Studio Shoot

These images were shot in the studio using a black background. I decided to shoot on a black background as I was really interested in what effect it could create. I think it works really well with the black lingerie as it helps to keep a sophisticated theme running through the images. From looking at photographers like; Ellen Von Unwerth, Mike Figgis and especially Peter Lindergh, I quickly realised that posture is extremely important in fashion imagery. The right posture and stance of the model could be what makes it such a strong image. I wanted my model to look awkward, enhancing the bone structure of my model physique, accentuating her slim body. The image on the left is my favourite image out of these 2 as I think I have achieved a soft, erotic image which I wanted these images to make.

I decided to put these 2 images together as I think having a full length body shot next to a close up portrait can work really well. I'm pleased with these images, however the image on the right I don't like as much - the exposure of the image, for me, isn't quite right. I feel there is too much of a contrast from the whites to blacks, but in photoshop I was unsuccessful in trying to lighten the area of the hair where it is really dark. This was unsuccessful as I had to lighten the image so much, up to about 3 stops, it started to become grainy and produced intense haloing. Although I like the strong shadows in the photo, I think if I was to reshoot this image, I would maybe include another light coming from the right side of her, on a low output just to lighten up parts of the image which have lost detail from it being so dark. In camera RAW, I edited the photo on the left - to lighten up areas where detail had been lost, like the shoes for an example. The original image was a lot darker than this and although it created a really moody, smokey feel I think it looked better after I had edited it. 

I shot this shoot using a soft box strip as I thought it would be the most successful in lighting the whole of my model. I used one light, however on the right hand image I used 2 lights. One being a soft box and the other being a snoot, which is what creates this light behind my model. I decided to add these photos which are in colour to show that the colour images worked well. I am really pleased with these 2 images as I thought about the rule of thirds, making sure that what was in the frame was neat and looked crisp. I also used a wind machine on the image to the left to create movement in her hair. I really like this image as I think it really highlights this sexy feel. For some of the images I used a 70mm lens but the majority of them I used a standard 35-50mm lens. The images were shot on anywhere from F/4 to F/8 as the lighting was so dark.

I edited these 2 images by using colour layers and then by using the eraser and opacity tool, I managed to bring out my model from the rest of the image. I used the colour picker tool so select the colour of my model's eye, which I then used to layer over my images. I chose to select this colour as I thought it would make her eyes appear more prominent. I really like these images as I think they are really different to what I would normally do with fashion portraits.