This series of images is named Beautiful Within- a demonstration of a young woman's natural beauty. True beauty isn't just skin deep. Young women need to learn to love themselves as a person inside and out, its not all about looks, their personality can shine through too.
Inner beauty is about a woman who believes in herself; who knows that she is capable of anything that she puts her mind to. There is a beauty about a woman whose confidence comes from within, knowing who she is and what she stands for. that follows her own path, who isn't thrown off by obstacles along the way.There is a beauty about a woman whose confidence comes from within, knowing who she is and what she stands for.
Outlining their natural features with a side profile double exposed with flowers that represent them as a person, not as an object. Floriography otherwise known as the Language of Flowers is used to represent the subjects personality for example; the white Lupin represents happiness and purple is imagination.
Proposal:
I have decided to create a series of profile portrait images double exposed with flowers. The series will consist of up to 6 images, the subject for each portrait will be a young female lady, photographed in a silhouette profile position.
I have chosen to use a silhouetted figure as this will allow me to achieve my final image. I will overlay an image of flowers onto the portrait allowing only the underexposed area (the silhouette) to display this overlay image. This gives the appearance that the subject is filled with flowers. the flowers will be chosen after the subject/model gives me at least three words that best describe her (funny, romantic, innocent, beautiful). I will then research what flower or flowers represent these meaning using the Language of Flowers (see here)
Given to time-scale I had to complete this project I had to shoot digitally rather than using the analogue double exposure technique. It was more convenient for me to locate the flowers as I was able to use stock photos which were readily available on the web. I didnt fancy trailing around florists hunting for particular flowers and getting shouted at for taking photographs of their flowers and not buying any haha.
Shoot Plan:
Photographer Leanne Tipton-Clark
Brief Description of shoot: Studio location (college) Light set up Silhouette. Subjects will be posed in profile head and shoulders portrait (their ‘good side’) as can be flipped in post editing. Ensure subjects’ hair is tied up to allow their feature to be dominant in final image. Elongate the neck, no smile etc….See lighting diagram below
Location: Colleagues studio
Date and Time: 02/02/2014 at 3pm
Date and Time of reshoot: N/A
Team Models, assistants etc: Myself (photographer), 3 models
Has the team been notified with all the relevant details? Yes
Equipment Required:
❏ 3 models along with their one word character description
❏ White paper backdrop
❏ 2 strobe lights, 2 X Background lights, 2 black reflector boards
❏ 1 large, 1 med, 2 small soft boxes
❏ Camera dslr
❏ Computer
❏ Photoshop cs6
Cost of shoot- i.e. film, make-up, props, processing etc: Petrol to collect and drop off models £5
Total cost of this shoot £5
I have decided to create a series of profile portrait images double exposed with flowers. The series will consist of up to 6 images, the subject for each portrait will be a young female lady, photographed in a silhouette profile position.
I have chosen to use a silhouetted figure as this will allow me to achieve my final image. I will overlay an image of flowers onto the portrait allowing only the underexposed area (the silhouette) to display this overlay image. This gives the appearance that the subject is filled with flowers. the flowers will be chosen after the subject/model gives me at least three words that best describe her (funny, romantic, innocent, beautiful). I will then research what flower or flowers represent these meaning using the Language of Flowers (see here)
Given to time-scale I had to complete this project I had to shoot digitally rather than using the analogue double exposure technique. It was more convenient for me to locate the flowers as I was able to use stock photos which were readily available on the web. I didnt fancy trailing around florists hunting for particular flowers and getting shouted at for taking photographs of their flowers and not buying any haha.
Shoot Plan:
Photographer Leanne Tipton-Clark
Brief Description of shoot: Studio location (college) Light set up Silhouette. Subjects will be posed in profile head and shoulders portrait (their ‘good side’) as can be flipped in post editing. Ensure subjects’ hair is tied up to allow their feature to be dominant in final image. Elongate the neck, no smile etc….See lighting diagram below
Location: Colleagues studio
Date and Time: 02/02/2014 at 3pm
Date and Time of reshoot: N/A
Team Models, assistants etc: Myself (photographer), 3 models
Has the team been notified with all the relevant details? Yes
Equipment Required:
❏ 3 models along with their one word character description
❏ White paper backdrop
❏ 2 strobe lights, 2 X Background lights, 2 black reflector boards
❏ 1 large, 1 med, 2 small soft boxes
❏ Camera dslr
❏ Computer
❏ Photoshop cs6
Cost of shoot- i.e. film, make-up, props, processing etc: Petrol to collect and drop off models £5
Total cost of this shoot £5
 |
| Lighting Diagram |
Post editing:
So, the shoot itself was successful, I had to change my shoot plan slightly as the models weren't available when the college studio was so I had to use another on the Sunday afternoon instead.
The set up was the same as the diagram above but I removed the cards as I preferred light to hit the contours of the subjects face rather than the silhouette I originally planned. The shoot took only 45 minutes from start to finish 😄
Post editing was rather simple. I asked each model to describe themselves in a word. I had funny, moody, imaginative for the first and sporty, caring and funny for the second model. I researched the web using my favourite sites when referring to the language of flowers. http://thelanguageofflowers.com and http://www.languageofflowers.com
For my first subject, I selected imagination out of her character description words. The flowers that represent imagination are Lupin, so I searched the web and found a beautiful stock image to use.
Lupin image
I then opened the profile portrait and Lupin image in photoshop.
Profile image
Placing the Lupin image over the profile image. I changed the blend mode to screen which then created a double exposure effect. I made several adjustments including layer masks, gradient and fill overlays and a hair brush tool to manipulate the direction of the hair flow. This is the first image I produced.
1st final image
I was happy with it until I uploaded to my iMac!!! I edited on a pc and obviously the monitor is skewiff! With the rubbish blending job aside, it seemed a tad too creamy due to the overlays and I wasn't too sure on the double exposure strength on the face area. I felt it needed to be brighter overall but still with a soft finish. I removed some of the hair to soften it up to have less of a medusa look and then reduced the opacity of the creamy layer and layer masked the areas I didn't want it to affect . I also layer masked the facial area on the flower layer to softly remove some of the print on the subjects face.
This is the FINAL image.
Final image
I am very happy with it now. Much brighter but still soft. The subjects hair flows more natural and I like the way I've highlighted her face.
I chose a square 20x20 format as this is what I would want if it went to print. I would print with Giclee and I would also choose a thick Matt with a slight texture to give it more depth, something like the Elegance Velvet textured fine art paper would be perfect.
I am now in the process of editing the last two images of the series which I will update this blog with this week.
UPDATE:
Below are the final images for the series Beauty Within. I used the same techniques used in my first image. The only difference is that I sourced my own flower photographs which were captured in a local flower nursery.
UPDATE:
Below are the final images for the series Beauty Within. I used the same techniques used in my first image. The only difference is that I sourced my own flower photographs which were captured in a local flower nursery.
I have placed the images into a triptych template I designed in photoshop to display the full series.
I am very happy with the final images but would love to have more time to experiment with the double exposure effect. I want to achieve something similar to the effect I used with the Hyacinth image, focusing on merging a double exposure with a montage. This will allow the face/body to be emmersed in the flowers (double exposure) but allowing the flowers to take their own natural form as it flows through the hair (montage).
I am very happy with the final images but would love to have more time to experiment with the double exposure effect. I want to achieve something similar to the effect I used with the Hyacinth image, focusing on merging a double exposure with a montage. This will allow the face/body to be emmersed in the flowers (double exposure) but allowing the flowers to take their own natural form as it flows through the hair (montage).
Overall I think my shoot was successful and I think this tryptich collage along with the following accompanying text would be more than suitable for submission to my chosen magazine.
My series of images is called Beauty Within. Unlike physical beauty, which grabs the spotlight for itself, inner beauty shines on everyone, catching them, holding them in its embrace, making them more beautiful too. Your looks don’t determine your beautyy, it’s the person inside who makes you beautiful.
Inner beauty is about a woman who believes in herself; who knows that she is capable of anything that she puts her mind to. There is a beauty in the strength & determination of a woman that follows her own path, who isn't thrown off by obstacles along the way. there is a beauty about a woman whose confidence comes from within, knowing who she is and what she stands for.
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