Low Key Beauty - Definition Post

Low key lighting is a style of photography whereby the images are dark and highlight the contours of an image, this technique throws various tones of light and dark, this style is typically known to be a more masculine lighting due to darker tones. 

 Beauty photography usually focuses on portraiture, and fashion, these images are usually of females; however they can sometimes be of men also.

The different types of equipment will be using on this shoot include the following:

Key light- the main light used to light up the subject.

Beauty dish- a flexible circular dish. If this dish is silver then the lighting will be more directional; whereas, if this dish is more white then the light will be more diffusive. 

Diffusion Shock- this is a cover placed over the key light, it helps soften the light and make it more diffused. 

Honeycomb- this helps control the direction of the light 

Fill light- this is the light which is placed under the beauty dish, this helps reduce the amount of shadows on the subject.

Back light/clip light- this light helps when separating the subject from the background, specifically their hair. 

We will also be using: a tripod, a camera, a light meter, and a subject to photograph. 

The above image is a screen shot from our powerpoint this lesson, whereby it shows how our light diagram that we will create after our shoot should look, my version will be in my work diary. We use light diagrams so that if we want to reshoot, then we can easily know how to set up our lights and where our subject was positioned. 

The above images demonstrates a lighting diagram, and how this creates the final image, we do not know the camera settings, but this would allow us to set up our studio to gain a similar effect. A light meter would be used to help us determine our camera settings.

Last year in our AS studies, we touched upon low key lighting, therefore I already have an idea of what the effect is like, however I have never used gels to cover the lights previously. Gels are coloured sheets which cover the studio lights in order to reflect colours onto the individual. 

High Key Lighting - Work Diary

Our task in today's lesson was to explore the technique of high key lighting, we had previously explored this technique in AS, so I already knew what the technique was. We watched a video on how to set up the studio to achieve a high key lighting effect, this helped me understand what the key light is (the main light), and what clip lights are (lights which point towards the background in order to make the image over-exposed.) I enjoyed doing this shoot, although I would not follow this technique through into my project.

Below is an image of how we set up the studio, with reflectors, different lights, a tripod, our subject and our camera.

My best image of today:

This image was shot on an ISO of 200, with an F stop of 6.3, and a shutter speed of 1/125, I slightly edited this image on photoshop in order to make it lighter, however I could have done this by changing my aperture to a lower number, in order to allow more light into the image. This is my best image overall as I believe it demonstrates the high key lighting technique effectively, as I took a photograph of a female, sat in a 'girly' position, with frills on her top- this directly links to the assumption that high key lighting is more often used on female's due to it's feminine ora. I like the image as a whole due to all of the colours working well together, contrasting the red lip of my subject which 'pops' out of the image. Moreover, I like how my subject is not looking directly at the camera, as I believe this can sometimes appear too staged, I prefer my images to appear more natural, and relaxed.

My worst image of today:

My image above was sot on an ISO of 200, an F stop of 6.3, and a shutter speed of 1/125. This image is too dark to represent high key lighting, this is why I believe it is my worst image of the day as it does not demonstrate the technique effectively. Additionally, the background is not completely white and you can see some darkness to the left of the arm, I believe this also ruins the image. If I was to reshoot this photograph again I would use a lower aperture, combined with a slower shutter speed in order to allow more light into the image; however, if these are lowered too much the image can become greatly over exposed (as shown in the image below whereby I did not have the correct camera settings.)

Progression:
I would not use this technique in my project as I portraiture would not work well in my nature theme, I am already using multiple exposure which combines two images together (e.g. portrait and a tree), which I believe will work more effectively than just a portrait alone.
If I was to reshoot any of my images again I would do a thorough check to ensure my camera settings were okay before I started my shoot, if I was in the studio this would involve using a light meter.

High Key Lighting - Straight Images

All of my images were shot on the same camera settings as we used the light meter to determine this.

ISO- 200

F- 6.3

Shutter speed- 1/125 

ISO- 200

F- 6.3

Shutter speed- 1/125

ISO- 200

F- 6.3

Shutter speed- 1/125

ISO- 200

F- 6.3

Shutter speed- 1/125 

 ISO- 200

F- 6.3

Shutter speed- 1/125

High Key Lighting - Definitions Post

High key lighting is a style of lighting commonly used in film, photography and television which reduces the lighting ratio making it smoother/brighter. This technique highlights all of the face. This type of lighting is commonly used in beauty images, or on photographs of females, as it's seen to be a 'feminine style' of lighting. This technique is based on using mid-tone greys and bright whites, bright lights are used to eliminate any shadow, in order to reduce contrast, sometimes the image can appear slightly 'over-exposed'. 

Equipment used for high key lighting:
Tripod
Camera
A subject to photograph
Light meter
Honeycomb or snoot, depending how direct you want your lighting
Soft box (key light)
Back lights/clip lights X2

The above image of a baby demonstrates high key lighting effectively, as you can see all of the babes face, this image is purposely over-exposed in order to create an innocent atmosphere to the image. The baby's eyes are clearly in focus, and darker than the rest of the image, this draws the viewers eye's into this point of the image. 

We need more light on the background in our shoot, than the foreground. Our main light is the key light, if this was F8, to make the background lighter we would need more light on it, this can be between plus one or two stops higher, therefore the clip lights would have to between F11-F16.

High Key Lighting - Image Bank

In this image the woman's hair is clearly being blown by a blower, in order to achieve the effect of the movement of her hair. A slight shadow is on the left of the woman's shoulder which isn't completely high key lighting; however, I like this effect as it adds to the overall effect of the image. I would like to recreate this image when I shoot my images in the studio , as I admire the movement of the hair in this image.

This image represents high key lighting effectively as the background is over-exposed, and you can clearly see all of the child's face, with a minimum amount of shadow. The use of this technique in the image creates an innocent atmosphere surrounding the child. The child's eyes are sharp, and bursting with colour this draws the viewers eyes into the image, and makes it interesting. Moreover, the child's bottom lip is a dark red-pink this again catches your eye, due tot he dark hole in the middle of the child's mouth. 

All of the woman's face is in focus, despite the slight shadowing down the right-hand side of the face, which could changed by placing another light to the right of the woman's face. The symmetrical aspect of the face again makes this image appealing, combining with the neckless around the female's neck which grabs the attention of the viewer, as it's chunky and sparkly.

This image is extremely over-exposed and therefore demonstrates the high key lighting technique well. The female's skin appears smooth and clear, this is due to the background lighting being on a low f stop, which would allow the lighting reflecting of the white background to be over-exposed, therefore making the individual's face lighter.

This image demonstrates the high key lighting technique well as parts of the female's face are over-exposed slightly, which allows the viewer to deduce that the f stop on the background camera's must be low, in order to allow lots of light in. I prefer the images when they hold colour as this is more interesting, and allows you to easily see the different tones of colour.

This image differs from the others as it's taken of an animal to show this effect. This makes the dog appear innocent, as the lighting is bright and fun. It would be interesting to use this effect on a dog which many people are scared of (e.g. a pit bull) as this 'innocent' lighting may change perceptions of the animal, however I do not have the resources to do this, and it doesn't fit with my project theme. 

Shoot Plans

Below is a rough outline to what each of my shoots will entail, this plan will help me organise my shoots, and will show a clear expression of direction as to where I want my shoots to go/progress to.

Shoot One:

This shoot will consist of images I photographed when on holiday in Gran Canaria, this shoot will explore and show how different foreign nature is, and how beautiful and tranquil it can be. This shoot will consist of images of cactuses, and other flowers which we do not have here in the UK naturally, this will show how different nature is abroad. Moreover, all of my images were shot when it was extremely sunny, this will help demonstrate how the nature abroad has adapted to be in boiling hot conditions from the sun all day. By photographing nature, and showing it's beauty I want to show to people how vital it is we keep nature alive, and protected. 

Shoot Two:

This shoot will be of nature, in direct comparison to man-made objects when in the rain. This shoot can only be conducted when it is raining outside, therefore I do not know when I will complete this however, I know that I will include images of flowers with water drops on them, in order to show two elements of nature combining (water, and flowers.) I would then like to show the contrast in how nature reacts/looks in rain, and how man made objects (chairs, tables...) look/react in the rain. This shoot will fundamentally show a contrast in how both man-made and natural objects react and look in the rain. 

Shoot Three:

This shoot will consist of photographs taken in a built-up area, in order to demonstrate the effects of human nature, and man-made structures on the environment around us. Additionally, I may use the technique of multiple-exposure in the shoot and combine flowers over the top of the buildings, in order to suggest 'nature is everywhere' and 'nature conquers all'. This shoot will help me show how when in the city we are so far away from nature. 

Shoot Four:
This shoot will be shot in the studio in the style of Edward Weston and Nadege Meriau. Edward Weston will influence me to convert my images into black and white, whereas Meriau will influence how I photograph the images, by getting extremely close-up in order to create an abstract effect. I will bring in fruit/plants and photograph these in a low key lighting style, then converting them into black and white in photoshop, and editing them further here (curves, levels...) This will allow me to show nature in an abstract way, and have people questioning what the object is. Moreover, this will allow me to experiment in the studio, with different objects, whilst exploring the technique of macro-photography further.

Shoot Five:
This shoot will involve me using the technique I previously explored of multiple-exposure, I will photograph images of my peers, whilst editing images of plants over the top of them. I want to conduct this shoot in order to show how we are in control of nature, and to what extent we repress this. Moreover, by making the individuals have images of nature over the top of them, this will show how we are essentially made up of nature, therefore we would need to protect this in order to protect ourselves, and our lives. 

Shoot Six:
This shoot will involve me photographing landscape images, to portray the beauty of nature in a non-passive way, likewise to Ansel Adams. I'm planning to photograph these images in my local town of Waltham Abbey, due to this town having a lot of history and old buildings (the Abbey Church), which I believe would work well in my image. I want to do this shoot in order to demonstrate the beauty of nature, and how we must stop, look and appreciate this more often. 

Shoot Seven:
sky?

Shoot Eight:
autumn?
Shoot Nine:


Shoot Ten:

Multiple Exposure - Work Diary

In today's lesson our task was to capture images outside the studio of multiple exposure. I shot all my images on the camera settings of ISO 200, a shutter speed of 1/100, and an f stop of 5.6. We watched a video on how to change our camera settings to fit the 'double exposure' effect, however we decided to photograph two separate images, and then combine them in photoshop as I didn't have all of the different camera settings needed on my camera- despite this, I could and did change my exposure and spot metering camera settings. In order to then edit my images I opened the photos in photoshop, and pulled my pictures on top of each other, whilst resizing them when needed. Once I did this I then changed the photoshop settings from 'normal' to 'screen'. 
I enjoyed this lesson, as I like the outcome of my images despite them all looking 'green' as I photographed images of trees to go over the top of them, as this would fit my project theme.

My best image of the day:

This image is my best of the day as you can clearly see how the tree fits into the individual, the two imaged merge well together. The yellow writing on my subjects t-shirt jumps out of the image, when contrasted with the green leaves. Additionally, the gap in the individual's head may suggest that she is missing something mentally stimulating, which she cannot have (e.g. education.) The branches across the subjects face appear to be slightly red, this almost looks like veins across her face, this may imply that nature is in our veins, and we need it to survive. The subject's coat appears to be made out of leaves, I like how this looks, as it appears to be realistic. 

My worst image of the day:

The above image is my worst photograph of the day. Although I do think the colours fit the individual well, the background is not completely white, this would have been due to the blue sky coming through on one of the images slightly, then allowing the leaves image to be seen. In order to correct this I would have to reshoot this image again, this image ensuring that the background is perfectly white, in order to avoid the image of the leaves coming through on the background. Additionally, the leaves appear slightly too dark, I could have changed this using the curves tool on photoshop, or the brightness tool, again on photoshop- or I could have initially edited my camera settings by making the f stop higher, so less light would be allowed into the camera lens, and then consequently in the image. 

Progression:

Overall, I believe my shoot went well, I would like to use this technique in my project, as I can show how individuals and nature combine to one; moreover, I would photograph images of trees and buildings to merge with the image of the individual. When using this technique in my project I would ensure my camera settings were changed to fit the situation, in order to control how much light I let into my images. Moreover, I would also like to try shoot the images of the individuals in the studio, again so I can control the lightning to a higher degree, and ensure the background is completely white.