Final images Edited

I am really happy with my final images and how it carries inspiration from ballet, harajuku girls and the Indian colour festival. 

One thing that does bother me is that my images don't really show how I set up and lit my images as i have cut out my images and placed them on photographs taken from the Indian colour festival. I think this works really well but it would have been nice to see my lighting in action. I do think my model is well lit though as the colours of the lolly, wig, shoes and bow really stands out.

My Final lighting

Here is a diagram of the lighting that I decided to use. I used 1 soft box in the centre of my model and I used a honey comb light to light up the backdrop and get rid of any shadows that could occur. When looking back at my photographs I did feel that I could have maybe used another soft box just to brighten the image even more but using the brightness and contrast settings in photoshop soon enhanced the lighting I had already set up. I really like how the colours of the shoes and my models wig really light up when the light is shining on them.

Final Images unedited

Here are my un edited images for my final shoot. I am really happy with how my photographs have developed from the first shoot I did. 

The only thing that disappoints me in these photographs is the colour of the backdrop. From the beginning I really wanted to incorporate the colours of the indian colour festival, I am going to experiment with how I could fit this in and how maybe I could use the colours to replace my white backdrop.

Headshot

Previously I felt that to make my photo shoot more successful my model needed a pink wig to make her look more the part. I tried dying a pink wig that I already had but this turned out to be unsuccessful therefore I ended up buying a wig which I felt would look better.

In the previous shoots I focused a lot on the poses of the model and the ballet aspect more than the candy aspect. When I do the shoot again I would like to try doing more close ups of my model to show off the makeup of her candy lips and candy eye makeup as I personally think these are great features to my shoot. Therefore I need to try and experiment with placing the Ballet shoes somewhere different than the feet and as I will be doing a headshot a good centeral place for the shoes to be is in the hair.
I got this idea when looking at a photo of Harajuku girls.

Practising Lighting techniques

Here are 3 examples of trying out different lighting. The 3 images are all quite different and from these I hope to take inspiration for my final shoot.

1)

The first image reflects quite a bright flat lighting. For this I used 1 soft box and 1 white umbrella in each corner. I like this lighting but I think it is quite boring and it doesn't make any of the features in the photograph stand out.

2)

The second image I tried something completely different. I used 1 spot light on my model in the left hand corner. I really like this lighting and how it lights up my models outfit and leaves the rest in shadow. I don't think this lighting will fit with what I originally proposed to do as the lighting is very dim and creates a very dark gloomy look.

3)

For my third image I wanted to bring some more lightness to the atmosphere of the photograph so I switched on my soft box that was in the right hand corner and left the spot light on in the left corner. In this image I like how the colours are lit up and the image is on a whole alot brighter but I don't like how there is a shadow on the backdrop.

I think the spot light needs to not be directly on the model and should shine more on the backdrop to light that up as the backdrop looks too shadowy in this picture.

Examples of lighting

Here are a few examples of lighting that I like and that I want too include in my final shoot.
After doing my test shoot I noticed that alot of the photographs I had taken were very flat and they didn't look like I had put much effort into them.

All of these images are all well lit and I like the way the focus is immediately taken to the main thing which is the model. I like how the lighting is even and how it also doesn't create any shadows.

When in the studio lighting is so important and is something I need to understand how to control because images can look and feel extremely different through the use of different lights.
Lighting can often create a different mood to its audience when looking at photographs. In my shoot I want it too look fun and lively, therefore the colours I am using need to be highlighted.

Practice on Barbie

 When researching I noticed that a lot of candy fashion photo shoots all of the models wear a wig. 

After looking back at my photographs one thing that put me of my photographs was my models hair. It stuck out and took my attention away from the shoes. It also didn't go with the candy aspect as my models hair was brown.

I have decided for my final shoot for my model to wear a pink wig.

I really like this pink wig but the wig I have is blonde. I will experiment on how I can turn this wig pink.

Practice on Barbie first with blue food colouring.

Turning my wig pink.

Test shoot

On sunday night I did my test shoot with two models. I wanted to use two models so I could decide later who I thought would be the better model when it came to doing my final shoot.

For my shoot I took 3 different outfit choices and both the models wore two different pairs of shoes, one yellow and one green.
I was a bit disappointed with my shoot by the end as I felt my images were quite amateur and I didn't feel they carried any of my original ideas , such as the styling being like Harajuku girls.

When I do my final shoot I need to concentrate on making my images more wow and stand out. They need to not look as if I have just photographed a normal looking girl, they need to look and resemble something similar to a Harajuku girl and all the bright candy colours with the makeup and hair.

One thing I noticed that with my test shoot was that I spent too much time on getting the dance aspect right and the poses perfect and I was never thinking outside the box. In my head I felt the shoes had to stay glued to the feet and they could not be put anywhere else. This I think is un necessary as shoes can be photographed any where and maybe photographing the shoes not just on the feet but in different places too might give my images a different edge.

All of the images above are un edited and the backdrop in future needs to be pulled tighter, especially when experimenting with my own studio.

Also when looking at these images the lighting is very flat and very boring. When I do my final shoot it is important i focus on the lighting as this is what is going to make sure my images look good.

Target Audience

For my photo shoot it is important that I take note of who the shoes are aimed at, the market level.
When I picked up the shoes they were all female sizes and there was non to fit male so this indicates to me that the shoes are specifically for woman.
There were sizes from as small as a size 10 and the highest i saw was a 5.
I think the target age of the ballet shoes are for a big range such as 5-25 and specifically for female.

Due to this big age gap it is important that my photography work is suitable to be viewed by younger viewers. This will link in well with my previous research on how ballet is still carrying alot of innocence.

When looking at the website for Repetto, a very big dance company, a came across a video that throughout shows all different ages of a ballet dancer. I think this linked in quite well to explain who my target audience is as it seems it should be of a similar target audience to Repetto.

http://vimeo.com/26314641

The video is on the link above.

Picking up the Ballet shoes

I went to pick up the Ballet Candy shoes from my Tutor so that I could start organising my photoshoot and who my models would be.

At first I was a little shocked as I presumed the ballet shoes were going to be more of a ballet pump that you would buy from high street fashion shops.

This wasn't the case and the shoes are real ballet shoes which links in well with the little bit of research I did on the brand Repetto which is a dance wear company.

I am going to increase my research on this Brand as I think this will link in really well with the Ballet candy shoes and I can imagine these shoes to be sold from this brand.

Here are the shoes that I chose to use in my photo shoot.

Now that I have my shoes I think I need to re think who my model should be as it would be nice to use a model who can model the shoes in a dancing way, this will show off the main purpose of the ballet shoes.

I love the colour of the shoes and think these colours will go really well with my initial ideas which is to incorporate a harajuku style in clothing and to incorporate the candy elements through props and colour.

My Mood Board

Here is the mood board that I made on Adobe Illustrator to present my ideas for the Ballet candy photo shoot.

On the board are ideas the consist off :

• Different poses that can show of the Ballet Candy shoes
• Styling for makeup such as, sprinkles on the lips and bright eye shadows (candy colours)
• collage of shoe poses using different coloured backdrops
• Harajuku girls to inspire me on the clothing I decide to use on my model
• Bright colours 
• Hindu colour festival where colours explode together making a beautiful mess, ( something I want to experiment with during before or after my photo shoot) 

Images I like

Here are some images I found that I felt could link in quite well with the product Ballet candy. Most of the photographs are quite brightly lit and show alot of colour. The more fashion related photographs are quite neutral with colour but I have put these on my blog because I really like how the models are showing their shoes which will be something I need to consider when photographing the ballet shoes.

Representation of candy

Candy is a sweet that can be very popular in the fashion photography world. Candy seems to be used more and more in Fashion photography as it gives an avant garde vibe.
Makeup is very popular in these shoots I have found when researching, sweets are stuck on to the face and candy is used over the clothes and as props to hold.

Harajuku girls were something I came across when researching.

I really like the style of clothing the Harajuku girls use, the colours would match really well with the aspect of Candy. I think I will take inspiration for this on how to style my photo shoot.

Some of the fashion candy photography shoots I have come across all have a provocative attitude and the models and poses are all positioned in a sexy way to tease the audience, especially the photograph above. 

Im not sure this idea would work as I need to remember that the most important thing about the photo shoot is the shoes being photographed. 

I will keep this in mind though as the provocativeness of candy and the innocence of Ballet could portray an interesting juxtaposition. 

How is ballet represented.

I think that Ballet carries a lot of innocence and elegance and is a very graceful thing to do if dancing it and watching it.
This is something I need to think about when planning my photo shoot whether or not I want to take on board some of the conventional things that make ballet what it is or if I should ignore this and approach the shoot with a juxtapose attitude.

Ballet is seen to be something enjoyed by both sexes but especially by little girls when it starts out at first as just a hobby. It is a creative form of dance expressing emotions of joy and sorrow.

Ballet has been represented recently in the media by a film called "Black Swan" which took away all of Ballets innocence and brought a darker meaning too the concept of Ballet and how it can become obsessive.

"A psycho-drama based on the world of ballet, it is a brilliant and twisted film. As a look inside the life of a ballet company it is highly exaggerated drama — but it has real echoes of the ­classical dance world"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Ballet is about perfection and that is drummed into you at a young age. Black Swan shows all this in the film and also shows how Ballet can drive you too despair and jealousy and other things that can come when we are driven by the things we love.

From thinking back to my original product which is the "Ballet Candy" shoe by Swift and co I have to make sure that the idea I choose fits perfectly with the product as this will be what makes people want to buy the product. As I know the product is a Ballet pump and comes in all different colours I personally cant see how a dark mysterious outlook would work.

I know that I want to incorporate some innocence into the photography as this I think works really well with the name "Ballet Candy".

As innocence , I would say , is a semiotic of Ballet I would like to really use elements of this in my final shoot as this I think would correlate feelings with the audience which is the main technique in advertisement. 

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River Island Spring/summer

I found these two images that River Island used when promoting their Spring/Summer range in 2012. I really like the use of colours in these images and how the models have been used to portray lifestyle and fun e.g skipping down the road pushing a shopping Trolley. The look of both the photographs fit well with the theme which was Miami. 

I love how lively the photographs are and how enjoyable they are too look at through the help of colour. When I plan my photo shoot to promote Ballet Candy I want to take on board some of the elements from these photographs especially the use of colour and activeness portrayed by props clothes and backgrounds. 

The images are both lit really well and I think this works well also.

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Definition of "Ballet Candy"

Nike arch angel

When researching Ballet shoes and Pointe shoes, not fashion shoes, I wanted to look back and try and see how fashion designers had been able to come up with the idea of a fashion ballet pump taken from the "Ballet shoe" itself.

 I came across an industrial design created by Nike a very popular sports brand that had come up with a campaign to help improve Pointe shoes and to help to make them last longer.

Here is what I found.

" The Arc Angel is a footwear solution that will reduce the impact on dancers feet while in pointework training. The Arc has major support provided by installed elastic bands, which will encourage proper technique of this form of art. Traditional pointe shoes usually last 8-10 weeks. Using durable materials, the Arc angels will last the dancer for a longer period of time. " 

http://www.behance.net/gallery/NIKE-ARC-ANGELS-(Pointe-shoe-training)/3346353

   


I really like some of the poses in these shots of the "Arc Angel" and I really like how the footwear has been photographed. Some of the images include models but some are literally showing the product on its own with the use of graphics to give it more of a creative/ modern edge e.g the blue circle the pointe shoe is standing on.
The colours give the product a really sporty vibe which is good as this then links the campaign to the original company which is nike.

High street fashion

Here are a few examples of some high street fashion shops that sell Ballet pumps. 

I have noticed that alot of the styles for the main high street fashion shops such as River Island and Topshop are quite basic and the colours are all quite neutral and plain. All of the website show a single shoe and they dont seem to promote the product in any special way.