects right arm against the blue in the background also helps balance the composition.

Good positioning of subjects hand catches more of the light so it stands out against the dark background, nice beam of light emerging from LED panel also. Nice contrast of colour in foreground and background.

It is worth noting that I split this shoot up into two parts, the first part utilising the space of the hallway and the window above the door, and the second part focusing on the door to the closet.

First Part - During shooting I realised it would be difficult to get the king of lighting I wanted on the model as well as having the light emerging from the window in the corner within the one image with the amount of lighting equipment I had - so I opted to take the majority of these images with the intention of creating a composite image later during the editing stage.

LED panel with blue gel on full power inside closet & LED panel with red gel set on 50% power

Smoke machine inside closet with smoke coming out

Camera on tripod to allow for slower shutter speed, set on 10 second timer

Shot with my canon 5D & 40mm lens

I wanted to undertake my first shoot of my project from the comfort of my own flat, as there would be no external factors that could potentially distract me and I would be able to take as much time as I needed, especially at this very early stage of developing my skills in concern to shooting in low-light.

I will be shooting in the hallway in my flat as has multiple doors I think I could hide lights behind as well as glass windows above the doors I could use to shine lights through. It is also of decent size that I will be able to shoot using multiple lights and equipment without feeling too cramped.

This shall also be my first time using the new smoke machine I purchased and familiarising myself with how it works, which will benefit me as knowing how to use it effectively will save time during future shoots that may be time-sensitive, as well as being cost effective because knowing how much smoke is enough for the effects I need will prevent me using too much smoke fluid.

Reference image

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