01 Objects

Object photography. Macro & Highly reflective 

For the first week we were split into groups of four (Myself, Elliot, Sarah and Lauren). These groups of four would also become our set build groups. The task set was to bring in one object and photograph it. Time would be short and we were limited to just fifteen minutes with the lighting and equipment. I chose to photograph a standing cat statue I had brought it from home. I chose a simple set up with one light, lighting the object from the left with a snoot attached. I indented to create very dramatic shadows down one side of the image as well as a long shadow produced by the statue itself. Below is my final image.

 For the second weeks task we had to produce four images. Two using studio lighting and two using none studio (One natural and one Artificial). For the studio set up I drew on inspiration from the week before and decided to use a different approach to using the snoot. I mounted the light and snoot onto a large boom stand and lit the object from directly above. The object I had chosen this week was a silver (and very reflective) candlestick holder. With time once again being quite limited and spending quite a while setting up my light to avoid any reflections, I was only able to produce one studio lit shot.

However from the images I produced I then chose what I felt was the best. I corrected a few things in Photoshop, such as contrasts and then uploaded my first image of the day to Flickr.

 For my first none studio shot, I found some lights at the bottom of the clock in Blackburn town center. There were multi coloured spotlights and I set my candlestick holder in the middle of them. I used a wide aperture (f 5.6) to produce a very shallow depth of field; this produces quite a sharp area at the top of the candlestick holder with the rest seeming blurred and quite mysterious. Which is exactly what I envisioned as I didn’t want anyone recognizing the lights from Blackburn.

For my final image of the day. I had to use natural light, however by this point in the day light was beginning to fade, so I quickly found some leaves that I liked the look at a took the picture. It was fairly quick and simple and the end result is nothing spectacular. However I do like the contrast between the natural and artificial as well as he metallic silver and the autumn tones.

A big thank you goes to Lisa for letting my play with her Nikon today. Being a Cannon man I found it very easy to use and great to work with. However I cant see myself changing brands anytime soon, thanks Lisa.

Mini Set Build

Initial ideas:

• Theater
• Wardrobe
• Narnia
• Locker (Men in Black)
• Handbag

• Childhood objects
• Puppets
• Finger puppets
• Children's book
• Miniature
• Set from a film
• Characters
• Suitcase
• Living out a suitcase

Expanding ideas

Wardrobe and Lockers

•  Wardrobe with clothes from every stage of your life in. Starting from tiny baby shoes all the way up to present day clothes. 

Final Idea

Have a wardrobe filled with clothes from my life. Starting from very young to very old. Augment with toys or pictures.

Evolution of ideas

Instead if using clothes shoes and toys from my life i will use Football shirts. There will be 16 football shirts to cover 20 years of my life. I will mount them on a clothing rail and photograph them.

Set up

With the basic coat rail set up, i started playing around with the lights. Lighting the background with a red gel and barn door attachment.

With the lights set up i started to take shots. Making sure the shirts were in the correct date order and hanging a flag underneath it.

However I felt this set up felt too forced and un-natural. So i stood side on a settled on what would be my final picture for the set design for now.

While this wasnt what I set out to create a like the feel and layout of the image. Creatively however i feel there is much more I can do, so that will require a revist and some point in the near future.

Commercial Shoot

For my commercial shoot i decided to do a Guinness advert.