Capturing my final Perfect Base photographs.

Today was my photoshoot for the 'Perfect Base' project which I feel was very successful. Prior to my booked photoshoot one of my models cancelled on me the day before which was a little disheartening, but I made my efforts to ask for help the Solent network page and also messaging friends and classmates which was helpful as I managed to find someone else to help me out and model last minute. My contemporary Elizabethan makeup partner Rebecca happily helped me out with my shoot as an assistant as I had helped her with her shoots too. Before my shoot I had the chance to do my models make-up looks which were very simple and took me about 15 minutes each to complete which was more then enough time to create my looks. Straight after doing my models hair and make-up I set up my stupid equipment and began taking photographs. During my shoot I only ended up using a soft box and a reflector to create my photographs also using the reflector as a fan to play with movement in the images. I started off with my neutral make-up look first, at first the directing was a little awkward as even though I had brought a book with inspiring images and had my plan all set up, when I began shooting my mind went blank. Although, after  taking some random shots and making my model feel more comfortable the shoot fell into place. 
It felt good to touch up and direct my models so that they could see the vision I was trying to create, but I have defiantly learnt that it is important to properly communicate with your model so that they understand what you need. Although the photo shoot and brief were quite straight forward, I did find it it tricky to not make my images look like passport images and create a mood at the same time, because of this I just encouraged my models to pose and move how they wanted as a lot of the images I captured are natural caught off guard ones. Overall I found the photo shoot really fun and successful and think that the images I have taken will be good for the final submission.

Multimedia Mac Session. Importing images using bridge

Finder > Utilities> Type in 'Disk'
Choose disk select 'erase' option - this changes the format
Adobe Bridge 'BR'
SD Card
File>get photos from camera/ save by shoot date > create a folder for downloading images 
ALT+G = Copyright symbol
My course> Adobe = photoshop
Can identify colour cast by RGB numbers, shows colours and there amounts/ presence in an image
Meta Data - data of data
Colour sampler tool
RGB image a complete neutral, equal value of pixel colours will give you a light grey/white effect you can use this for the white balance of an image
Raw Images - non destructive editing
open images in> camera Raw to edit colour balance RGB levels

FMS403DBBEAUTYSALMONM x Photographic Lighting.

What are the different types of Lighting for Photo shoots?

Natural Lighting;

Most flattering form of light lighting. Can be created by taking photographs of subject outside, indoors, near a window or using a reflector to bounce the natural light on subject.

Window Lighting;

Diffused window lighting creates a calm and relaxed feel to an image and the light can be enhanced and focused on your subject through the use of reflectors.

Outdoor Lighting;

Worst type of lighting for portraiture photography. Can cause heavy lines and shadowing on your subject if in focus of direct sunlight. 

Ambient Lighting;

This is man made background lighting, created by lamps, ceiling lights, wall scones and floor lamps.

Lighting Studio and soft box lighting;

Lights created to enhance light and brightness in a shoot. Great for close ups and portraiture.

High Key Lighting VS Low Key Lighting 

High key;

- Bright 

-Vivid

-Contrast

-Pop of colours

Low Key;

Window light

Natural

One light 

FMS403DBBeautySalmonM Digital Production.

In todays Digital Production lesson I learnt a lot about how brands in the makeup industry and cosmetic world, rely a lot on computer retouching to perfect beauty portraiture for their campaigns.

A lot of retouching used on iconic models we see promoting and wearing lipstick for premium cosmetic and fashion brands such as 'Dior', are very unrealistic. Because of false advertisement of these models that are retouched so much that they appear to look like a completely different person, many women and young girls in particular focus and obsess on their imperfections and appearance based on these unrealistic and 'perfectly symmetrical' looks that are seen 'acceptable' and 'beautiful'.

At the beginning of the lesson, in groups we all took images of our partners and our self, one being a normal selfie or portrait picture and then another image experimenting with how we can retouch the face. We continuously retouched the face until it gradually looked very different to the original photo, whilst at the same time recording the number of changes we made and what types of changes e.g. skin, eyes, facial shape. I realised that I made more changes on my self portrait then my partners, focusing on smoothing my skin and slimming my face slightly, after experimenting I felt that I looked worse after retouching and even a little scary as I looked nothing like me. This experiment can be used to argue that beauty is definitely is in the eye of the beholder, as many of my peers in my class agreed that a lot of people looked much better natural and without retouching. Ever since we have started to discuss retouching in our digital production lessons, I have realised that whenever I now see beauty or fashion campaigns that feature a models face close up some of these images look borderline creepy and doll like.

Although, I agree that a certain 'look' fits a theme of a shoot and that means you must consider all factors for your shoot such as hair, make-up and race in terms of your model, I am very against extreme false advertising and retouching to the limit were it looks like any person could have been in the campaign model or not, because the model is so retouched. For me that is where retouching is completely ridiculous. Also when I'm in a cosmetic store and I happen to see advertisements or examples of makeup products on models, I know for a fact that a make-up look or product will look different on everyone, but that does not mean that they should enhance this product in their advertisements to make it look more appealing. 

We also touched on 'westernised beauty' and how these days premium cosmetic brands creating beauty campaigns have started to use a computer generated program to make women faces appear ideally beautiful and acceptable for westernised society. One thing that I wasn't aware of and learnt was that this is only for caucasian ethnicity, which automatically discriminates against any other ethnicity and wipes away any characteristics and unique facial features that makes a person 'them' and human and leaves them looking like a westernised 'clone'. This is a big issue that not only affects

 women and young girls in society today but also models of ethnicity. Still to this day ethnic models are faced with ignorant and discriminative backlash even if they are working for one of best brands in the industry. 

For example recently the worldwide famous Rihanna became the 'First Black Spokesperson for Dior', for this bothered me simply because why must there be such a focus on her race why not just her beauty? Although this is great that Dior have opened there doors to more diverse ethnicities, but why must the focus be on race as if it is such a big achievement to be acknowledged even though your black? The model Jordan Dunn has also had many experiences in her career where she has had to bring and apply her own foundation to a shoot or fashion show, because her makeup artist had foundations to cater for all the caucasian and olive skin models, but only one 'brown' shade for her. I feel strongly about this because it effects young girls more then we think, my niece for example, on numerous occasions has compared herself to famous singers such as Beyonce and Rihanna, claiming that she doesn't really like her skin colour that much or her hair because it isn't 'light enough' or 'straight' like theirs, but she has no idea how much work they've had to look like that.

This also supports beauty is really in the eye of the beholder as women such a Jordan Dunn that I find extremely beautiful wouldn't even be featured in this computer generated program that make woman the ideal western beauty. Although extreme retouching is misleading and bad, we as make-up artists have a huge role to play when enhancing or changing something about our model for a photoshoot. If we apply too much contour or highlight that slims the face so much they look different already, and then this enhanced even more by photoshop retouching, it can be argued that make is just as bad.

For example in a recent lesson I learnt that Italian women in the Tudor times where said to be 'painted ladies' as they wore so much make-up. This became such a problem that men began to argue they were being mislead as their wives looked completely different once married and seen in their natural skin.

FMS403DBBeautySalmonM Digital Production x Studio Lighting.

Recent practical lesson notes.

Photography studio and lighting essentials -

- Heavy boom; this is the stable weighted crane that holds and directs your lighting, it can extend and be turned in any direction
-Beauty Dish; this is a 'hard' source of light but to create a softer light you can use a diffuser with the dish e.g. a softer light for a portrait shot of a face, also creates more contrast
-Sink lead; this is what makes 'flash lighting'
-Tethering cable; this can be used in conduction with capture 1 stations
- Jpeg files always create two different copies of your original image
- An 85 lens is good for portraiture/ face shots where as a 50 lens is better for wider shots
-Chris recommends to shoot Raw Files

Cannon Camera Settings-

Menu>Quality> (Look for triangle symbol with small L next to it)(Uncompressed jpeg)>shoot raw or large jpeg.

Camera settings and accessories -

In my most recent practical lesson Chris showed us to lenses that he was going to use as examples with his camera; a 50ml and 85ml these lenses are glass and prime and cannot be used to zoom in and out of shots meaning you must move the camera or model closer or further. Before starting your photo-shoot it is important to check that your camera is at a correct height in consideration of your model and the angle you want to capture. When taking portraiture photographs it is essential to set your camera to the manual setting and also make sure it is on the portrait angle. The camera Iso needs to be set to the number 100 and the shutter speed; 1/160.

I got the chance to see the effects of things like 'silver reflectors', I found the silver reflector created a really beautiful affect to a portraiture shot as it produced a extra glow alongside lighting and really brought out a shine in a models eyes. You use the silver reflector on the sides on the face and under the face from the chin upwards, it is normally handheld in shots. Although sometimes this can be to harsh and create non existent shadowing. You can also use the adjacent side of the silver reflector which is a more dull white opaque material that produces a nice glow but not as intense. The 'spill kill' can be used in shoots to hold and focus light in one place, I think this is nice to use when possibly focusing on something in particular in your shot e.g. make-up, lips, eyes.

A 'shoot through brolly' allows you to create a soft light that focuses on your subject. You would use the shoot through brolly by attaching the end of it to the heavy boom and then adjusting the direction of the heavy boom, when using this brolly you may have to move the heavy boom closer to your model as it creates such soft lighting. If the shoot through brolly creates an underexposed picture, you can edit the lighting on light to a higher setting. You want to make sure your lighting is always higher then your camera.

Digital Image Production x Taking beauty portraits.

Took beauty portraits in the studio 


- Toby, movement
- hands near the face
- Soft box lighting
-Umbrella
- naked lighting
- poses (more beauty acceptable less passport)