Fashion evaluation

Finished Product – Fashion

To start of the assignment we were asked to explore and take pictures and get used to using an SLR, we then had lessons on how to use the cameras and set them up correctly for different environments we was also taught how to frame a picture with the use of lines, this helped a great deal for our final project. When the time came to start our final project we had to research 3 different photographers both contemporary and classic to get a real understanding of every style of photography. Doing the research meant you could use inspiration from a photographer and also gain further knowledge on the techniques used to take the best possible picture.

For my fashion photo shoot I was inspired by Terry Richardson, I love his style in photography and how his photo shoots are energetic and natural but also controversial, as he is known for that. I wanted my shoot to have a full white backdrop and a small bold shadow if not any. I achieved what I was hoping for using a home studio kit with one lighting the subject’s body and the other creating the shadow on the other side, I added a few props to make the shoot fun, I wanted as little poses as possible I wanted to capture the moment.

 Once I was happy with my photos and chose the ones I wanted to use I opened them up on Adobe Photoshop CS6, I started by editing my main/favourite image first, I firstly brightened the picture then added an effect behind the subject as if it was part of the movement, although I didn’t want the pictures to be highly and overly edited I just thought adding that little touch in made it mine and not a total copy of Terry Richardson, it also made the picture very powerful. The technical quality in my photographs are up to an expected standard as my camera skills were increased by the lessons we had and the research we did as an individual.

The most difficult process of this assignment was knowing what sizes we needed for our layout design, looking at the previous years photos and layout I knew instantly I wanted these fashion photos to be big on the boards leaving little boarder, because they are bigger I feel it will attract the attention and in my opinion I thought it looked better. Firstly I began opening the images up in Photoshop once again and creating a new project being the size of an A1 sheet doing this made the measurements correct. As I’m quite a perfectionist I needed the spacing between each gap the same, so in the end I had 3 boards with 2 A3 photos on one and 2 A3 photos on another and 3 23.85 by 35.56 on one so my images are quite large. I also figured getting them printed out in matte meant the light wouldn’t bounce of the lights as much as glossy paper.

When people look at the range of photographs for my fashion shoot I want them to keep looking and not just take a quick look I want them to analyse it and recognise my inspiration was Terry Richardson but also notice my own touch. The photo shoot is aimed at 12+ although it was originally aimed at 15+ its not as controversial as I thought it would be. I expect to attract both female and male.

Overall I am more than proud with my finished product I shown myself that if the correct planning is put into something then the final outcome is going to be exactly how you picture it and I will use this for future reference. I feel I outdid myself in something I wasn’t to confident in doing, I put a lot of effort and time into this assignment and it final pays off. My camera skills have certainly improved and everything was finished for the deadline. There isn’t anything I would change about this particular shoot.

Production Process – Fashion

When we were given the assignment so many ideas were running through my head, but from previous mistakes I always try and go the hard way around things so I knew this time I had to take the easy route but make it stand out. So we were asked to go and explore for our first task, we went locally and took different pictures then the next few lessons were concentrating on how to use the camera with things such as ISO, aperture, shutter speed and so on, we were taught how to set the camera up for different environments in different lights, After we got the hang of the SLR we then did a task on the use of lines, and focus and the rule of thirds which helped tremendously working up to the final project.

 After we had completed the tasks and blogged them explaining what we did we then explored different styles of photography such as nature and architecture helping us get a feel for the styles and which one we wanted to do we then blogged it and talked about advantages and disadvantages.

 For the next part of this assignment we had to be observed setting a studio up with helped me a lot as I was doing a studio shoot and again we blogged it and recognised the hazards and find a solution we also did a blog about health and safety for our own benefit and others. For the last piece before we started our final product we researched 3 different photographers for 3 different style of photography, what we researched we were doing for our final product, it helped us find inspiration for our own shoots, as I got through the research it became clearer on what I wanted to do. After organising when the shoots were and we had edited all the photos I had to plan my layout and measurements for the board. At this point I was up to date on all my work so I had time to finalize my editing.

Sources of information

My inspiration for fashion was Terry Richardson, I already knew a little about him as I like Miley Cyrus and he did a few shoots and directed a music video that she was involved in, and after researching him further I knew I wanted to follow his steps and use his style but add my own touch to the photos. I loved how Terry’s shoots were always energetic and natural but controversial, he didn’t care about taking the risk to make his photos stand out. Majority of his shoots were on a plain white backdrop with a small bold shadow, I researched how he used his lights to make the shadow and he used an external flash on his camera.