Shoot 3.

Taking inspiration from one of the artists that I looked at - Brandon Woelfel - I decided to do a photoshoot similar to the one that I did previously using self portraiture but this time using another person, to really try and experiment more with the fairy lights and also do the shoot with another person which I think worked better than my test shoot simply because I was behind the camera and not trying to do both.

All original images:

When editing the images, I realised that a lot of them didn't work at all as they were either blurry, not exposed correctly or just didn't work for some other reason.

Images that don't work:

In these images, I was testing the lighting and how I could hold the lights to take the pictures I wanted. Because I was trying to take pictures at the same time as holding lights, the images ended up not coming out very well and ended up blurring a lot. This wasn't much of an issue because I knew that these images were tests and weren't supposed to be of good quality. This helped me in confirming that using a tripod would be the best option as I could set the camera on a timer and get the lights how I wanted as the camera was counting down or I could simply hold the lights and then release the shutter knowing that the camera wouldn't move as it was stable on the tripod.

These are another set of images that haven't worked due to them blurring - these caused more of an issue because I was trying to take images and these weren't tests. In the top left image of the close up shot of the lights near the glasses I decided not to use a tripod because it wouldn't go down to the height that I needed and I didn't want to tilt the camera down to the model because I didn't want there to be a high angle looking down on her.

Images that do work:

In these images, I just let the fairy lights swing in front of the model's face and kept taking pictures to try and achieve some motion in them and get something that I liked. For some shots, I decided to place the lights on the model's head to create something a little bit different. This idea came from her waiting for me to get ready to take some pictures and playing around with the lights. I thought it looked really interesting so I asked her to keep the lights where they were and I really loved the outcome because of how the lights blend in really well with her hair colour as they both have orange hints. In post production, I decided to edit out the clip from the model's hair in these shots because I thought it looked unprofessional and didn't reflect what I was trying to show - I think that it causes a bit of a distraction.

I then decided to move the table to see if it made any difference as it was in the background of each image and from reading part of David Bate's book, location is an important factor of a portrait. I really loved the minimalism this created as it focuses a lot more on the lights in the portrait which is important due to the photographer I have taken inspiration from uses the fairy lights as a very focal point of the image. I then cropped the image to zoom in more on the face and really create as much of a minimal background as I could which I think further emphasises the fairy lights and creates an even more effective portrait.

Looking into the work of Brandon Woelfel, I noticed that he uses the glasses his model wears a lot to his advantage as they reflect the fairy lights he uses in his images. I thought this looked really interesting and so I decided to take some close up shots of the model I was shooting with to capture something similar. For this, I had to use the camera without a tripod to get to the angle I really wanted as I wanted to be looking straight ahead at the model rather than looking down on her which would have happened if I used a tripod. For one of the images, I decided to crop it to really focus on the glasses as I had purposely tried to angle the model's head so that the fairy lights could be seen really well. In another photo, I haven't cropped it because I felt that I was close enough to the subject that the glasses were instantly the focus of the image. In this, I selected the left lens of the glasses and then raised the brightness, contrast and levels to make it brighter, to make it stand out more and make it look as though the lights were lighting the glasses naturally. I think this works really effectively because the lighting is really subtle yet vibrant and therefore creates a really effective image.

In this image, the model I was shooting with was just watching TV whilst I was trying to work out how to shoot through the lights using depth of field to blur the fairy lights in the foreground and focus the model in the background. This image was created accidentally but I am really happy with the outcome as it looks as though I caught the model off guard, relaxing.

In this image, I was trying to hold the fairy lights so that they came from the model up to the camera in one full line. I was simply testing if this was easy to do and therefore the model is on her phone, with a drink in her hand and looks relaxed. I also decided not to edit out the clip in her hair because I thought this image looked really cosy and comfortable and I think the clip just adds to the fact she is relaxing in her home.

I wanted to experiment a little on Photoshop with some image I had taken, and thought this image would work even better if the fairy lights were brighter and easier to see within the reflection in the lenses of the glasses. To do this, I dragged across another image I had of the lights up close and placed it above this image. I reduced the opacity so I could see where I was placing it in relation to the lenses, and then I selected the lenses on the glasses and cut out the parts I didn't need. I then used the layer types and found some that I thought worked really well and gave the desired effect.

Again, wanting to experiment, I used 2 different images to form this. I used one that only contained fairy lights, dragged it onto the image of the model and then chose a layer type that combined the 2 in a way that I thought worked. What I like about this image is the bokeh style it creates and looks as though I have done everything within the camera without the use of digital manipulation. I think the really warm tones works really well in this image to add to the cosy atmosphere and also the model's orange hair.

For this image, I tried editing it in the style of Brandon Woelfel to achieve a specific effect as I think the way he edits his images looks really interesting and aesthetically pleasing. I followed a tutorial online (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz4QIeQd8H4) to try and achieve this, not to particularly copy his style but just to see if I liked one of my images in his technique. I really love the outcome of this image because I feel like the blue tones really add to it and make it look a bit cold in an effective way which reflects the cosy atmosphere I was going for with the model wearing a jumper and the location being inside a home. This image doesn't really look like Woelfel's, but I am happy about this as I have used inspiration from a photographer I really like and used aspects of their work to create my own version.