Thunderstorm Photoshoot

PREPPING
Before the photoshoot started and I started pinning the fabric onto the model I showed my photographer and the model my inspiration pictures from my iPad. I wanted to show her a range of poses to try and do when the wind machine would be blowing on her.

Inspiration from iPad

STRUGGLES
My assistant was available for the first half of my shoot so I had to pin the fabric to the body all by myself I did struggle at first and found it hard to really cover the body. It took many attempts to add fabric which covered her whole body.

First image of the shoot - the fabric doesn't cover the body suit fully. 

We also weren't able to access the wind machine straight away and when we did it was broken. It took us a while to fix it which did push our production schedule back. We did try shoot some images without the wind machine to start with but they didn't turn out too great.

Trying to shoot with out the wind machine. 

SUCCESSES
The fact I had to do the styling and making of the outfit on my own in the end I think it turned out the best I could do, it looked better than what I had thought I didn't have much high hopes for this and thought I may have had to scrap these images.
The fabric colours worked well together and did let you see the movement of it easier.


EDITED IMAGES

EDITING IMAGES
When we were shooting we tethered to the computer the lighting was looking good. However when we sat down to look at them they were all a lot darker than we remember. With these images we had to brighten them up a little just so you could see the different colours of the fabric and the movement my model was making.

Left Image - before editing / Right Image - After Editing. 

MY THOUGHTS
For me these are clear they are to do with a thunderstorm and tornado as I know what they are about looking from an outsides point of view they may also see it as wind turbines which as is to do with climate change. To make this more clear I will talk about tornados in the opening statement. when I show people these images they always say wow I think this is because the scale of the shoot and the fact lots of material was used in a different way to usual. It wasn't used to just look pretty and flow it was to create a tornado.

OVERALL EFFECT
I think this works as a dramatic image. I do worry though some people may not get what it is straight away I have showed a range of people within my target market and they understand what it is. I think if someone was to pick up this book not knowing a thing about climate change they may question the impact or effect.
If I was to re-shoot this again I would try and find a designer or stylist who would be able to source a dress and sew the material into shapes that would work a lot better.
I could even try adding different colours of material.

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WHERE TO GO FROM HERE - With one more shoot left to do one infrastructure sinking and our icecaps melting I thought it would be time to lay out the rest of my images in the book properly.
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Pesticide Shoot

PREPPING
This was the last shoot in the day with the same model we did 3 looks that day on him. I showed the model again my idea of what I wanted to achieve on my iPad with poses and the overall mood.

Inspiration from iPad. 

STRUGGLES
When I first added the paint and we started to shoot I realised there wasn't enough paint it just look like a few random spots of paint. it wasn't giving that spray effect I desired. I went in and added more paint and orange to give it more dimension. After that it looked 100x better.

Didn't look right wasn't enough paint

After I had added more paint.

Another big struggle I faced and it left me me feeling deflated at the end of the day was that the pesticide spray stick I had brought didn't spray out product. We did try to spray yellow paint out a water bottle to get the effect but it just didn't work. I was worried without the pesticide stick in one of the pictures you wouldn't understand what it was about.

It was obvious the spray wasn't coming from the pesticide spray stick each time we tried to do it this would happen or the camera could pick up the colour in the air. 

I went home that night not knowing what to do with my idea it didn't work. I spoke to my photographer and he said that they turned out great and I was being to hard on myself but it wasn't the original image I had in my mind. He told me to pick a few I liked and he would edit them and send them me. He told me not to look at the originals and to wait until I got the edited ones.

EDITED PICTURES

MY THOUGHTS
I was so surprised with the end result and what my photographer was able to do with the images. He said from what we spoke about he wanted to make the yellow bright and make it look a bit more toxic. He also darkened the background to make the overall effect pop more.

DO PEOPLE GET THE CONCEPT?
I showed the edited mages to a few people and asked them if they understood what it was about after explaining my book idea to them. They all gave answers such as harmful products, toxic and chemicals. The only picture people didn't really get was the one with the pesticide stick in it. Someone thought it was a microphone. I didn't want the wrong message being portrayed in my book. I didn't have time to reshoot and I really like the way the images turned out with out the stick in so decided to use them instead people understood it and it would be talked about in the preface of my book as well.

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WHERE TO GO FROM HERE - Discuss the other photoshoots I did on the same day with the inspiration I used.
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Carbon Gases Photoshoot

PREPPING BEFORE HAND 
My photographer brought two cameras with him to make sure we get at least one photo. He was also nervous about shooting this as we both hadn't worked with smoke before, we didn't know how long it would last and whether the camera would pick it up.
We had one camera on a tripod in a set position connect to a wireless button and my photographer also was carry one to get in for close up shots.
I showed my model poses before hand off my iPad so she would know what to do before the smoke started.

Inspiration from iPad. 

SUCESSES 
The smoke worked really well. It was a good thickness where the model was able to hide behind it. Exactly what I was trying to achieve. The smoked lasted for a good 3 minutes and I brought 3 cylinders, so with continuous shooting we managed to get a lot of shots.
The model really understood what I wanted and just kept moving she knew how to work her body and what would look best with her body shape.


STRUGGLES
The smoke cylinders worked great the first two times however when we went to do the last one it fell over so the smoke blew in the wrong direction I tried to run in to move it but none of the images turned out great. The poses in these images were also more awkward compared to the other two shoots.

EDITED PHOTOS

EDITING PHOTOS
The photos turned out well and I really liked the natural light in some of pictures they had a glow to them. However the ones of her on the tree did turn out quite dark so I wanted to brighten them up a little so you could really see the detail.

Cropping In
There was one image that really stood out to me because the smoke was all over her body and one her face it looked like she was inhaling it in. This was a full body shot we got and my hand is in it holding the cylinder. I wanted to crop in to show how the smoke was crawling up her body.
This image works so well to capture how carbon Gases is harming our bodies.

Before Edit Left - After Edit Right

Removing Tattoos
There was one image again I wanted to crop into I told my photographer which one he cropped in and sent it back to me. I noticed the tattoo straight away and it drew my eye away from the smoke. I knew then the tattoo would have to be removed as that is that you looked at first.

MY THOUGHTS
These pictures turn out better than i had imagined in my head. The ones where she is in the tree brach are breath taking and such powerful images. The way the tree bends round is just beautiful and I was lucky to find it. I like the white smoke better as it represents the actually gases and pollution being pumped into our air. I'm annoyed the blue smoke didn't work as it would have been nice to have a variety of different colours of smoke within the book. Working with the smoke was a lot easier than I thought. I did my research beforehand with safety and not to buy ones that you light as they burn really hot. I also googled laws about using them in public and tried to find a spot far away from roads and people.

REVIEWING THE OVERALL EFFECT
Using real smoke makes the images more real if I was to have edited it in afterwards I think they would have looked quite fake and not had the real raw effect I'm hoping to get from all of my images.
If I was to do this shoot again I would defiantly buy more smoke cylinders, I wouldn't get different colours are I think these colours worked really well and any others would have looked more like a pop video. It would be good to have smoke coming from different sides.
If I was to do this again I would get assistants on set to help the photographer but also to help with the smoke. Within the 3 minute slots we had they were quite stressful to do all of it and direct.

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WHERE TO GO FROM HERE - I would like to have a meeting with Emma and discuss some more ideas I was thinking about.
I want to talk to a few people who are into climate change and see what their thoughts are for the impacts and effects of climate change.
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Scorched Earth Photoshoot

PHOTOSHOOT BRIEFING
As I used the same model from my High Temperatures Shoot we quickly spoke through my plans for the next shoot before going back to hair and makeup. I showed the Photographer my inspiration for the lighting which was a halo of light around her. We also spoke about what background would go best. I spoke to my model how this was going to be a strong look shoot so her poses would have to be quite bold.

Inspiration from iPad. 

WHAT WENT WELL
The lighting worked perfectly for this shot and directs your eyes right to the model. The fullers earth mixture mixed with the orange and created that cool effect I had got from my testing stages. We had the big screen so we were able to zoom in on the pictures and work out little details.
I was revealed with how easy the fullers earth went on as I was worry it wouldn't set right and create the effect I wanted.

STRUGGLES
The shoot as a whole there were no struggles the model really understood the look I was going for and the lighting was perfect straight away we didn't need to play around.
The only thing when shoot I realised the shape of the models face wasn't exactly how I imagined it in my head so we stopped the shoot and had a quick play around on photoshop to liquify and pulled her jawline in a bit. The liquify tool instantly brought the image to life and made them more powerful this  is just what I wanted.

REVIEWING THE OVERALL EFFECT
This shoot turn out well and I liked the pictures once we had sharped up her jawline. If I was to shoot this look again I would maybe find a different model who had a sharper jawline although this wasn't a huge problem for me. I wanted the model to be the same as the high temperatures shoot.

EDITING
As I previously spoke out I wanted to liquify the models face for a sharper jawline. We also played around with the sharpness tool to add more definition into the cracked effect on the neck.

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WHERE TO GO FROM HERE - My next shoot I want to do is my shoot on carbon gases I have been speaking to the photography department and they said with real smoke I won't be able to shot inside. This is something I really wanted to do to keep my photos as realistic as possible. He told me a few great locations to shoot in. I decided to chose the common as it would be contract against the smoke.
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High Temperatures Photoshoot

BEFORE THE SHOOT STARTED
Before the shoot started I showed the model and my photographer my inspiration images on my iPad before hand so they would know what kind of mood, lighting and poses I was going for.
I managed to find a model with ginger hair as I wanted it to go with the overall vibe of heat and temperature rising within my photoshoot.

Inspiration from iPad

STYLING PROCESS
I was thinking about plaiting the hair but when I started it made the whole look, have a tribal appearance about it and I didn't want that at all. I quicky thought on my feet and how I would have my hair if I was on holiday or living in these conditions.
A messy bun, I would want it off my face but still slightly stylish. I added fabric about the headline as I thought about how women might wear this in hot conditions to soak up sweat from their forehead. For me I thought of the women in Mad Max when I added the hair band which worked for me as they also lived in the hot dessert with no water.

http://www.businessinsider.com/mad-max-fury-road-wives-rosie-huntington-whiteley-riley-keough-zoe-kravitz-2015-5?IR=T

STRUGGLES
One problem I did face while shooting was the glycerin dripping down into the models eye. We had been shooting for about 5 minutes and the glycerin must have been slowly dripping down and it went into her eye. We manage to sort it straight away and solved the situation with the model having baby wipes on her lap and I made sure if I was adding any more it was far away from her eye and didn't go any lower than half way down the forehead.

MY THOUGHTS 

The skin turn out really good you can see on her skin she looks sweaty more than just oily. I thought about where i sweat on my body when working out. I wanted it to look as realistic as possible. On the close up image of the model me and the photographer sat down on photoshop and changed the texture of her face. We didn't have to do much photoshopping as we decided to use a light to create a bit of a lens flair to create the effect of sun beams shining down on the model. This light also helped emphasise the shine of the glycerin.  

TESTING OUT IDEAS AND LIGHTING 

We did try when shooting to spray water infront of the light with gel on(see above). Although the effect turned out amazing and added a different aspect to the image . I personally felt it looked like fire and wouldn't work for the overall effect of being hot and bothered. It did take us a while to find the right lighting that represented sun and didn't look too face. Below is a series of images of lighting set ups we tried before getting one I like which consisted of a cone lighting from one side of the model with an orange gel over the top. 

1st Picture - Lighting was very simple and the orange light was directed straight at her hair so it made it look illuminous. I didn't like how dark it was on her face as well.
2nd picture - the whole image had a peach tint to it, although it looked warm it didn't look realistic. 

3rd image - We were getting that sun glare I wanted but the light was washing her out and you couldn't see the shine of the glycerin.
4th image- The sun glare was just right and her face and body was lit up well but it definitely needed that orange gel again to give the element of sun. 

5th Image - We managed to get it all right. the orange gel works really well and puts an element of warmth to the picture which I really desired. 

REVIEWING THE OVERALL EFFECT

These pictures have turn out amazing in my eyes. The headband really worked in the end and I think if it wasn't there the picture would look a bit flat. adding the headband adds another element of texture. With the close up shot of the models face we did have to edit her skin a little as the pores showed up quite a lot. I wanted to use this image so we played around on photoshop to smooth the skin a little.  I wouldn't change anything if I was to do this shoot again it all ran smoothly and i'm so happy with the end result as my model really portray the feeling of being hot and bothered by the temperature. 

Below is images before they were edited. 

With the half body shots we were didn't do much editing. Just made it a little brighter around the face. and cropped in but I wanted to keep them as raw as possible.
I felt this would really show what the skin would be like and there was no point getting of bits of hair as in the humidity your hair would be all over the place anyway.

This picture had a lot of post production done to it. we cropped in the face more as I wanted to focus on the beads of sweat.  We got rid of her spots and smoothed the pores a little on her cheek. I also wanted to brighten up the image so you could see her eye a little more. I liked how the hair stuck to her skin and wanted that to be an element within the picture as well. Below is the edited picture for comparison.

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WHERE TO GO FROM HERE - 

I had another shoot planned on the same day with the same model. Based on the earth being scorched and drying up because of the temperature rising. The next blog posts will show my inspirations and how the shoot went. 

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