Photography Project: 13. Test Shoot 5/12/14

Today was the first test shoot day. I was really nervous in case i had forgotten to ask Rachel to bring anything with her or in case i wasn't prepared enough.

The breakdown of the day:

11:50 - i arrive at the studio.

12:00 - I filled out the risk assessment and health + safety forms. We put carpet down underneath the white screen in order for Rachel to have a softer landing as well as prevent her from slipping.

12:10 - Set up projector and tested what it would look like if we projected my images of the pocket watch onto Andy. See image 1.00 below. We found the problem with this was that it created a large shadow in the background and wiped out the majority of the background image. The projector also wasn't strong enough so the image looked rather faded. Image 1.01 shows the other problem we had - motion capture/blur. The shutter speed is too slow to be able to capture the motion and we couldn't use flash as that would wipe out the projector.

12:30 - Deciding which background we should test and try out to ensure i have plenty options to work with in post production. We decided to shoot the grey/shadowed background, then the white, then the green screen. The grey background settings on medium format camera = Manual. 1/125 ; F7.1 ; ISO 100. Flash beauty dish. See image 1.02.

12:40 - Then we added in a reflector as it was too dark. See image 1.03.

The grey backgound = mirror lock, beauty dish at 1/4, shutter - 1/125, Aperture F5.6, ISO 100.

The white background = studio flash with soft box. Full belt. Key light 1/4, back light 1/2.

13:15 - Rachel arrives in Leeds. We are in the studio waiting for her to get there and talking about the use of the displacement map in photoshop. Blurring background and tying her into the image. Image laid over the top of her to look like she is wrapped in it. We looked at some youtube video clips and i decided that would be a better option for me. This meant we didn't have to do the green screen as we weren't keying anything into the background behind her - i would be cutting her out of the white/grey background anyway.

13:35 - Rachel arrives and is getting changed. She brought a selection of outfits that i had told her to and i chose the more basic outfit that wasn't as distracting and showed off her limbs more for the image. Her makeup was black which really looked good on the camera. She was in bare feet. I made sure she warmed up before the shoot and was limbered and ready to perform.

13:55 - Rachel is warmed up and ready to go, she signed her model release form.