Final Evaluation

Fashion Research:
I have grown to enjoy researching other photographers and their work. It gives me  opportunities to discover very talented individuals. I also enjoy finding out about the techniques they use and what kind of photography they specialise in.

Street Fashion:
As I am a person who enjoys fashion in my personal life, I already had ideas in what I my street fashion to look like. I really enjoyed going out and paying close detail to what people were wearing day to day and talking to people. It also give us a good chance to work with fabric and see how it photographs well.

High Key - Low Key:
I wasn't familiar with high and low key lighting until this task. Although I'd seen it before I never knew the name or knew what both were intended to be used for. This is when idea's of what I wanted to achieve in my final images and what type of lighting I wanted to use.

Studio Attachments: 
With the high and low key lighting, I didn't know too much about studio therefore, this was a chance for myself to become familiar with the different attachments and what sort of lighting they created. This enable me to start building a plan of what I'd need to achieve the ideas that I already had.

Fashion Magazine Research:
Again, as I am a person who is interested in fashion, I had a rough idea of what type of vibe I wanted for my final images and what magazine my images were a part of. Nonetheless, I enjoyed researching fashion magazines and discovering different magazines I hadn't heard of before. Also, it gave my a chance to look at magazines I wouldn't typically look at.

Planning:
Planning is always a struggle for me as I like to think of stuff and just do it. I don't like writing them down however, I didn't find that planning for this shoot as draining as the others. I think this is because I really enjoyed these units and it was the first time I was able to bring stuff I already knew into my work.

Studio shoot:
The Studio shoot was definitely my favourite part of this full project. It was nice to get a feel of the studio and work in a more professional environment. It also gave me a chance to be in charge and give me a feel of what it's going to be like as a real photographer.

Accessories:
Shooting accessories was really fun. Not having a limited time in the smaller cover gave me an opportunity to experiment with different angles  and got us a lot more familiar with using the studio lights.

Exposure research:
This was probably the most draining task for me personally. However, when in the studio you need to know what you're doing, including the settings you need to be on. Therefore, it was necessary.

 Hats the Way:
Hats the way was very fun shooting. We didn't have such a strict time limit and therefore had a much more relaxed feel to the full day.

Umbrella:
Again, the umbrella shoot gave us an opportunity to work in a more professional environment and the  more the better. I really enjoy using the studio as the finish to the images look much more clean and professional than on location in my opinion however, I think I may use location a lot more in the future and experiment with lighting that can be used on location.

Magazine design: 
The design element I really enjoyed. I had a lot of different images to choose from and a lot of different layouts and colours that could be incorporated into my work. I loved experimenting with photoshop and becoming more familiar with it.

Throughout this project I've learnt a lot. From different lightings and attachments. To how to use studio lights and work in a professional environment. I also liked how I was able to apply my knowledge of fashion into this project so I wasn't so lost from task to task. It has heightened my determination to become a fashion photographer.

Presentation

'Under my Umbrella'

For my umbrella shoot, I wanted to create different images using the umbrella without doing the normal poses. I like this image as the umbrella isn't the main focus in the image. Although its obviously there, it isn't the first thing your eye is drawn to. I also like the fact that the model doesn't look to put together and the umbrella isn't fully closed. Also, the soft boxes in the back weren't firing causing this grey tone to the cover however, I think it works well.

I really wanted to do silhouettes as it gives various ways to have umbrella images. Although this image is nice, it's the smaller detail I enjoy the most. From the detail of the fingers that you can still see to the strands of hair that you can see.

I wanted to photograph the inside of the umbrella. To do this without making the umbrella look like a black mass, I knew I had to make sure the spines on the inside were well light. By moving the snoot lower and directing it into the umrella instead of onto the model, I was able to do this. I like this image as its photographing the umbrella without being so obvious.

I wanted to try photographing the model threw the umbrella and personally, I really like the turn out. Although it is a little dark, I still think it is very obvious what I was trying to do. I also like the fact you can see the hair out of the umbrella. It makes it obvious it is a person.

 

This image I'm not to keen on. I personally think the umbrella looks awkward and it doesn't look natural in the slightest. I also think the model looks like she's modelling too much for such an everyday item.

Hats the way

With my 'Hats the way' shoot, I wanted to concentrate more on street fashion as I've been doing a lot of high fashion shoots and I didn't want to limit my work to one genre of fashion. For this image in particular I wanted the shadow of the hat to be in the frame. I also put it in black and white to carry the theme throughout my project, even when stepping away from high fashion. I really like the whole feel of this image.

This image I wanted a more 'tumblr' effect. By asking the model to put his head down, it gives more attention to the hat. Again, I really wanted the shadow created by the snoot to be in the frame as it's a different way to photograph the hat.

As the previous two images were in black and white, I wanted to include a colour image where the shadow wasn't as important. I really like this image also as the circle of light around him makes him stand out even more as his full body is in the light. I also like the fact he isn't looking towards the camera. Overall I really like these images.

Exposure Meters

Many people think that physical light meters (exposure meters) are not necessary any more due to the majority of DSLR cameras come with a built in light meter. However, there are numerous situations where a light meter becomes useful. For example, when lighting a green screen, you can use it to make sure the lighting is evenly across and that there is no hot spots or shadows. In contrast, it can also tell you the difference between shadows and highlights, in case you don't want the even lighting. It also tells you what F/ lighting you will need. Most meters have three readings, incident, reflective and your flash. Incident is the light that falls on to your object and reflective is the light in which is reflected off of your subject. However, the most popular reading is incident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcEnySvgu9s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGBkgvF23qQ

Accessories

Contact Images:

My aim for my accessory shoot was to create something very clean to emphasise the elegance of silver. I used my hand to model some of the finer pieces as The light wasn't picking up on some of the finer detail. However, with the Pandora bracelet and rings, I didn't need the contrast in lighting. This is because the detail on them are a lot larger and the detail was being captured straight away. I tried to create depth of field with the bracelet charms just to as variety. I also tried this with the bracelet and earrings however, it wasn't as dramatic as I'd of liked. Overall I'm happy with how the images turned out.

Studio Shoot & Front Cover/Pages examples

Contact Prints:

Front Covers:

For front covers, I knew that I wanted to use Teen Vogue as my magazine. One image in particular influenced how my front cover looked when it came to the placement, colours and fonts of typography. (Image is below in inspirations) The main thing I realised whilst researching vogue in general is that the title was almost always behind the model. Whilst trying different placements of the title, I noticed that it didn't have the same effect as the actual covers therefore, I tried placing the title behind the model and personally, I think it turned out great. Originally, my thought process was to experiment with low key lighting a little however, when seeing the images on live view with high key lighting, it wasn't giving the dramatic effect that I wanted. Therefore, I switched the beauty dish to a snoot and turned the soft boxes off in the background. The light not only hits the models face on just one side whilst creating dramatic shadows on the other, it's also carried down all of the models body. Another factor that I personally think makes the image more powerful is the shadow. Without it I think the photo would be unbalanced. It adds contrast to the lightest part of the image.

After I tried the simplistic look of the front cover, I wanted to try the writing on the covers. Whilst doing this, I couldn't find the right locations of the writing, in which I realised that this image wasn't the best to do so with. Even so, whatever writing I did put onto the cover, I wanted to tie in with the young urban youth of today. Blogging is a large part of being someone of social media therefore, I wanted to include this on my cover. Although it is a really strong image and shows of the clothing well, the typography just took away from the whole feel of the image. Again, the lighting is caused by a snoot. The snoot is located above the model angled down creating a short shadow however, whilst loving this image, the fact that the shoe in the front is in the shadow, I don't like. Fashion photography is all about showing off the clothing or product and I don't think that this image does as well as the others. Other than that, I really enjoyed the image which is why I still decided to play around with it as a front cover but, I don't think I'll be using it as a final image.

This is another design following the simplistic style. I went back to using the simplistic feel as I didn't want to do so much without knowing the colours worked well together or if it was overpowering. Also, I wanted to figure out the placing of the title and if it would work with the models pose. Whilst playing around with different placements and removing different letters and trying to overlap some letters, I realised that it just wouldn't work. When overlapping some of the letters over the model, it was covering her face or took away from the shape of her arm. On the other side, as you can see, there isn't enough typography on show to make it clear what magazine it is. Therefore, I wont be using this image as a front cover however, I may consider using it as one of my double page spreads.

Like with the image above, I wanted to see about the placement of the title and see if it worked before I did anything else. As you can see, the placement of the title does work however, I personally think this image doesn't look good as a front cover. In my opinion, the image is enough without any writing on and personally, the title takes away from the beauty. I think I might use this as one of my double spreads. Maybe doing a collage of four images making up one page. It's something to think about. The lighting was created by a snoot focused on the models face. I sat the model down because I wanted to create a high fashion but quirky feel. With some of the other images, the quirky feel was created by the trainers however, because we swapped them out for a pair of heeled boots, I swapped her high fashion poses with a slouch and open legs. I really like this image.

For the next two images, I wanted to experiment with the monochrome feel. With this image in particular, as its more playful than the rest, I decided to use ELLE as this magazine is more playful. I wanted to try out black and white with greys as when I put this picture into black and white, you could clearly see a difference between the darks and lights. This is because the snoot was pulled more onto the models left side creating a more dramatic effect. 

Pages:

For the inside spreads I wanted to create something completely different to my front cover. However, when it came to editing, it didn't turn out this way. Because I was experimenting with high and low key lighting and the high key looked too commercial, which wasn't something I wanted, the majority of my images were low key therefore, looked very similar.Again, with the black and white images I wanted to use the yellow for the typography as I was focusing on my target audience which is teenagers. 

I decided to use high key lighting as I wanted a more softer feel to this bralette image. As a lot of skin is on show, I used a beauty dish as its more forgiving on the skin than any other lighting attachment besides a soft box that gives a similar effect. I had the model stood up with a slight tilt of her head to create an approachable feel fitting in with the softer feel that I wanted to create. With the tilt of the head it cleared up a place for the details of the bralette. Overall, I enjoy this image and think it created the feel that I was intending.

With this image like the front cover, I sat down the model to create a relaxed feel as I wanted to switch out the shoes. Again, the lighting was created by a snoot mainly focused on the face of the model. The snoot enables you to get the most out of the colour which is another factor why I really liked using the snoot. I like how the pants fall over the models knees and how her arms are following the direction of them. I personally really enjoy this image. With the colouring of the typography, I wanted to use the burnt orange rust colour just because it is so striking within the pants. I also didn't want to use another colour that would fight for attention against this colour as it is such a strong colour.

This image is just an experimental image as I couldn't decide on the images to include in the double page spread however, I really enjoy it and I'm debating using this image as one of my finals. I got the idea from library research. All inspirations will be listed below with example.

Inspirations:

If you're into fashion, you'll know the big fashion magazines; Elle, Vogue, Bazaar, ect. When it came to researching fashion magazines, I knew that I wanted to do high fashion but I didn't know how to incorporate my student budget into it. After researching different types of fashion magazines; commercial, high fashion, ect, I decided that my target audience would be 16+. This way, I could keep my budget small whilst still having a high fashion, urban feel. My biggest inspiration for poses was the store Urban Outfitters.  

The poses were very relaxed and effortless whilst still looking high fashion which I loved. Also, all the images had a very retro feel to them. Therefore, on all my images I faded them. For design, the biggest inspiration for me was definitely Teen Vogue. The typography and colours were very clean, bright and fresh. One cover in particular caught my eye. As you can see, The yellow really stands out and draws you attention to all 

aspects of the image. I though the colour was perfect for my theme of my magazine idea therefore, I wanted to incorporate the colour. The front used for 'vogue' was quite easy to find; Modern No.20, however, the font for teen, I couldn't find.  

I decided that to get the best out of my 1 hour studio session, I would have to have a plan for each pose for each clothing. As I had wanted to take some images of a bralette, I wanted them to be as classy as possible. Whilst researching different poses for bralettes, I came across an online Australian bralette store and the images were incredible. One image stood out for me and as a result, most of my bralette images were influenced massively by this one image.

Inspiration for the final image of my double spreads.