SEMESTER ONE 2010 - Workshop #2

Product - (Revision)

This week's workshop involved shooting a product in tethered capture mode. My product was a box of flavored drinking straws. I kept my props simple working from the character & its values on the box itself. I did have a lot of technical faults in my result but to be honest I did only shoot it in literally 2 minutes (including setup) as I was working in a group of 3 & the first two girls had major hassles with their lighting taking up an hour & a half of our time.

Despite all of that, this is my result...

I went for a very simple approach in shooting my product. I made a daylight attempt with tungsten lighting. I think I achieved quite a desirable result through the grass, though not so desirable anywhere else. I used 1 light & reflected it onto the box to try & have that best lit to draw the eye into the product.

If I had have taken more time & caution with what I was trying to achieve I would have avoided the massive reflection on the box itself, more light through the background & more evenly lit, a tighter composition & maybe a few more simple props.

SEMESTER ONE 2010 - Workshop #1

Portraits - (Revision)

As a group we were required to creatively plan out 3 individual portraits. Working with Dan & Mel I chose to base the portrait Id be taking around a corporate style shoot Id done through work in the recent break. Using Mel as my model I wanted to emphasis the focal point of her face through the image but at the same time keep the image very simple. I shot the portrait in a head & shoulders composition with the background lit using a snooted spotlight right behind her head, rim lighting through her hair to avoid her disappearing into the background & lit her face & body evenly with one softbox.

This is the result of my styled lighting portrait...

A few things if shot again Id like to really improve on are

- Obviously the reflection on her glasses

I think I can achieve that by heightening the lighting source to avoid direct flash reflection

- Possible slight repositioning of the subjects pose

Not shooting straight head on, having the shoulders slightly turned away with new positioning on the gaze towards the camera, achieving a slightly more flattering composure of the subjects face.

- Hair light positioned slightly higher

Resulting in more coverage of the hair bringing more separation of the subject from the background.

- Different direction of background spotlight

Experiment with direction & possibly few different colored gels for a more subtle effect.

I also shot Mel without her glasses for a more natural candid shot

Here is an edited version... Obviously Ive gone against a lot of technical ethics but Im quite pleased with my muck around result.

I know, I know... I've lost a lot of detail in the highlights & shadows due to going for a higher contrast approach. Also the skin tones may be a little uneven with the face seeming a little blown out & the background spotlight is also uneven. All things picked out I would obviously pay extra attention to detail in the future.