Day 4 - CAMERAS! LIGHTS! ACTION! - Photography 08/09/2014

We experimented and played around with a Nikon camera, taking shots from various settings.

White Background without Edit: 

We were first began with the white background setting thus the pictures we took here were more test shots for our group. Thus the poses and overall outcome of these photos are more on the simplistic side. The group included, Susan, Chi, Victoria, Jack & I.

This photo is a mid shot of one of our group members a wannabe model, Jack! We were testing the white background with the flashes integrated within the camera. The flash and the white background together creates a more brighter finish to the photo. Plus, because of the contrast of the white walls and the darkness of Jack's outfit and complexion, it makes Jack stand out more which is nice. 

With Edit: 

I love the edit of this photo. The photo is much more brighter and more crisp and sharp.  It has a sepia like effect which is the reason why the edges are dark and gradually get lighter towards the centre. The main focus is the model, thus I like how the edit accentuates the definition and detail of his features. Overall, I'm happy with this photo. It's simple and clean.

Natural Lighting Photo without Edit:

This photo of Jack who is the model in this photo is one I personally took. Honestly, it's probably one of my favorites out of the pictures we took today. I like the composition of Jack in the wide circle window, it provided great natural lighting to the picture, plus it gives an angelic aura which makes the picture more interesting especially with the contrast of Jacks dark clothing giving juxtaposition effect almost. 

The whole idea of this photo plays on the whole 'model' look with Jack looking away from the camera in a simple yet striking back setting. It looks effortless yet so much effort has been put into it. It's made me realize that simple looking editorial photos may seem easy, however it takes so much work to create a simple look. From the lighting, clothes to the positioning of every item in the photo. 

With Edit:

I wanted to brighten up the whole picture yet keep the focus on Jack. You can see the detail of Jacks figure, and his clothing looks much more sharper and more in focus than the window. You can see the gradual darkness from the edges of the edit as it gets to the window, which exudes the most lighting. I like this effect because the colours within the photo look more sharper and crisp. It's more editorial and professional looking compared to the original photo. 

Here are a few more examples of my favorite photos we took with natural lighting. 

Black Background without Edit: 

This photo was taken by myself. We were inspired by an editorial picture from a fashion magazine which showcased a female with a hand across her eye. This is a replica of that photo. Plus, I think it's more interesting to play with different angles and shots when we were taking our photos. I really like this photo. Jacks features are a great composition in itself, in a sense that his features are striking and bold which is awesome. ( I won't mention this to his face though, I don't want to add to his ego haha)

With Edit: 

I was playing around with this photo and came up with these two edits. I wanted to experiment with tone and colour. For the first edit, I wanted to even out the tone of the skin since there were so many different shades to his skin, thus this first edit mainly focuses on evening out the skin tone and brightening certain areas, for example, the forehead, cheeks and chin. Moreover, since this is a replica of a makeup editorial, it's important to show a flawless finish to the skin especially if the editorial is revolving around skincare or makeup.

On the other hand, although the skin looks flawless in this photo, I don't like the overall outcome. It looks too washed out and the photo loses it's appeal in a sense that the contrast between the darkness and the brightness is too stark for my liking.

Here is the second edit of my photo which is in black and white. I wanted to experiment and see how the effect of black and white can have on a photo. I prefer the first edit to this edit. There are some photos that look good when you put on a grey scale, however there are photos that look better at it's original form & I believe this is one of them. Although the detail of Jacks features are strong here, I don't like how the backgrounds blends his hair and jumper making them literally non-existent.

Here are a few more examples of our photos in a dark setting:

What did I learn about Photography? 

I never knew that during photo shoots and editorial shoots, so much goes into the planning of it. This includes, the settings, lighting, props, model and etc. It's not as simple as whipping out a camera and asking the model to pose for you, it takes a lot of planning and  I learnt that photographer/art directors like to use mood boards to communicate their idea to the whole team.