Photoshoot- Behind the Scenes

(On set, authors own, 22/5/15)

I decided to do a photoshoot of my final garment to show it in an environment related to my theme. I picked to do it in a park local to my house, there is a shelter where the homeless are known to have slept so I thought with this story and the basic look of it, it would make a good backdrop. Having a bench in it too it also gave the option of sitting and standing shots. I also ended up taking pictures against this old shed door too as I liked the dirtiness of the paint and its rough appeal.

I kept the styling simple as this is not a strong point of mine. I wanted a slightly messy, disheveled appearance as a contrast to the outfit which ended up looking quite sleek. Overall I am quite pleased with the photos, they do have a rawness and not perfect look to them which is what I had wanted. I think to improve I would have researched a bit more into existing photoshoots to understand a bit more about backdrops and looks etc so I could have directed my model better and maybe got some better shots of a range of poses. I also could have tried collaborating with a student who studies fashion promotion so I could have learnt more about styling and generally directing a photoshoot. 

(Selection of edited and unedited images, authors own, 22/5/15)

I played around a bit with the editing of my photos. Above is a selection of what I felt were the most successful images. I experimented with changing the contrast and curves level of the photos as well as the brightness. In the end I found the shadows and highlights tool most successful as it meant that in the photos there was more detail as part of the outfit were not hidden by shadows or bright light. I also after playing around with black and white etc decided to keep the photos quite raw and natural so there wasn't any intense shadows or highlights but natural variation and this ended up achieving what I thought was the best look to the photos. Also initially I chose some of the more posey photographs but after experimenting a while changed my mind as a lot of these had a lot of leg in them which almost took away from the outfit which was the focus. I ended up trying to pic the photos which showed off the coat and skirt best rather than feeling too unnatural and over posed.