SHOOT ONE

This shoot was extremely stressful since I have never shot on my own and responsible for every aspect of the shoot from setting up the studio, to arranging lighting and photography. 

The first look that I created (hair wrapped round neck, flowers protruding out of mouth) did not turn out as I expected. At this point, I really struggled getting the lighting right and had to adjust camera settings and flash intensities several times to achieve a pitch black background - I still was not happy with the outcome of the photos. Apart from lighting settings, there was some issues with hair and makeup. The hair was not well thought out, I intended to wrap the models hair around the neck tightly and pin it in place at the back, however on set it kept becoming loose. The flowers also looked quite awkward as the model had to clench onto them. I also found that the flash was washing out the redness that I painted around the eyes, dulling the colour.

This look definitely needs to be redesigned and reshot. If I continue with this idea, I need to rethink the hair and come up with a way of securing it tightly into place around the neck and make it much more obvious. A solution might be to use hair extensions to create a choker that will be worn around the neck instead of actually incorporating the model's real hair, the flowers can be stuck onto the lips instead of held in the models mouth as this limits the model's expressions. I needed the model to look scared, however I did not feel that the camera was capturing the expression. Wet eyes and tears would have accentuated the emotion, I should have brought eye drops or wet the lash line with gloss to create the illusion of wet looking eyes. I feel that I should have experimented with different looks before settling on creating this one. 

On the other hand, the second look went far better. I experimented with lighting and found that using coloured gels over spotlights gave a dramatic and dreamy look. I mainly used blue and red gel filters which I thought gave the images dimension and depth. The model seems to be emerging from the darkness which is very appropriate for the demon character. I also found that by using a sheer cloth over the camera lens, I was able to soften harsh edges and create a soft focus effect - the images almost look like paintings.

Unedited Images:

The images are quite dark, but since they are shot in RAW file format, I can easily raise the exposure in post production. 

Although there was struggle at the beginning of the shoot, I think the overall outcome was successful, it was ambitious to create two completely different looks in one shooting. This just shows that I shouldn't try to cram in too much at once as it may reduce the overall quality and instead perfect one look at the time. I didn't get the do any filming this time but have arranged with the model to do a second and third shooting in order to elaborate the characters. 

*UPDATE 

I did not create the victim character because I didn't want to divide the attention between the characters. I decided to stick to my proposal in which I stated all stories will only have one protagonist.