Waltz Inspired Shoot Edits

With each photo shoot I would like to introduce various effects in post production to display a sense of movement relating to my theme of dancing.

After some photo editing by Rae Finn here are some of my final images:

Adding the suttle effect to some of the strongest shots from this shoot has given the pictures another dimention, I wanted it to add depth to the photo and capture the idea of Waltz dancing.

Waltz Shots

These photos were taken by one of my photography tutors – Chris Overand. At the start of the shoot, I had asked for soft boxes to be set up to enable a beauty shot to be taken. The lighting set up to begin with made the images a little too over exposed making the colour disappear in the picture.

Here are a few results from using the lighting set up at the beginning of the shoot:

This particular lighting set up proved to be unsuccessful as the image were too bright and the information was being lost. This encouraged Chris Overand to change the idea slightly of the set up to use more of the natural light coming into the studio. This gave a much softer look to the images and created a great shadow behind the models head and reflected the styling and make up colour 100 times better.

Here are some examples:

The last minute change of lighting set up proved quite stressful as I wanted to get the photos exactly right as everything else went how I had planned. It helped a great deal that my tutor Chris was on hand to defuse the problem and manage to capture the picture I had envisaged in planning.



These photo's came out so well that my tutor Chris Overand even wanted to use a shot to upload onto his website. Overall very pleased with how this look developed!

Edits are to come!

Waltz Shoot

The waltz shoot went fairly smoothly I found. I was able to find a model with longer coppery colour hair which was a great plus as I had envisaged this for the shoot.

I wanted to choose the styling carefully as I needed the outfit to fit the theme of the shoot. I ended up choosing a cream embellished lace top from 'Topshop' retailing at £38.00. I think it gives a feel of classic 1940/50's glamour which is a large part of the idea for the final images. 

Here are a few snap shots from the make up room showing preparation of the models hair and make up design. 

As my last lot of feedback encouraged me to involved more hair design within my next shoots, I decided it was better to start straight away and experiment with my waltz inspired shoot. 

I used the technique of twisting on my models hair to create an intricate design around the head and fixed it into place with dark coloured clips. 

I think this creates a soft and glamorous design in keeping with the theme, make up and styling. I brushed through two sections at the front of the hair to pin back to the ear each side loosely to finish off the front of the design shown in the pictures below. 

Waltz Shoot Inspiration

Here is a mood board displaying my ideas for the make up design for my 'Waltz' dance inspired shoot. Id like to include a mixture of ideas taken from these research images. 

A thick, bold and glossy lip with a fair amount of shading and contouring on the face I think will create an interesting look. I would like to keep a sense of classic glamour to the photos as I think it portrays the moods and perhaps colours that represent the soft, romantic and elegant idea of Waltz. 

I am going to try and use a model who has auburn colour hair as I think this would create a lovely contrast with the pink shading I am thinking of using on the temple and cheek bone. 

After another feedback session this week I have been advised to use some more hair styling skills within the photo shoots. I will take this on board and I am planning to create quite an intricate hair up do for this theme.

Lets see how the ideas and photo shoot develop! 

Edits...

Edits are to follow for the 'Jazz' themed shoot as well as 'Tango' shoot. 

Here is one edit from the 'Ballet' inspired photo shoot which I am extremely please with colour wise and composition. 

I did face a problem when doing this look as the model had roots to cover before I started the make up and hair. I has thought to use grease paint colour pallet but soon realised that this pallet would brush on far too thick and be too bright to use on the hair. I did not want to create blocks of colour, keeping the texture and lines in the hair style does finish off the hair style nicely. 

To resolve this issue I had with the models roots I ended up using an eyebrow brush to brush through Illamasqua pallet that is mixed with water. This pallet luckily worked a treat as I was able to mix the exact colour match of the hair into the hair line to soften the harsh colour change. 

I kept the make up design and hair style simple with this look by using light eye powders on the eyelid and underneath the eye and also a cream coloured aqua colour to brush through the eyebrows and lashes to match the hair colour. I contoured and shaded the face with a rose pink and light blue blush powder to maintain structure to the face and neck. The post production compliments this simplistic look well by also demonstrating a smooth and simple edit. The use of light blue and pinks in the image display a graceful and soft  feel which is related to the art of ballet dancing. 

Jazz Shoot

This post displays some of the first images that came from my Jazz inspired photo shoot. 

My model had very flawless skin which made the application of primer and then make up extremely easy. I wanted the skin to look flawless and have a high shine. 

I have kept the theme of gold shimmery dust on the eyebrows. Also I have used a grey/black shimmer underneath the brow to enhance the eyebrow shape. I matched this colour with two tone colour I applied on the lips with added gloss to complement the shine on the skin. 

I wanted to keep the styling simple and quite contemporary for this particular shoot. I find a high neck black dress with a black bowler hat creates a clean cut look which allows you to concentrate on the make up look.

Overall on the day of this shoot I learnt quite a lesson. This particular day I was let down by a photographer I hadn't used before. Due to this, I was put in the position of having to set up all the lights, background and camera and then went onto being my own photographer for this shoot. I was very disappointed on the day as I had planned this shoot for x2 weeks previous.

Some images are stronger than others in composition and I think they will be enhanced further with some post production. Such as the images below:

Jazz Shoot Inspiration/ Testing

Moving on to my jazz themed shoot. These pieces of art created by Debra Hurd express great colour relating to jazz music more than anything. There is a mixture of daring colours however I would like to focus on the golden colour shown in both images. 

Another reference in my research is a clip from the 2002 film 'Chicago' of the song Roxy Hart. This clip, some would say sums up jazz style. I would like to interpret the sparkle and shine that people immediately think of when referring to jazz into my photo shoot. 

I want to do this by perhaps experimenting with glitter brows and eye shadow. Researching into this particular idea for my shoot here are a few images that display what I am thinking: 

 These photos demonstrate my initial make up design idea for this shoot. I want it to look fairly glamorous yet with a modern looking twist. 

Here is a photograph of some testing work carried out on the model I aim to use for the shoot. In keeping with my idea of using the gold colour pallet to enhance the 'show biz' and 'rich' stereotype that jazz dancing has, I decided to experiment with eye brow stencils building up the shape with Vaseline and a shimmery gold dust to make the dust grip to the eye brow hair and conclude with a strong and even colour. 

Lets see how the shoot goes and the make up design comes together! 

Further Tango Inspired Shots

Here are some images that show off the styling as well as the make up design. Whilst searching for an outfit for this shoot I came across quite a bargain in Southampton town West Quay. I ended up purchasing a black leotard which had fringing all the way down the sleeves. This was a bit of an experiment on the day of my shoot to see if the tassels worked with the look.  

This particular composition of the model works really successfully in comparison to the first lot of images posted. 

Feedback I received initiated the fact that the tassels complimented the lines of the make up design and collaborated well with the hair up style. 

I decided to apply dense black lashes to the bottom lash so when photographing the model in shots like this one above the lashes are elongated to exaggerate the beauty aspect as well as the fiery, vibrant theme of tango dancing. 

These final images have not yet been edited but edits are to follow. In post production the red colour will be enhanced to look increasingly striking to the viewer in the book and perhaps also the idea of movement will be interpreted also to create the finished shot. 

Tango Shoot

Here are some images from my shoot inspired by 'Tango dancing'. I stuck to my original idea about using red eye shadow around the eyes and temple and used the technique of taping to enhance the strength and  boldness I was aiming to create. The strong lines really open up the eye and contrast well with the light eye colour. 

I wanted to interpret black shading in the eyelid and a little in the red shading and strong black eyebrows. Although I am quite happy with the look these pictures are not as effective as others from the shoot. These images do need a little bit of retouching to erase the blemishes on the surface of the skin. 

Technique for Tango Shoot

To create the look I envisage for the tango themed shoot. I used the technique of taping, using masking tape to apply to the face creating appropriate lines and shaping where its needed. Masking tape is best for this technique as it does not hurt the model when peeling off as it doesn't stick as strongly as celotape. 

I needed to make sure that the lines I was working with matched each side to complete a strong structured look. I applied a second lot of masking tape down the face to cover the cheeks to allow for any drops of powder to be caught without staining the skin before applying foundation . 

The outcome was successful and I was quite happy with how the taping worked on my model. It tied the look together ready to shoot!!