location portrait shoot

iv now shot this 3 times and by the last time i think im pretty sure it was sucsesful. i first used my room mate david but he has long scruffy hair and  i shot it with cream walls as the back ground witch lowered the overall image professionalism, so i decided to change to my other room mate ben. he has shorter hair and has a more formal look going on. all the shots iv  done with him have ended badly to because of the dreaded CREAM walls.

first shoot

(shoot with david) 

 i tried to keep the lighting simple as possible, with the use of 2 umbrellas and the flood light to blow out the back ground. as you can see with his long hair its not as formal as i was hoping for

second shoot

( shoot with ben)
slowly getting better but the cream wall still looks like crap i personally think


third shoot

much better i think but i will have to edit out the sign in the background and the door frame a swell

studio corporate shoot

for this shoot i was hoping to try to create an interesting lighting setup, with the use of 2 soft boxes and a back light

a basic plain black back ground

here is this interesting style i was going for, iv tried doing this before but i never have been successful.

i think this lighting scheme is close to what i was hoping to achieve, but if the lights are more directed to the sides of the subject instead of the front

as you can see its horrible. all the lighting is is just flat, he isnt separated from the back ground, their is that massive horrible black shadow on his forehead. after looking more closely at the image i was hoping to get, i notices all the different light scenario the photographer used

 here is the lighting scheme i came up with to create close to what i was hoping for 

couple studio shoot

for my couple i was going to do Andrea sisters Della and Taylor. im choosing to do them because they look so much alike and they are really photogenic

obviously nothing like this, but the style of lighting

                                                                                         

  having them doing something with their hair

with happy laughing expressions 

a really basic setup, one light lighting the subject and a second light lighting the back ground (preferably a snoot)

here is the shot i got and i think i got close to what i was hoping for, and its unedited to by the way

for my group shot i was going to be shooting the fyshwick fire brigade, i was hoping to get all of my shots done inside because the weather isn't going to be to crash hot on Friday apparently,and as well if i get to use a truck i was i think it might be easier to light it inside. this is the email i sent to them

Hi my name is Alex Hogg

I’m from Canberra Institute of Technology and am currently studying an Advanced Diploma of Photography. We have an assignment where we are to photograph 2 group corporate shots and after talking to my teachers they are allowing me to shoot the Fyshwick fire brigade.

Requirements:

- 2 photographs, 1 formal and one less formal.

-both shots can be done inside or outside, whatever is easiest

- For the formal photo I was hoping to have 6 people standing inside and in a row, looking at camera with simple facial expressions.

- And the less formal photo I was thinking the group could be looking off camera, talking, laughing and with a bit more of a

creative back ground. If it wasn’t to much of a hassle and if i wasn’t taking up to much space i was going to ask if i would be able to use a trucks in one of my shot?

I’m going to be using 3 mono block lights (portable flash units) that require a power point. They take roughly around 15 minutes to set up, and they are easy to move around. So all up it shouldn’t take any longer than 40 minutes, I would come their 30 minutes prior to set up all the lights.

For locations i was going to come in tomorrow to find some spots that are not to in the way and wont bother anyone, with a power point available.

I am more than happy to give the station a copy of my images and a mounted foam

core print to hang as a thank you for letting

me take up some of your time.

If their any quires you can call me on my mobile: 0421085450

Kind regards Alex

check list: camera!

hot shoe adapter

bowens kit

AJ lens i borrowed

step ladder?

assistant

full battery

spare memory card

the ideas i had sketched up in my book 

so overall the shoot went prity bad, little things that kept happening. like i ended up nocking over some guys cup of tea, i was pouring in sweat because i was freaking out the whole time. I knew the photos went bad and as soon as i left and had a look a them....... o boy they where really bad. my formal group shot went alright but my creative shot..... eeek. after showing Belinda and talking it over with her she thought i should deferentially re shoot. so i went back to the station and talked it over with the boss and he said it was alright but only if i do it quickly because they have training on. o man iv never done anything so scary in my life, but i think i should be alright to do this reshoot because i have a good idea in my head of what to do and i know what to expect. its something you try to prepare for but boy o boy its such a shock

some of the shots i got from the first shoot shoot 

  

 this was me formal shot (unedited) this is the only half decent image i got from the night 

then this WAS my creative shot. but soon it wont be any more 

deep etching

i was thinking of doing a cigar add, but because of recent tobacco laws i think i might not be able to do this. im not to sure as well if i should have to model smoking the cigar or if it should be unlit, or if maybe i just have a models face in it.

ideas!

i like the use of the simple black and fading grey back ground

the way the cigar is positioned in the image, but not as big. the size of the cigar in this image is to big i think

and i would like to use a girl model

mock up:

this is somewhat close to what i was hoping to achieve, a simple fancy text with a model holding the cigar and the main cigar on the right hand side. the look in the image im going for is a fancy upper class, a"prestige" feel about the hole thing.

instead of the use of the white back ground i was hoping to replace it with black, and give the model red lipstick to also relate to the red label. instead of shooting landscape i will try shoot portrait because of the magazine style spread

here some styles that i will be aiming for. darker, rich, fancy

i tried looking up casino style lighting and it came up with bright flashing lights with a trashier look about the whole thing

the closest and most realistic ideal lighting would be this, its simple yet elegant. although it is just a plain black lit wall it has so much potential. instead of lighting the whole thing i was thinking of using a snoot have a more direct centered lighting 

group photo

i don't have a group of office friends i can shoot or do i know where to start. i was siting at home the other day and there was a car crash out the front and we had to call the police and fire brigade, so that's where i came up with the idea of doing a group of fire fighters dressing in uniform in the station.

product photography ideas

when it came time i booked my studio i had nothing to do, so i started to mess around with shooting paper animals. (there was a weird effect that occurred, if you look closely on the back gr

ound of the baby powder and the cow you can notice a black shadow aro

und it)

so for myproduct i was hoping create a diorama sort of scene with animals or dinosaurs, iv bought some toys dog so i was going to try and advertising dog food w

ith a caption like "all dogs love this dog food even toy dogs". I was also thinking using the dinosaurs in maybe trying to advertise moisturizer or something.

ideas?

ideas! thinking about it after a while i was hoping to do kids toys for a brochure. toys id like to use are barrel of monkeys, play doh, mr potat o head, gumby, army men, game, toy cars

test shoot with barrel of monkeys

final shoot with barrel of monkeys!!

well im really happy with the way this one went! i got the action and the movement in the monkeys that i was hoping for. also managing the lighting to wrap AROUND the barrel instead of looking like a dogs breakfast. but still i think it can maybe use a little more done to it

shoot with game boy

play doh ideas:

my shoot with the play doh!

i liked the composition of the idea for the other play doh add but i think its a bit to messy, so i decided i would stick with the idea of having some of the play doh out of the bucket, but i was more content on it being rolled up into balls, it was a much more appealing than having it in a big seedy lump on top of the buckets. the major problem i faced was with the rough shadows left from the play doh balls, i tried fixing them with another soft box on the other side but it started to look messy with the shadows. i found moving the light higher and directing it down eliminated the problem, but i think i like it more with the shadows and the table was to close to the back ground witch created the pink highlights in the shadows. so.... i think i might have to reshoot