I wanted to include a set of portraits within my FYP portfolio and it just so happened that the perfect opportunity arrived at work when I was shooting a Model casting for Wella. I had to shoot each model front on holding their Z card, after shooting the models with their Z card I took this a little further and came in tighter for close up cover portraits. This has given me a small library of portraits to choose from and can then take a select few further for editing into a final piece. The interesting factor about this shoot is that the models all come in with their natural hair and skin, no make up or fancy hair pieces and so this seems to be one of the most realistic and natural modelling shots that will have been taken of them, I want to do this justice.
I researched model casting shots and from what I saw it was pretty self explanatory, very basic and nothing fancy, just enough to get a feel for the model and to see what sorts of shoots they would be suitable for if any. The preparation was minimal but I had tight constraints to work within. Firstly I was shooting in a room with no backdrop but managed to source and interactive white board as a make shift colourama. I could use no lighting and so was shooting without a flash at 2000 ISO however luckily enough there was some lighting coming in through the window which gave some really nice elegant shading to the face, perfect for the natural portraits I was looking to achieve. Finally I had to work within a strict time frame as their were over 50 models to be seen and cast I had to keep the flow going at the same time as making sure I got the material I needed for the Job plus extra for my portraits. I did this by shooting extremely simply to begin with until I had a small que of models waiting to be cast, I then took my time and got the more emotive close ups of the girls.
The restraints I was working with were perfect for directing me when it came to the natural portraits. I have a habit of trying to make things to graphic and bold and so It was a great test to see if I could produce something far more neutral. The restraints proved to be perfect guidelines, If left to my own devices I would have tackled the shoot in a far more complex way however I don't believe that I would have necessarily achieved better results. I would have shot useing flash strobes to begin with which would have washed out the elegant shading and given me a harsher tone to the face. Also I would have been shooting at 100 ISO which would have made the image much sharper however I have grown to like the grain given by the 2000 ISO when the image is in monochrome, it adds a softer more vintage feel to the image even if massively subtle.
These are the shots after a brief beauty retouch, I have gone over the eyes skin and hair bringing out the more complimentary elements of each frame. I start of by using the healing brush to smooth over rough areas of the skin and pores to create and even surface across the face. Next I add in a lighter curve filled with black and paint in the highlights on the hair to make them pop slightly more giving a shine to the finish. Finally using a darker curve layer filled with black I use a white brush to paint in more shadow across the face emphasising the ones already there created by the natural lighting. The beauty retouch on these images was only brief because I didn't want to turn these naturally light grainy images into near fictitious stereotypes of perfection, I wanted to retain the realism and natural beauty of the models in an easily accessible and human portrait image.
In this Particular image it wasn't just a monochrome filter that was added to achieve the final look, i also played around with various crops and liquify techniques to mould the hair into something a little more spectacular. First of all I added a monochrome filter and adjusted the colour settings until I was happy with the overall aesthetic of the piece. Next I used the liquify tool to create a wider shape in the hair to give the feel of it exiting the frame with more volume to be seen. I found that this hair shape looked really good in a landscape crop and so I cropped in tighter on the head to give a more panoramic feel to the hair.
Overall I am really happy with the final products of this shoot, I believe I have created a set of naturally stunning portrait shots that retain the realism and beauty of the models in their most natural form. The images show off the beautiful features of each model without the need of hours of retouching and sharp glossy finishes, providing a more personal and realistic interaction with the frame.
