BTS - Production.

The Shoot

 Once I had completed all the necessary research and experiments to allow me to gain knowledge and grow my product, I was then able to complete my final photoshoot! As explained previously this was done in the studio in college, using a backdrop, two lights, the camera, tripod and various sheets of colour to give me the desired effects. 

 Upon reviewing my experiments with lighting, I knew I needed to get a variety of shots, both with the lights adjusted, and with normal lighting for a more 'natural' photograph. In addition to this I did however still want to have that intense light source, but due to setting up the white back drop, I wasn't able to bring the lights as close the the model as I did in the test shoot when it was just against the plain black wall. This caused a minor issue, as of course it wasn't as intense as I had hoped, despite this I continued on, getting shots with and without the coloured sheets draped over the lights. 

 This was't something I was too concerned about as in my test shoots I discovered when trying to adjust the ISO that intact when I changed the shutter speed it gave a really interesting outcome. With such intense light source coming from the left & right, it really added depth to my image, so I did show these in my blog, and decided that if I wanted too I could actually use them for my final product. I understand however these were test shots but as the test shoot went on I was able to be more confident, therefore producing the pictures in which I intend to over lay for a spread in my magazine!

 So during the shoot I got my model to bring at least 3 different 'outfits' in order to give variety in the shots, and I got a mixture of portrait and landscape, as this would give me more options when it came to the final layout of my magazine. I was able to complete my whole shoot in one day, taking over 200 pictures in which I only needed about 15/16. This is something that was interesting to chose and go through the process. I took that many as at the beginning it took a while for me to get the lighting I wanted and was happy with, I took lots of shots from different angles again to give me variety. The issue with taking so many means that a lot of time is spent going through the pictures and picking out the best ones to use, on the other hand the good thing mean that I also have a large variety of pictures to choose from. It also was good because I didn't want to settle for 'ok' lighting and angles, I wanted to ensure I got it perfect, this meant fiddling around with the settings such as ISO, the positioning of lights and the tripod and more!

 After getting a few shots on the tripod I decided to take it off as it allowed me to really move around more and get the different angles I wanted. The difficulty I also came across was the shadow that was casted when I was close to the model. I wanted to capture her shadow, as well as her and the background, this was difficult as the back drop was initially larger, but due to the positioning of lights there wasn't much I was able to do! I however got over this factor quickly and just found the perfect angles in which showed all of the above that I wanted.
 Something I however would change or rectify if time allowed me to, was to get some shots sitting on a chair / stool. This was something I thought about AFTER looking through them all, it would have added some real interest for a front cover, rather than the 'typical' head shot. This is defiantly something I will consider if/when I do a photo shoot or project like this again!