Bibliography

Mario Testino documentary- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9kUljPTpss

David Bailey Documentary- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S678bcdXsag

Uncanny Valley info- http://www.cracked.com/article_18867_5-creepy-ways-humans-are-plunging-into-uncanny-valley_p2.html

& notes from lesson.

'Facetune app'

Mario Sorrenti- http://www.mariosorrenti.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Sorrenti

Images for moodboard- pinterest

Monochrome shoot

For my monochrome beauty shoot, I wanted to create a more toned-down, relaxed series of images. I didnt want to play around with make up or clothes too much for this one, As my colour shoot was quite glamourous. Erin has beautiful eyes so this is what i wanted to focus on. Because of her pale complexion, I wanted to use a grey backdrop instead of black to create a softer image, and asked Erin to wear a grey jumper too, which went really well with the backdrop and helped to create the tone i was after.

I have always been obsessed with different textures and since starting this project, I have discovered that I am obsessed with hair and the different textures you can create with it! Erin has really long and silky hair which I didnt have to change at all as it went really well with the soft and efortless image i was trying to create. I used a soft box for this image, but with the flash on a lower setting as I didnt want bright, harsh lighting.

I really loved the simplicity of these images and hardly had to edit them at all. I feel that converting the image into black and white does a lot for you, i personally feel that black and white is often more flattering. All I had to do after this was alter the brightness and contrast.

Colour shoot

For this colour shoot, I wanted to use warm, golden tones. I asked Hana to be my model as she has beautiful skin and the perfect hair. She has long, thick hair with various golden tones running through it. This went perfectly with the make up I had in mind. I wanted to keep the make up natural but use lots of gold and highlighter to create radiant, glowing skin. I even highlighted her shoulders and collar bones and it came out so nicely on camera.

For her hair, I wanted it to be quite big and glamourous but at the same time I wanted it to be quite messy. For this, I curled and backcombed her hair until I got the look I was after. I love the contrast in texture between the glowing skin and messy hair.

For the lighting I chose to use two soft boxes. I altered the flash to make it brighter and more intense as I wanted the image to be quite soft, but I wanted it to be defined and I wanted to enhance the areas I had highlighted even further.

I was so nervous for this shoot as I have literally no experience with photographing people, there is so much to remember when it comes to setting up a studio and camera! But my skills have definitely come a long way since starting this project. I now have more of an understanding of how to correctly operate a camera and also what make up goes well with what lighting. The only thing that went slightly wrong with this shoot was that there were marks on the black backdrop. As I had booked out the studio I had no choice but to continue with this backdrop, but I was able to alter this in post production. I was pretty disappointed that we weren’t taught any editing skills in any of the post production lessons, but luckily a friend in my class was a bit of a photoshop wiz so she showed me what I needed to do to get rid of these marks. First, I altered the contrast and brightness to try and blacken the backdrop. This did work to an extent, but it began to change the colours of the face to much so I then used a paint tool to paint over these marks. The background looks slightly blurry, but it looks so much better than it did before. This sort of made softer than it would have been if I had used a harsh jet black background. I actually quite like the effect it gave.

Colour inspiration

Here are a few different textures, colours and muses that have inspired my shoot. I want to use warm golden tones, and preferably find a model with the right kind of blonde hair! I want to use simple make up using golden shimmer to highlight and compliment the hair.

 

Inspiration- vogue brazil

I am completely in love with this series of photos of Rihanna taken by Mario Sorrenti for Vogue Brazil. I just love the tone and colour used in all the images. he sort of muted greys and greens and then the odd pop of contrasting red. I love the way he captured her famous style and personality, whilst giving it a Brazilian feel with all of the jewellery and accessories.

Mario sorrenti is an Italian born fashion photographer who is now based in New York. He was influenced from a young age as his older brother and mother were both successful fashion photographers. He is known for his nude shoots that have been featured in Vogue and Harpers Bazaar, which is why Rihanna is pictured semi nude above.

Experimenting with soft lighting

Today me and my group decided that we wanted to play around with soft lighting. We put two white boards next to each other and shot through the small gap that we were left with. Whilst giving an overall soft look, the reflection of the two boards actually created a 'cat eye' effect which I loved.

We then tried lighting from behind- for this we had the lights set up behind the model facing the backdrop. This meant that the lights bounced off the back drop creating soft lighting again. I really liked both methods but preferred the first as I loved the definition in the eyes.

Here is a couple that I took today using the first technique:

Playing with facetune and uncanny valley

After discussing retouching and ‘How far is too far’, we got into small groups and played with the facetune app. I took a simple, face on picture of Tara. We then all looked at it and tried to change as many things as possible without it looking completely fake. Tara felt really uncomfortable being the model and we all felt really uncomfortable adjusting her facial features.

I honestly think she looked much better in the original image- she didn’t look human in the final edited picture. We began by smoothing out her skin, then went in on top with the smoother, raised her cheekbones, whitened her teeth and thinned out her nose- that last one was her request! We made these changes because these are the areas that are edited most frequently. 

Her face looked relatively normal at this point, but then we got a bit excited and sharpened all of her features and changed the colour of her hair. She now looked like an animation- a completely different person, actually quite scary. If I was to do this again, I would direct my model and ask her to pose in a certain position with the intention of focusing on enhancing this area when using facetune. This way, I wouldn’t be going in and randomly changing bits of her face and ending up with something that didn’t look human. And I definitley would not change the hair colour!!

This leads on to the  ‘uncanny valley’ concept. This is the idea that you can edit an image to make it ‘beautiful’, but you actually end up with an image that does not look human and is actually quite creepy. Apparently, beauty is all about being symmetrical, but it actually looks so weird when you take a normal face and make it completely symmetrical. But this made me think, if everyone is freaked out by these ‘perfect’ symmetrical images, does this mean that our idea of beauty is individuality, quirkiness and imperfection? 

 The image on the left is the original. Bridget Bardot was considered one of the most beautiful women of her time and yet the machine still corrected her face to make her 'beautiful'. I feel like all character was completely lost from her face, the sparkle has gone from her eyes. She just doesn't look human at all,she doesn't look alive.

Women in fashion advertising

Even today, women are still being portrayed as sexual objects in advertisements. Models are often asked to pose in suggestive positions wearing next to nothing, even when it has nothing to do with the product being advertised. These intimate photos turn the woman into an object and often make her look vulnerable. It’s quite shocking that in 2015, where feminism is discussed and pushed more than ever before, that companies are still using sex to sell their products.

‘The male gaze’ is a theory devised by feminist Laura Mulvey. This is the idea that visual arts are structured to please the heterosexual male viewer. Although its very common for adverts aimed at men to contain women in little clothing, this is a common feature in adverts aimed at women too. For example, here is an ad for tom ford’s fragrance. Obviously, the aim of this is to sell the fragrance, but they have used a naked woman to do so. The woman is squashing the bottle of cologne between her boobs (which is obviously appealing to men). The advert is basically suggesting that the ladies love this fragrance, and you will be very popular with them if you wear it. This is a perfect example of how sex is used to sell products.   

 Although it is very common in adverts aimed at men, it is just as common in adverts aimed at women, too. For example, this coco Chanel mademoiselle advert. You can see here that Keira knightly is posed seductively with just her brace covering her nipple. This advert is suggesting that if you wear this perfume, you will look just as sexy as Keira does in all of these photos. The caption at the bottom of the advert says ‘feminine and sexy, young and exciting’- but do you have to be naked to be all of those things? That is what the advert is suggesting. Although this advert is predominantly aimed at women, they have managed to create something that looks like it’s aimed at men.