Studio Shoot - Product 1+2

For my products i decided to stick with my theme of barry m that you saw in the portrait shoots and use two products from this brand, i used the barry m nail paint and the dazzle dust.

When it came to shooting these products there were a few difficulties for example i wanted to pour out the nail varnish in some shots but knew i was unable to pour it straight onto the lighting table so though of putting a piece of acetate down to pour onto, although this was a good idea in the images you can see that the acetate shows a reflection of the product, in some ways this was a nice effect although in some it didn't look quite right.

Product 1 : Nail paint favourite images...

Product 2 : Dazzle dust favourite images...

Studio Shoot - Portrait

Earlier this week i had my first studio shoot, i was really excited to get in the studio and being able to take shots that look like those seen in magazines etc. I was a little nervous to start with because i hadnt used studio lighting before and worried i wouldnt be able to work out how to use it and use it correctly within my 3 hour slot, but thankfully i was sharing the studio with Shannon who was very helpful and showed me how to use the lighting for each effect i desired.

I chose Sarah to be my model as i have used her many times before and she is so versitile, she has endless ideas and moves into a new pose for every shot. She has a very photogenic face and works well with the colours i wanted to use.

Here are some of my favourite (un-edited) shots from the portrait shoot...

I am really happy with these results above, although i cannot choose one favourite! Let me know if you have a favourite...

I tried to think of different vibrant and colourful ways of presenting my images and i remembered Pop Art, I started to research pop art and saw these images which inspired me...

 As i want my images to stand out and use a lot of bold colours i thought the idea of pop art would fit in well, although i didnt want to ruin the quality of the images by changing the actual portrait so instead i changed the colours of the background to add a new life to the images, here is my result...

I really love the new life that the colours have brought to the images and i feel the overall look of the picture is new and innovative!

Products proposal

Overview and rationale:

My intentions for the studio shoot are to recreate and modify some of the Barry M Nail Paint advertising campaigns. I would like to create an advert that could be used in a magazine to inspire the customers. For both my product shots I aim to use the same equipment and concept but change around the product, for example on one image I will use nail varnishes and on the other I will use glitter dusts.

References:

First product:

I have looked through a range of magazines to see where I could find Barry M adverts and after looking through a range of 6 different magazines I found that the only place I saw Barry M advertised was in More, I think the reasoning for this is target audience as they are of a younger generation. I would like to try and make the adverts appeal to a wider audience to try and generate more sales for the company.  An image that inspired me from another Barry M campaign can be seen below:

I really like the use of lighting in this image, but I feel that the product isn’t as well placed as it could be. If I was flicking through a magazine this image wouldn’t scream out to me Barry M as the wording on the bottle isn’t in focus.

have also looked at other makes of nail paint for inspiration; including Models Own and Essie.

I feel the lighting in all the images above is a little poor, i want to make my advert stand out so will try out shadows in my images to give it a different effect. I’d also like to experiment with depth of field in my images and focusing.

Second product:

I have found several previous campaigns that Barry M have published using the Glitter dazzle dusts although again i feel the images lack some depth, they are a little flat and the lighting is harsh. I like the layout of the products in the images, here are a few that inspired me:

The image at the top is my favourite image that I found, it has the depth I was looking for and you can see how they have used the light to make a subtle shadow on the product, it still lacks colour though so I hope to do this image with a brighter coloured Dazzle Dust to make the image stand out.

Aims and Objectives:

My target audience for this brief will be high street fashion magazines including Company, Look and Glamour. I hope that my images will be different enough and stand out to the producers to potentially be an advert in their magazines.

I would like to create an image with a lot more depth than the images I’ve seen throughout my research, the standard white background and scarce lighting in the images I’ve seen do make the image stand out but for me are boring and too flat. I plan to use the same white background but create more depth by using my light to create shadows; I have experimented below with my lighting and positioning of the bottles to get an idea of how my final image will look and to see whether it is achievable.

Here i have worked with the light to create shadows, the image with the black boarder around it is my favourite, i like how the light is reflecting off the black lid and how there is subtle shadow but it doesn’t over power the image it just gives the image a more 3D effect.

On the day I would like to experiment with black and white boards to add shadowing or highlights.

Portrait Proposal

Overview and rationale:

My intention for this studio shoot is to attempt to recreate and modify a vibrant and colourful head and shoulder portrait to advertise Barry M cosmetics.

I have done research and found the current campaigns and images throughout magazines and on the internet a little dull and boring, therefore I would like to brighten up the adverts and make them stand out more when flicking through a magazine.

I have chosen a model that I have previously used in my photography so that I know how she works and what her best angles are etc.

I feel although my studio photography and lighting knowledge has increased since starting my studies at Salford University, I would still like to develop my skills further.

Aims and Objectives:

After researching into Barry M advertising I found some images to be a bit dull and not really show the vibrant colours that the cosmetic range brings so my aim is to make the images bright and vibrant to match the cosmetics and also stand out so that you automatically know what’s being advertised. I realised that the moving adverts on the TV are exactly how I see my images being so I want to take that movement and colour into a still portrait.

References and research images:

I have looked at both magazine and TV imagery for Barry M cosmetics and would like to produce an image where the model is wearing both Barry M make up and nail paint, I want her hands to be in the image like you can see on the first image.

I also found this image...

Which I really like, I like how the lip colour matches the nail varnish and how there is a direct mode of address by the model which attracts and draws in the audience.

And this image...

Which i like because of the way it has been cropped, this really draws the audience in to the fact it is advertising nail varnish and cosmetics.

On the day I would like to experiment with cropping, I would also like to try out white highlighting boards to bring out the contours of the models face and experiment with both sides of a reflector disc.

Experimenting with Photoshop

I decided to have a bit of an experiment on Photoshop to see if i could make some of my images stand out that little bit more, below are some of the outcomes...

This technique where you bring back the colour of a certain part of a photo was very popular on my BTEC course at college, everyone seemed to do it as it is fairly simple to do. I felt that it became overused and didnt really show your skills as a photographer. Although i believe used in the right instance it can be really effective. I though id try it out on this image as i adore the intense purples and  orangey core that an orchid has.

 This is one of my favourite images i have taken for the course so far, the composition of the whole image just interests me and everytime i look at the image i see something new. I edited this on Photoshop so that the image stands out more, i made sure that the web was more visible than it was before as i felt this was a vital layer to the image.

 I absolutley love the detail of the spider in this shot, it is the only way i can see the intricate patterns that spiders have as i am too scared to get this close in real life! The background (blurred folliage) adds to the image by bringing colour into it, i feel that without this splash of green the image would be a little bland.