by Eugénie Besson
Media Studies Blog
Misconceiving
This photo-shoot is based on creating a series of photos inspired by the lyrics of the song "Believe" from Mumford and Son.
A topic that would appear in each issue of the magazine with a different song and photographer.
The purpose is the association of music, the writing aspect, and photography, even with a slight presence of Fashion.
Inspiration
First of all I have selected some lyrics of the song that will influence the composition of the picture.
"And I'm climbing over something
And I'm running through these walls" "I don't even know if I believe"
"So open up my eyes "So tired of misconceiving"
Tell me I'm alive"
By this I have deduce some key words from the message that those lyrics transmit, such as "wild" "confusion" "escape" "lost"
Having the key words in mind, I searched for inspiration trough Pinterets,
and from the work of some artists such as:
Norman Wong ‘Field of Dreams’ for Elle Canada January 2018
Billy Ballard “Wild Heart” for The Edit Magazine Sept 2017
Dan Martensen ‘L’air libre’ for Vogue Paris August 2017
Sune Czajkowski “Out Of Reach" for ELLE Denmark June 2017 ”
Agata Pospieszynska “High Priestess” for Harper’s Bazaar UK April 2017
Yelena Yemchuk “Cut Loose” for Elle US
Laci Havens “Pearl the World” for Ladygunn Magazine
Luis Sanchis “To The East, Infinite Space” for D-La Repubblica
Model
Regarding the model, I had several girls on mind that are experienced to pose in front of cameras, however my final choice was Andra Lapusan, a 17 years old Romanian girl.
By looking trough her Instagram, her way of posing satisfied me as well as her features, such as her long black hair and her structured face. Moreover her body does not conform to the beauty expectations of a fashion magazine, which will stands out the contrast of my magazine with conventional ones.
I contacted her by phone, as soon as I had a clear idea of my concept and plans, in order to properly explains the photo-shoot.
Location
I searched for an arid landscape in order to reflect the words "wild" "lost" "escape". The snow will connotes the cold temperature which will contrast her light clothes and accentuate the effect I wish to create.
Props
I decided to try different outfits particularly fluid to create a movement with the wind, inspired by the key words "wild" "free" "alive" "escape". I also tried different colors of clothes and make-up to match and contrast with the location.
Faget, Cluj Napoca, Romania.
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Inspiration make-up:
Contact sheet
1800 pictures taken by a Camera EOS 700D
Equipment:
Selection & Editing
Despite the great number of pictures taken, I succeed to choose 40 of my favorite pictures in terms of the compositions and the message I wanted to transmit.
My main concern was to have at least one picture from each series of pose/seeting. , in order to have a wide diversity of images.
Feel free to click on the picture in order to have a closer look on the details.
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The edit process for this photo-shoot had been really long and the most challenging one, comparing the other ones.
Most of the pictures are really different regarding the setting, composition and light, so for me each pictures was a new experiment.
I have, for all the pictures, edit the skin of the model by
using tools such as the healing brush, the blur tool, the sharpen tool and the clone stamp tool, in order to have a more refined result and the attention to be more on the whole image instead of the imperfections of her skin.
Additionally, I modified the colors of the clothes, the make-up and the skin with the selective color adjustment option.
In some case, I removed some disturbing elements of the composition of my picture by using the stamp tool and the patch brush.
The adjustment of the lighting differs from every pictures.
Firstly, with the magnetic lasso tool and the quick selection tool, I select only the model and makes some changes of the brightness, contrast, saturation, exposure, vibrance, shadows and highlights, depending on each pictures. In order to avoid a detachment of the model with the background, I than deselect her body and focuses only on the back, by using the same options of adjustments.
Moreover, for several pictures I have redefined her body and face by using the Puppet Wrap editing and the Liquify option. It accentuated her featured and the effects I tried to reached.
Experience
I consider this photo-shoot as the biggest one I have done, regarding the time taken for the planing part, the difficulties found during the shooting and the complexity of the edit process.
The choice of the song was the first complication I faced, having in mind the importance of the lyrics for the pictures, finding the perfect song took me time. However as soon as my choice was made, the selection of the location, props, and model was easier and faster.
Having in mind the difficulties I could faced, in decided to called two friends in order to help me.
I needed someone to make wind on the model with a piece of cardboard and someone else to use the reflector (I had anticipated the lack of wind and luminosity). Moreover, with the decision to have uncover outfits in a winter season, I deduce the need of assistance as essential, in order to help the model to get warm during each session and to carry all the props.
Fearing the cold, I had in mind to do the shooting on 2 days, but was sunny and I had enough time to shoot all the outfits: I was satisfyingly done after 2 hours.
Backstage
