Studio Shoot III (part 2)

More High-Key

For the studio shoot, I also had the chance to work with Celina, who runs the Fables in Fashion blog. I’ve been a big fan of her makeup lookbooks where she does all her own makeup, styling and photography!

For this shoot she did a fantastic mermaid themed lookbook. I had the white setup, which gives a really clean look which I thought really suited the theme. I also wanted a bright high-fashion magazine look to show off the detail of her fabulous makeup work.

Still thinking high fashion we tried the ring flash look! Ring flashes are terribly terribly expensive things. The “poor mans” ringflash is a large lightsource behind the camera. This is one of the reasons why I chose the octabox. I placed the octabox level and stood in front of it.

Ringflash Look

Its not entirely “Ring Flash” as I’m blocking the bottom section, you can kind of tell because theres not as much fill light coming in from underneath, and you can see me in the catch light.

I also got a chance to shoot Annie in a fabulous Betty Draper inspired outfit! I’m still trying to perfect the white high key setup, but I’m very happy with how the shots turned out.

Annie + Macarons!

Film

Because I’m a masochist, I shot a roll of Kodak Portra on an old Minolta X-700 manual focus camera. I really wanted the colour and tones that I still can’t quite reproduce with digital. Unfortunately, the lab at Michael’s Camera and Video turned Annie’s beautiful chocolate coloured dress into an icky grey green.

35mm Portra 160 Scan from Michael’s

I took the negatives to the Elizabeth Street Camera Centre which did a better job of scanning, but I think the damage was done when the roll was developed. When I was complaining to them about Michael’s, they said “You’re not the first one…” :/

 Scan from Elizabeth Street Camera Centre
With Colour Corrections

I ended up colour correcting it to something acceptable, but it defeats the purpose (well, my purpose) to get the “look” and colour of film. I’m still not giving up on film, but given the cost of processing and scanning, I’ll probably use it for special projects, and I’ll choose a different lab 😉

Stacey on Kodak Portra 160

Getting the shot

I’m usually having so much fun doing creative stuff that I don’t realise how exhausted I am during photoshoots. Its a known fact camera gear weighs twice as much at the end of the day.

Siera and I were both tired, but since we were recharged by cake and macarons, we still managed to get some great shots. The theme for Siera’s Hatsune Miku cosplay was based on fan art for the song “The World is Mine“.

Siera as Hatsune Miku

These shots weren’t awkward to take at all… Well It was worth it :).

I wish I was taller.

Despite the costs I think it was much better to hire a big space, with proper facilities. I hope we can do more group studio shoots this way. Its a good way to get together with friends, and experiment with lighting, makeup sets and other creative things. I want to organise another one soon!

4 Replies to “Studio Shoot III (part 2)”

  1. You post very interesting posts here. Your website deserves much bigger audience.
    It can go viral if you give it initial boost, i know useful tool that can help you, simply
    type in google: svetsern traffic tips

  2. I’m speechless. This is a excellent weblog and very engaging too. Nice paintings! That’s not in point of fact much coming from an novice publisher like me, but it surely’s all I may say after diving into your posts. Nice grammar and vocabulary. No longer like other blogs. You actually understand what you?re talking about too. Such a lot that you made me wish to discover more. Your weblog has change into a stepping stone for me, my friend.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *