My Final Images

The Birthmark/ Melasma.

I am very happy with the outcome. I wanted a soft, pretty black and white feel to the photo and I think i achieved that with the photography and post production. I have not used post production to improve the models actual skin as i had a "no photoshop skin" rule to make the project truly diverse. I am proud of my makeup application and i think the melasma looks believable. You can clearly tell that the point of the shoot is to showcase the mark and I think the model still looks pretty, even with it.

 The Jewel. 

II'm not sure how professional the photography looks but in terms of styling and makeup I think it works. Again  didn't use any post production to improve the skin as this is a diversity brief. i think the model looks eccentric, proud and fabulous and that is the look I was going for. The model is in her 50s but I think I accidentally made her look a lot younger.

The Macho Man

I am very proud of the final outcome for this shoot. I had a lot of problems with it and it was probably the one i was least looking forward to shooting but I think the shoot really captures what I was trying to do - capture a hard looking man wearing makeup and being strong while wearing it. This was the only one that I used post production in because it went hand in hand with the makeup on a manly man.

EVALUATION

I believe that I achieved what I set out to achieve in this project brief. I am happy with my final images and I think the way I went about designing the looks was the most organised I have been yet. In my opinion you can see what each image is meant to represent and that is something I am extremely proud of.

I had a few problems that needed solving in this project. I had issues with models and issues with the actual makeup design on one of the shoots. I was successful in solving these quickly and efficiently by using test shots and back up models that I had previously put in place just in case. This was something that previous shoots had taught me to do. Something that I am very proud of is that the more my skills progress the less I have to use postproduction. I said that I wasn’t going to use photo shoot on the skin of the models in this projects to make it truly diverse and the fact that my skills have let me rely less on Photoshop meant that I was able to do this while still getting a good photograph.

My strengths in this project were time management and a real interest in the brief, which made me work hard at trying to convey what I wanted to. My weaknesses were that I probably didn’t do as much drawing as I would’ve liked to, and I feel that the lack of information available on some subjects (like facial marks on models in industry) perhaps meant that I wasn’t able to research certain issues as much as I would have liked to.

I wanted to convey the idea of “The Unicorn Factor” which is a phrase I made up to describe someone who is unusual and unique but beautifully fabulous. I used a series of sources to look at this, from diverse models to children’s fairy tales like The Ugly Duckling.

The main thing that helped me in this project was my idea to give each look a theme and name and stick to it until the end of the shoot. The Jewel, The Birthmark, The Macho Man. I was very good at sticking to my initial ideas in this brief, which allowed me to develop and work on them without the interruption of having to start over.

This project also allowed me to broaden my knowledge on photographers and diverse models within the industry. I think I used a broad range of reference materials to develop my designs, but I could have used more, I found primary research hard to find for this brief. The project allowed me to explore a huge variety of references to help in my design, including patterns, individuals and blogs. I made sure I kept a theme to each shoot, whether it was jewel colours, black and white or masculinity and I think I did this well as it helped me keep a theme throughout my research as well as in the shoot.

If I could do anything differently I would’ve strived to find more primary research and perhaps would have made the Jewel look a bit more professional but overall I am happy that my ideas are conveyed through the final images that I have produced.