Work diary - Shoot 1

Evaluation

Experimenting with gels on lights in this shoot was tons of fun. Not only did I get to learn a new technique and put it into practise, but I was also able to discover yet another method of photography that has influenced me for my personal project. We had a set up of 4 lights. One light, coming from the top, was placed in front of the model beaming down onto them. There was then a second light (soft box) directly underneath the first light, shining up towards the model. Then we had two light beams with cones on and a filter behind the model, coming in from each side of the frame. It was these two lights that I'd then place gels over. We experimented with a variety of colours such as green, red and blue, however I wanted to capture images with the purple and yellow gels because these are both bright and vibrant. We also experimented with the lights that we'd use and the intensity of their beam, varying the strength of the lights and also turning some off to discover whether shadow pictures worked better than the bright ones. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to experiment with a different background colour such as white, but this could be something I may develop in a future shoot. I had a great time exploring the gel technique in this session and I have been incredibly inspired as a result.

This photograph of Connie is one of my favourites from the shoot. It is one of the first that I took where the yellow lighting from the left side wasn't beaming into the frame as effectively as it was later on in the shoot (I adjusted the level of the light). The reason that I find this one to be one of my favourites is because it captures Connie's mysterious facial expression in a dark light. Having the yellow there would make the image brighter, but her facial expression isn't a positive one. I feel as though I used the gels effectively in this image as the dark purple colour shining on just one side of her hair compliments her empty pose into the camera. Her eyes are also glistening in this image which adds an extra shine to the overall piece which I find quite fascinating. I really like the whole glitz, glam and shiny touch that the gel lights give to these pictures because it really enhances the frame of Connie's hair by lighting it from behind, rather than having her hair blend into the dark backdrop and not stand out in the lens. I could have perhaps added a light in front of her face to reduce the shadows, but other than that I am happy with this photograph.

This is the second photograph of mine that I captured this lesson that I was really happy with. I framed it so that the portrait consisted of no more than Connie's upper half and her face. In this image I got her to smile, because there were two lights beaming on the back of her hair from the left and right, and I wanted the bright mixture of colours to correspond with her facial expression. The light has created emphasis on Connie's hair and made all of her stand out in the frame. I think by having her leaning towards the side of the frame conveys her body language as being relaxed instead of her standing upright and forced staring into the frame straight on. By having her posture slanted creates a more calm and composed tone in the image, also making her smile appear more natural rather than it being just a forced pose. Overall, I enjoyed using these lights during this shoot because they can really bring life to a dull portrait. 

Progression

In order to excel my skills with gels and lights, I am looking to perhaps take some more pictures similar to the ones above with my own ideas. I have already planned to take photographs of a model holding sliced lemons over her eyes with yellow nails and yellow lipstick and a yellow hair accessory for example, and so on with other coloured fruits. Therefore, I am now inspired to take these exact same photos, but use red gels for a strawberry shoot and green gels for a kiwi shoot for example. I feel as though this will be a super effective technique that can enhance my images by a mile. I am also interested in experimenting with gels when I take pictures of food. An idea I have is me composing a shot of a green water bottle with a glass in front of it, filled with the contents of the bottle, whilst green gels shine in on the frame. I am also thinking of doing this with blue gels and a blue bottle, or just a cocktail glass filled with blue liquid and a slice of lemon with blue and yellow gels shining down on the frame. I think that this has the potential to work in my upcoming photography sessions, therefore I will most certainly be testing these ideas out eventually.