There is no doubt about it . . . I have been a neglectful blogger! My last post was on January 29. Unfortunately, my series on objects around the house did not inspire my creativity for too long. However, I did promise that I would identify the objects I photographed. The objects I posted were the following:
January 27 – slotted spoon
January 28 – potato masher
January 29 – whisk
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On Sunday, I had promised my daughter that I would do a photo shoot for her for a school assignment. In English, she is doing a unit on media and for a project, her teacher assigned the students to create a magazine of their choice. Courtney decided to create a fashion magazine and have her friends model for the cover, ads, and articles.
Her three friends arrived at 1:00 but we did not start shooting until almost 4:00. It seems that the preparation stage of hair, makeup and clothes takes a LONG time!
Finally, the girls were ready. We tacked up a white sheet on a wall in our family room and moved out the extra furniture to make way for the shoot. First, we turned on some current music to get the girls “in the groove” and Courtney also showed pre-recorded episodes of Canada’s Top Model for posing suggestions. Courtney acted as the director for the shoot, with the other girls not currently being photographed offering suggestions. Courtney also chose the hairstyles, makeup, and wardrobe for the shoot.
Brenna was first to model, wearing a white dress. At first I thought that a white dress on a white background might make everything a little washed out but instead it looked great! (Hit side of head – of course, high key photos!) For the shoot, we had window light on the left and I used my SB-800 Nikon Flash equipped with a Gary Fong Lightsphere accessory to provide better shadow effects. To get the flash in the right place, I mounted my flash on a flash bracket. No other lighting was used. My camera was set to ISO 400 with an aperture of 5.6 and of course, all shots were RAW. I used my 18-70mm Nikon lens for the beginning shots. This allowed me to get almost full-length and “from the waist up” shots. For the close up face shots, I switched to my Nikon 50mm lens. I purposely did not use a tripod to allow me to move around easily during the shoot. All processing was done in Lightroom 2.
Of course, not being a professional photographer, some things had to go awry! I shot about 150 total shots for the entire shoot but only noticed after the first 30 or so that my camera lens had been set to manual focus (from a previous picture taking session) so all the first shots were blurry! After selecting Auto Focus, my next shots became clear and focused!
Brenna was naturally photogenic and the girls gave her excellent suggestions for posing so that I was able to capture some lovely shots of her in her white dress.
Next to model was Cody. This girl not only looked great but knew how to pose. She must have learned a lot from her cousin who I found out is a model. Cody was modelling for an ad for mascara.
Caitlin did the modelling for an ad for hairspray. This girl had a natural sparkle and a hint of mischief in her eye!
Brenna made a wardrobe change before the next shots, which even included a Marilyn Monroe style shot executed by using a fan placed below her and held in place by Courtney.
The last shots were of Caitlin and Brenna together, posing as rock stars. Of course, this required a wardrobe change, new props, and heavier, glitzier makeup. This was fun to shoot and the girls had a hoot posing for the shots! The last shot was a typical, Van Halen type “jump.” I even managed to get the jump in only one take!
With me preparing a roast chicken for our dinner during wardrobe changes, we finally finished the shoot about 6:30. It was definitely fun for all! My only regret is that I did not snap any photos of Courtney applying makeup and styling the girls’ hair. I guess we might have to do another shoot in the future!
