My final Beauty Brand Image - Nars

My final Editorial/Inspirational word Images - Gambol

Feedback on my Images

Feedback

Mood board and Story board for my Editorial Images

Here is my mood board for my editorial shoot which shows my ideas and how I was unsure of whether to show movement through using the gobo's or to use powder paint or emotions in the face to show how people move/react when showing how they feel. However it is also clear that my main/strongest idea is using the gobo for my editorial shoot as its different to beauty shots and has a lot of contrast within it.

Here is my storyboard for my Editorial image which shows that I want quite strong and dramatic eye makeup with glossy lips but in the shoot I ended up changing my mind and making the models lips more of a purple/pink colour which went with her skin tone as well. Also as I was using  the gobo lighting set up for the shoot I want to slick back the hair into a high pony tail as it gives the gobo more space to move around on the face. Also I like the angles of the images on here that are in black and white but still struggled making the gobo come out strong enough to create enough contrast in my images.

Mood board and Story board for my Beauty Brand Image

Here is my mood board for my Beauty Brand image with my brand clearly being Nars. I want my shots to be bright and I want the skin to look radiant but haven't quite decided what hairstyle I want to use as my image will fit with my inspirational word through the hair as I am going to incorporate rolls in the hair but want to avoid creating victory rolls as it will change the feel of the shoot and wouldn't fit with the normal Nars beauty advertisements.

Here is my story board for my Beauty brand image which shows clearly what kind of makeup I want to include and that I want my Beauty brand image to be advertising lip gloss as its subtle and will look very neutral like a lot of the Nars ads but still have strong/dramatic eyes with very radiant skin. Also in one of my practise sessions we prepared the gobo lighting set up but struggled greatly getting the gobo's to actually show up strong and ended up just taking out the gobo and using the spotlight lighting which looked very glamorous compared to when the gobos were in. This is why I included an image of the lighting set up and one of the images we took in that shoot.

Practising lighting set up using a Gobo

In this image we used a gobo lighting set up but struggled to get the gobo to show up very brightly but in this image I feel i looks really nice and subtle if that was the type of shot/look I was going for. I wanted to practise this set up as I didn't want to take long setting up when I use this kind of set up for my photoshoots as it means I would leave my models waiting. This session showed that I was able to set up on my own as I was once of few that knew exactly what was needed and how to set it up properly. I left this session quite confused as the set up using the gobo's didn't work as well as I had hoped but found the lighting set up for my Beauty image as when we took out the Gobo's the lighting and composition of the images we were taking came out really nice and effective which would fit with my brand 'Nars'.

These two images show the same lighting set up using the Gobo but without any gobos in it so it was a strong spotlight which came out very bright on the right as we was also using the reflector and the image on the left shows what that images look like with the same lighting set up but without the reflector which shows what a different it makes as it changes the feel of the shoot completely.

Here is another image using the gobo lighting set up which is the lighting I want to use for both my makeup brand images and my editorial images however for my editorial images I want to actually use the gobos and it will fit with my word 'Gambol' which means a forward roll but I will be using it in the sense of movement and how the gobo hits/moves around the different hollows of the face and with my beauty brand images I will be creating a roll in the hair which will fit with my word as it is a roll and 'Gambol' means a forward roll.

IT : Using InDesign, Bringing boards, images and text together

When putting all of the pages together it is important to ensure everything is the same size and that they are the same width apart as although the images have been edited and look good the pages need to look neat and aesthetically pleasing if they are being shown to other people. Also if someone is marking your work they need to be able to understand what is what and to ensure that, you need to keep everything organised.

When inserting my mood board I struggled as the page I wanted to put it on wasn't the right size and was too small so I had to click on the moodboard to see what width and size they were to create a new master page that had a width of 1364px and height of 767.25px. However this was easily rectified and changed for the other pages that needed this size and to be landscape.

IT : Refresher of Indesign, working with text, creating text for own images

Here is my final image with the white Nars logo. Originally I was planning the use the white one but over the top of these images the white logo doesn't come out very prominent and if the colours in an image is bright already it could look effective with the black logo to contrast with how bright/light the skin tone is.

Here I placed my final image in the template with the black Nars logo to experiment with which colour looked best as I feel the darker logo goes well with the natural hair colour of my model and the black top I got her to wear. I feel that this colour logo looks more effective so will keep this one for my final image.

IT : Photoshop - Retouching my Editorial Images and my choosing final Images

Here is my front editorial show before and after. The before shot isn't the original image as I edited it before the other images and then moved onto editing the side shot but realised they didn't match in colours and temperature. This is why I went back into photoshop with the exact numbers I had changed the temperature and different settings to on the side image as I didn't want them to not match.

Here is the side shot where I found exactly what settings and changes I wanted to make to my images as I now feel looking back at them that it intensified the gobo and how well it is seen. Also I feel it added more colour into my models skin as using the gobo's made her skin tone look quite dull in the images which is something I wanted to avoid but was able to change and improve.

With all three of these images the only changes I needed to make were playing with the colours and the balance of them. I decided to increase the tint, contrast, highlights, blacks, clarity and vibrance the same amount on each of the three images to ensure that all of the colours matched and looked the same as I didn't want one of the images to be warmer then the others as it wouldn't have fit and needs to fit with the set of 3 images. I also decreased the temperature, exposure, shadows, whites and saturation so ensure the images didn't come out too warm.

Here are my final editorial images using a Gobo's. This shoot didn't come out exactly how I wanted/planned for it to but I am still happy with how the images came out as I feel that I was still able to set up the lights and use the Gobo's correctly without the images looking ineffective. However I did struggle to get the pictures to come out how I had planned as the Gobo's wouldn't stay straight and didn't come out as high contrast as I had planned which can be seen through looking at my story boards.

IT : Photoshop - Retouching my Editorial Images

Here to brighten up the skin I looked at the curves and moved them around as the skin still looked quite dark due to the lighting set up. Also changing this on the side shot meant I needed to remember what changes I made so that my other editorial images matched this side shot.

Here is the different between the image I showed my tutor and after as I wont see the problems that my tutor does as she has an eye for detail and picks up on anything that doesn't look aesthetically pleasing. This meant using the spot healing tool to get rid of any imperfections on my models skin.
I also needed to lighten the eyes up as the lighting made them look very dull and stopped the eye colour from coming through. Also there were a lot of dark hairs in front of the ear and near the jaw line that were very visible and needed to be removed with the spot healing tool.

IT : Photoshop - Retouching my Beauty Images and my choosing final Image

Here is another one of my favourite images from the Beauty Brand shoot and I didn't really see anything that urgently needed changing to do with the skin except the tone of the colours as I feel they were a little more cool then they looked up close so I made the image more warm to show the true colours which also showed of the models clear blue eyes.

Before - Using the Clone Stamp Tool

After - Using the Clone Stamp Tool

The point of using the Clone stamp tool was to get rid of any fly away bits of hair in the background of the image. Looking at the after screenshot I can see that it just looks tidier and more put together. Looking back now I wish I payed closer attention to the hair in the shots to ensure all fly away bits of hair were gotten rid of so that I didn't have to edit them out.

Looking at all of the images I got in this shoot it was very hard to choose a final one as I had 3 favourite ones which were;

Out of me three favourite image I have chosen the middle one as the colours are more natural and I feel that they look like something Nars would use/create because they use a lot of grey backgrounds and also the skin tends to be quite radiant and glowing like the image in the image. Also I just feel that when I put the Nars logo and product that is being advertised it would look best on the 2 image as there is a mixture of dark colours and light for me to experiment on whether the black or white Nars logo will look the best and what side to have the products on.

IT : Photoshop - retouching my Beauty Brand images, editing my Story board

When creating my story board I wanted to ensure it was organised and placed precisely so that my ideas are clear and easy to follow. This was ensured by using guide lines as it made it easier for me to make borders and to ensure that the spaces between each image were the same width. Also I feel that when my images are organised my ideas are easily understood when looking at the images I have collected. With my beauty brand image I wanted the skin to be bright and luminous. Also wants glossy lips as I wanted to be advertising lipgloss in my shoot. Which is why I decided to use a subtle nude gloss which was included in my story board.

Looking at the original images the skin doesn't really need any touching up as my model has very clear skin. The only aspect of this image that bothered me was that the colour of the eye makeup and lip colour didn't come across as the true colours that they are so I increased the temperature, exposure, contrast, shadows and whites but decreased highlights and blacks which has clearly warmed up the images I took making the colours of the makeup more true to the real colours and also makes the skin look more radiant.

Make up chart for my Make up Brand/Inspirational Word Photoshoot

With my makeup brand image I will be making a warm smokey eye with my Mac warm neutrals palette which includes a really nice copper colour on the lid and the Illamasqua 'Sex' eyeshadow with the liquid highlight on the inner corner to bring the eyes out making them look wider. I will also be making the cheek bones come out using my liquid highlight which will get picked up on camera. However with this look I will be using a more brown based nude lip liner on the lips then finishing it with a gloss as I am going to be advertising lip gloss.

Make up Chart for my Editorial Photo shoot

For my editorial/inspirational word image I plan for the eye makeup to be quite dramatic and for the lips to also be a purple/fuchsia colour as Nars can be quite edgy so I plan to have quite warm colours on the eyes and will be using my Mac warm neutrals palette on the eyes with my Illamasqua 'Sex' eyeshadow in the inner corner to highlight as my model has a dark skin tone. I will also be using a liquid highlighter as it looks amazing on any skin tone and will really pick up on camera which will help make the skin look radiant and will glow which is what I need.

Ideas for my photoshoots

Digital Image Production 2 Photoshoots

3 of my favourite Images from my Pinterest board

 These images are my favourite as they have quite high contrast and they fit with both my make-up brand 'Nars' and my work 'Gambol'. They fit with both as they all include high contrast and also show movement as the light hits both images on either end and moves around the face which looks quite effective. Also with the image in the middle the hair has been flicked and makes the water visible in the image which is quite effective and just looks very natural and nice.  

Feedback from my presentation

When watching other peoples presentations and seeing their storyboards I felt that I needed to change mine and needed to have a better understanding of my brand as it was important to know the background information for my brand. Coming from the presentations that I had seen I went back and researched more into my brand and found out that Nars Cosmetics is a French cosmetics and skin care company founded by make up and photographer Francois Nars. This shows that the skin is very important in any beauty shots and needs to look perfect if they are also promoting their skin care. 

This is why in my shots I need to make sure that the skin looks clear and in good condition especially if I was to decide to advertise a skin cream. But even if I use shimmery eyeshadows that can sometimes make highlight any blemishes the model has.

It is very important that you ask your models prep their skin the night before to make sure that the skin is looking healthy and so that you have a good base to work on as the makeup will go on better if the skin is prepared for the makeup you are going to use. Also it is important to use a primer that is specific to your models type of skin as one of your models might have really oily skin and big pores but another might have dry skin and minimal pores which is why you need a versatile primers to help the foundation which is something I will need to ensure I do as Nars is a skin care company too so the skin needs to look flawless.

After presenting I was told that I had a better idea of my brand then the other girl that got my brand and that my ideas were there I just needed to add to them and make sure that I knew exactly what I was doing and needed to decide what models I was going to use and to plan my shoot out so that everything is ready.

The thinking behind my Story board

With my storyboard I wanted to show that I planned for the skin to look radiant and clear. Also after looking at a lot of the Nars images the eye makeup is quite strong and dramatic which is something i would also like to use as I plan for the lips to be glossy in my Beauty Image. Something I like about Nars is that even though the eye makeup may be really dramatic the image is still really subtle which allows them to create contrast between the radiant skin and the background of the images which tend to be grey or black.
Even Nars has sleek black packaging with a smooth texture and the white logo which contrasts and stands out but also with a professional look which however contrasts with the provocative product names. This gives the brand an edgy twist to it which was evident when looking at their beauty ads.

When creating my storyboard I needed to ensure it was organised and understandable to someone that didn't know what my ideas were already and also wanted to communicate the feel of the brand and how edgy the makeup and poses can be. This was important to me as if I am going to be attempting to create an image that could pass for Nars I need to understand the brand myself.

Make up brand presentations

After watching other peoples presentations I realised I needed to research my brand more as the people that presented knew a lot about their brands. Also I realised that my 'story board' is more of research on the ads Nars has already done instead of the type of things I was in my photoshoot. I feel my first story board wasn't very effective in representing the type of images I want to be left with after my shoot.

Here is my story board combining my work 'Gambol' and my beauty brand 'Nars'. I feel that this is better than my first attempt as there are more images that represent the type of things I want to do in my shoot as I want to experiment with Gobo's to project patterns on the face to bring attention to particular parts of the face depending on what products I am advertising.

New Gambol Moodboard

After my presentation I cam to the realisation that my mood board was more a story board so I had to make a new one that had less of a final outcome and more of my thought process. With this mood board I tried to show that the word 'Gambol' to me means movement.
The things that came to mine when thinking about movement/Gambol were;

• Emotions and how they affect the body making your face and body move.
• Dance - and the rhythm people have.
• Gobo and the way the light hits the face or walls and moves to fill the space.
• Powder paint and how that hits the face and moves around if it was to be put into the hair and flicked around.
• The way the hair moves around in the wind.
• Photographing the model behind glass with a reflection of a dancer or some kind of movement.

Practical Photography Session

In this practical we worked with gels and changing the colour of the background. I feel this session was very successful with the compositions we got as the colours make the skin glow the same colour as the gel.
This image was on where we focused on the lips as if it was to be a lipgloss ad and with the gels shining on the side of the it looks a bit different from what you would usually see.

Here in this image the model has very big eyes which is the main focus of the image and could possibly pass as a mascara ad. Also using the gels in front of the lights behind the model create a very subtle glow of green with the background still being a violet/blue colour which looks very interesting and different.

Also I feel the the positioning of the model makes the image more interesting as the gels are only shining on one half of her face which makes that side less clear and puts your main focus on the right side of her face.

Here in this image we used two different colour gels either side of the model to see what kind of look that created however the green on the left side of the model is so subtle that its hard to notice but the blue/purple gel is very prominent and makes the right side of her face and fringe glow a blue/purple colour.
This model is looking into the camera which makes her eyes the main focus as they are almost staring at you.

Beauty Ad

This Beauty Ad stood out to me as the models looks immaculate and their skin just looks perfect. The image completely suits the product that its advertising which will be their main aim with this advertisement. Some ads can be advertising a type of makeup or product but will be attempting to target their audience more by advertising the models lifestyle rather than the product which is important to realise as sometimes advertisements can get brushed to the side for this reason.

My favourite images from my Pinterest board so far.

Here is one of my favourite images from my pinterest board as I feel it is very different to what I'm used to seeing and I like how the pose and the use of the gobo fits so well and almost looks abstract.
When I create my editorial shoot I would like to use a Gobo like this as it is quite simple and I wouldn't want to use anything that is too abstract as it can be hard to get good shots using gobo's as they don't always show up much as you need to ensure the lighting is done exactly right and is on as high as can be to help create highly contrast images.

Here is another one of my favourite images as its almost half beauty and half editorial which I feel is quite effective and different from most images but is also very subtle and beautiful. The skin and makeup in this shot is almost pin up girl inspired.
I also like this image as I appreciate how hard it is to use Gobo's as the pattern you aspire to use may not work with your model or it might not show up as prominently as you would like however in this image the Gobo used is quite simple and subtle and also makes the image still look like a beauty shot.

Here is one of my most favourite images as it was one of the first ones that inspired me to want to use Gobo's for my editorial shoot as it's so striking and the model almost looks like a doll because of how pale she looks. The skin tone and the shadows created from the Gobo creates such high contrast which makes the images eye catching and effective.
This image is something I would aspire to recreate even though its hard to get the Gobo to show up this hight contrasted and when I practised this set up in one of my photography sessions we found it very difficult to pull it off as well as in images I had seen when researching.

Pinterest board - How my ideas have changed.

Originally my ideas were based around emotions and ways I could move the hair or using powder paint as it all fit under the category of movement. However with more research and after having a practical where we used gobo's I feel that for my editorial/inspirational work shoot using a gobo would be an interesting and effective concept as it still fits with my work gambol. As still working with the more broad concept of movement from the word Gambol I can look at how the Gobo creates shadows and how it moves around the hollows of the face also helping to define the face. Researching Gobo's and how they have been used in shoots helped me decide it was something I wanted to do for my final editorial shoot.

Feedback from the Presentation

The feedback given was quite helpful as I feel that I didn't have a clear idea of what I was going to do and gained some possible ideas from other students. However I also came to the realisation that my mood board was more of a storyboard. However when creating my mood board I was trying to avoid showing off a final outcome as I didn't really have on at that point anyway. But it came across that they images in my mood board were my plans for my shoot, so when I create a new and more relevant mood board I will ensure it represents my initial ideas.

• I feel that the feedback given was very useful and that I was able to see where I went wrong and now see that I need to gather images of my initial thought and not photoshoot ideas.
• I intend to make a new moodboard that represents the right ideas to make it more of a mood board and not a story board.
• Within the images I gathered one of my favourites is the image where the women is flicking her hair with powder paint in it which shows movement and how the powder paint actually moves. And also the pop of colour catches your attention.
• I like this image as the bright colours contrast with the dark background and the movement within this image just looks very effective.