Bloom Shoot Results and Evaluation

These are some of the images from my shoot for 'Bloom'. I worked with Cher (the photographer) again on this shoot and am really happy with how she managed to capture the dewiness and shine of the models skin. This shoot had the biggest focus on makeup out of any of the makeup looks I have created for this project so it was really important to me that this was impactful. While I can see some areas for improvement, I am pleased overall with my execution of the makeup. I wanted the freckles to find a balance between editorial and natural, which I think I have achieved and I love the way that the shine on the eye is picked up in some images. The colour on the lip is supposed to look softly blurred at the edges, which it does, however I feel like I could have made more of a statement with this, although I did want to keep it wearable. My main disappointment with the makeup is the lashes, as I feel they look almost invisible and very straight. When planning the makeup, I thought that mascara would look odd against the heavy gloss and would be unneeded, but if I were to shoot again I would ensure to curl the models lashes or maybe apply a false lash. I really like how the shine of the skin and eyes is mirrored in the hair, it looks glossy and sleek. I wanted to keep it really simple so not to distract from the makeup look or make the images become too 'editorial'. I worked with a professional model, Yani on this shoot and think this look really suited her. One trouble I did face was she was that I wanted a model with dark brown eyes, however she arrived at the shoot wearing pale brown contact lenses. I did ask her to take them out but she told me couldn't as she didn't have any lens solution with her. This was a bit of a setback as editing the eyes on all of the images will take additional time!

During the shoot, I quickly realised that I much preferred the angle of this model slightly side on, as seen in the first two images. While I do love the result created by of this pose as this model has a beautiful jawline, it has meant that I've ended up with a lot of similar images. As the makeup and hair stays the same throughout, I'm worried that the images are too similar to create a full editorial story. I will show them to Anna next week to get a second opinion, but as the accompanying article is only very short, I'm thinking that it may be better to simply pick one, impactful image where both the hair and nails were visible, like the first two images seen below. Overall, although there are some elements of this shoot that I would change or feel I could improve on, I really like the first two images I am overall happy with the result.

Skin Shield Shoot Results

These are the images from my 'Skin Shield' shoot. I was overall really happy with all of the elements of this shoot have combined to produce an outcome that fits well with the theme of the article. Working with Cher on photography again, we really made the most of the location, using several different locations that I had decided upon in my test shoot to produce a wide variety of shots. As so many of the shots in this shoot were full length in order to fully utilise the city setting, I found two different outfits for this shoot and had a change in between. However, I feel like the second outfit of a dress styled with a crop top underneath is a little too '90's' despite this being the era I have drawn inspiration from here, therefore won't be including images of this look. A couple of small setbacks I faced with the makeup and hair were that my model had quite severe acne on her cheeks which was difficult to cover, which is fixable in post production but means that I have had to retouch these images quite heavily.  It was also an extremely windy day while shooting and I found it very difficult to control the models hair, having to fix it between almost every shot. Unfortunately, this was an element that I couldn't control, but luckily had allocated enough time for the shoot that this didn't become a massive problem.

I had always planned for this shoot to be black and white, however, Cher suggested that we shoot in colour as it produces a higher quality image and so I had the option of both should I need it. Looking at the images in colour, I almost went back on my original plan as I love the way that they look with the saturation slightly lowered, just to give them a cool tint. However, I made the decision to stick to my original idea, as all of my other shoots are in colour and I really love the dramatic, brutal effect that a monochrome palette has on the architecture in shot. This will be my longest editorial as I want it to be very visual, incorporating the shots of the buildings that I took at the Barbican too.

Overall I feel very pleased with these images, the model was beautiful and made taking great shots very easy and the setting effectively achieved the look I was going for and was a wonderful example of brutalist architecture. All of the images below are those that I have selected for the editorial, with the help and opinion of my peers.

Seasonal Update Shoot 1 Results

These are the images from my 'Seasonal Update' beauty shoot. Unfortunately, I'm really unhappy with the result of this shoot. I can't pin point exactly what it is I don't like, but I know that I'd ideally like to re shoot. Although I did a test shoot and didn't pick up on this before, I think the problem may be something to do with the flowers. They look far too clumpy and obvious and actually detract from the beautiful skin of the model, which is what the article focuses on. Another problem is that most of the images aren't completely in focus, so the flowers across the collarbones are actually blurry, which is distracting from the rest of the image. I also feel the hair is far too bridal and needs to be thought through again.

I edited the images and emailed the result to both Sharon and Anna for advice. I tried overlaying the image to give it a slight blur and adding text but I'm still really unhappy with how this looks. Sharon agrees with me that the concept needs rethinking as the flowers are too bold and just aren't working here. Anna suggested that instead of reshooting, I just play around with the editing, but if I get an opportunity I know I would like to reshoot just to ensure I'm totally happy with the quality of work that goes in to my final outcome. I think when I reshoot, I will keep it simple and just focus just on the fresh skin and glossy pink shades that are mentioned in the accompanying article.

I collaborated with a first year photographer called Cher on this shoot and have agreed to work with her on my upcoming shoots for 'Skin Shield' and 'Bloom' too. As she was ill for our test shoot, this was the first time I had worked with her and although she was very quiet and shy, it took a lot of stress off me having someone handling the lighting and photography. Apart from the issue of some of the images being a little out of focus, I'm pleased with the lighting and angles she created so am happy to go ahead and collaborate with her on my future shoots. Hopefully our communication should get better through working together more in order to produce a better outcome next time.

Update 05/04/17

The photographer I am working with, Cher has messaged me today saying she is unwell and won't be able to make it to the test shoot tomorrow. I'm really worried as all of my remaining shoots are scheduled over the next few days, so even though she assures me she just needs to rest and will be fine by Friday, I would like to find a back up photographer just in case. I have emailed Chris to ask for his recommendations of other students that may be able to help, so I will message them today. I still want to do a test shoot, so I am going to go ahead with it tomorrow to try out the makeup and just shoot the images myself to get a better idea of the kind of result I want to achieve and potential problems we may run in to.

Tutorial with Anna 04/04/17

Spoke to Anna today for the last time before going away for Easter. Showed her the four articles I have written so far - Rays, Skin City, the Treatment Trials and my interview with Medina. She told me they read well but would like to see them progress to having the headlines finalised and to see examples of how I plan on laying them out on the page when we get back from Easter. I told her that I am shooting this Thursday, Saturday and Monday and after that will concentrate on working on the layout of my pages so I can envision how the finished magazine will look. I did show her an example of a few test pages which I had uploaded to ISSUU and she seemed really happy with the design, so I'll stick to the theme I've been working towards and just start dropping in more of my text and images after my shoots are done this week. I also showed her the list of blog posts I'd done and those that I plan on writing and she helped me to come up with a few more ideas to look into.

Skin Shield Test Shoot

I did a test shoot today at the location in Southampton I have found to shoot my 'skin shield' editorial. As I was just trialing the location and experimenting with different shots, I just used a friend and didn't trial the hair or makeup this time. Below are the images I ended up with, on the whole I'm really happy with the location and the test shoot has enabled me to know in advance which shots work and which don't which will save time on the day!

    

I really like the way these shots of the buildings came out, which is good as it means if I find don't have enough shots from my shoot at the Barbican in London, I can take some extra ones here on shoot day.

I really want to get an image of my model peering through this gap. I love how it means that the foreground is mostly grey, but the sharp line of the concrete cuts across the models face and the estate is visible in the background.

I also really like this location where she is sat on the steps but the buildings towel behind her with the mish mash of windows and balconies. However, when shooting this again I would like the buildings in the background to be slightly out of focus, so would use a lower f. number on the camera settings.

These are two angles which I don't feel work. Both look too 'posed' on the whole and I particularly don't like the second image with the legs dangling through the gap as it looks stiff, uncomfortable and awkward. Again, this will help me out on the day of the actual shoot as I will know what not to attempt, or I can show these images to the photographer and see if she has any idea on how to improve them. 

'Bloom' Shoot Elements: Makeup, Photography, Styling and Model Choice

'Bloom' is all about taking the stereotypically wintery berry tones and making them appropriate for skin. One of my main inspirations for this shoot was the look that Val Garland created for Preen S/S17. The look features colourful pressed flowers that have been stuck to the face and I really liked the use of berry toned flowers so began wondering if I could find a way to make berry tones wearable for Spring.

Makeup and Hair:

For the makeup, I really want to create a beautiful base with a smattering of freckles across the nose and forehead. I will incorporate the berry tones into the look by choosing a high shine rich berry nail varnish for the nails and will use a blackened raspberry toned lipstick for the lips. I want the lip colour to have soft edges and to look like a stain instead of a lipstick as this is what will make the lip wearable and give it a lighter feel for spring. I don't want to go to heavy on the eyes as I feel this may be too distracting from the dark lips and eyes. Glossy, shiny textures are quite a strong feature throughout the entire magazine as they are consistently on trend every year for spring and summer, so I want to incorporate that into this makeup look by doing a really glossy, wet look lid. As the whole magazine is about beauty that is wearable and achievable, I don't want to go too bold with the hair as I feel it will be too much as this look has a lot going on already. However I do want my model to look put together and elegant, so I think a soft, wispy, low bun will compliment the makeup perfectly.

Model:

I think this look would look beautiful on an Asian model, as I particularly love the way freckles look on Asian skin tones. To best capture the glossiness of the eye I'm looking for a model with a lot of lid space as I think this would best show it off and catch the light. Below are some images of Xiao Wen Ju as well as some of the possible models that I have found on purple port.

 

Styling:

I want to portray my inspiration image through the styling, so have found a few sheer blouses from Zara that I think could work perfectly! Although I like the flowiness of the first top, I think I prefer the second as I think that the berry tones in the flowers will tie in well with the makeup. The sheerness makes it simple and feminine, but I think the brightness of the flowers will add really springlike vibe to the whole shoot.

Photography:

With the photography for this shoot, I'm cautious that if I choose a white background, the look might look too much like an advertorial or perfume advert. I will play around with different backgrounds on the day but for now am thinking about a grey background. For the lighting I want just a simple beauty set up to begin with so we can play around with the positioning of the lights and maybe use shadow to create some depth to the images. One thing I know I will need to pay special attention to when shooting is that the freckles are being captured and aren't being washed out and disappearing. I am working with Cher again on this shoot which means I can relax about the photography and focus on the makeup, hair and overall outcome.

Image Refs:

1. Walker, J. (2016). London's Brought The Beauty Goods . [online] ELLE UK. Available at: http://www.elleuk.com/beauty/make-up/articles/a31936/londons-brought-all-the-beauty-goods/ [Accessed 25 Apr. 2017].

2. Instagram post by Nikki Hinds • Dec 20, 2016 at 3:55am UTC. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/BOOYHoGlakF/ [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].

3. Emilybador.tumblr.com. (2017). EMILY BADOR. [online] Available at: http://emilybador.tumblr.com/post/120943343386/emily-bador-by-becca-nean-make-up-by-holly-dale [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].

4. popsister. (2017). [online] Available at: http://popsister.tumblr.com/post/157880574666/nylon-japan [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].

5. セレブがお手本! 今「ハンサムスタイル」が「美人に見える条件」です!-STYLE HAUS(スタイルハウス)

STYLE HAUS（スタイルハウス）. (2017). セレブがお手本! 今「ハンサムスタイル」が「美人に見える条件」です!-STYLE HAUS(スタイルハウス). [online] Available at: https://stylehaus.jp/articles/996/ [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].

6. Ju, X. (2014). Xiao Wen Ju - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia. [online] Alchetron.com. Available at: https://alchetron.com/Xiao-Wen-Ju-655271-W [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].

7. Nazareno, Y. (2017). By The Sea They SIng. [image] Available at: https://purpleport.com/portfolio/yani118/image/2669783/model/?referrer=layna [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].

8. Nazareno, Y. (2017). By The Sea They SIng. [image] Available at: https://purpleport.com/portfolio/yani118/image/2669783/model/?referrer=layna [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].

9. Zara.com. (2017). EMBROIDERED TULLE TOP - View All-TOPS-WOMAN | ZARA United Kingdom. [online] Available at: https://www.zara.com/uk/en/woman/tops/view-all/embroidered-tulle-top-c719021p4329537.html [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].

10. Zara.com. (2017). EMBROIDERED TULLE T - SHIRT-Long sleeve-T-SHIRTS-WOMAN | ZARA United Kingdom. [online] Available at: https://www.zara.com/uk/en/woman/t-shirts/long-sleeve/embroidered-tulle-t-shirt-c401009p4249084.html [Accessed 26 Apr. 2017].