For me this project has been a real eye opener into the world of fashion photography. I know I still have much to learn about the trade, however within my 4 week project I have gained invaluable information about this sector of photography. I think I underestimated how much a fashion photographer relies on their surrounding team. From assistants, make up, hair, clothing and so on, each person plays a vital role within a fashion shoot. It almost seems as if the photographer the least involvement, they simply come and go very quickly. However this ‘not very hands on’ approach doesn’t deter me away from my passion into entering the fashion business. Even working along side one assistant within my shoot, I enjoy collaborating with ideas and feel a great reward when the outcome is good. I therefore feel that with a professional team surrounding my shoot I would feel a far greater sense of achievement knowing that my work is at its very best because it contains the best hair, makeup, clothing and so on. 

This brings me on to my images. I am mostly happy with my images although there are improvements to be made. A key improvement would have been the styling and clothing. I had great difficulty bringing together a decent array of clothes for my models to wear. I had to make do with what I was able to borrow from people, which is great, however I know that with a little more time and the help from a stylist the clothes would have been far better. Another issue was the hair and makeup. This isn’t such a big problem as I felt my models looked well presented however there is room for improvement, just to get my desired perfection. 

Technically I am greatly satisfied with the images I have taken and feel I have achieved my 60’s style I strived for. I kept the lighting simple and the images elegant. I could of perhaps homed in on a few more details but once again I think a better wardrobe with more detailing could have helped me.

In conclusion the errors within the shoot are more based on everything building up to the photos. I knew the way I wanted my models to look however achieving it to the high level I wanted, was not an easy task and therefore don’t feel my images are at their best level. However I am not disheartened by this project, it’s been the most eye opening project for me and now fully appreciate the hard work that goes into a fashion shoot. I will now look at the fashion industry in a new light and appreciation now I have started to learn about it. I have learnt a great deal within this short project and will continue to research fashion and practice regularly to reach the high standards I set myself. 

These are the 11 images I will be using as my finals. I have chosen these photos simply because I  feel they are the most successful and well executed photos. The images chosen are the ones I felt are structured correctly and where the model has performed in the way I wanted. All of the images are similar but different the same time. They all follow the simplistic look I was aiming for, with simple lighting, however there are various different poses, close ups, angles and shapes to keep the reader interested. I will now work on my layout of the images to determine which images compliment along side each other within the Lookbook. 

I feel my second shoot was far more sucesful than the first. My female model seemed much more relaxed, which is evident in the photos, and my male model worked brilliantly. I used similar lighting set ups to the ones I used in my first shoot to keep continutiy in the images. I did howeve, make the background, for the female model, grey and the background for the male, white. The reason for this is because I wanted to break up the images slightly when they were produced in a book. I felt as I was using similar lighting then If I used a white background on all of the images they would have become repetitive with a lack of depth. I feel that by having these two different backgrounds I have added a bit interest into the images. 

In the second shoot I payed particular attention to lighting the clothing correctly  Because all the clothing was black, it soaks up the light and can be difficult to capture detail, lines and texture. I feel this was the most challenging aspect of my shoot however with patience I am satisfied with how I managed to light the clothing and the model. 

I also wanted to work on poses within the images. My first shoot seemed a little static and stiff so i tried to work with different poses to achieve a formal ,yet less static, style. I did this by creating shapes with the body using arms, body position and different camera angles. 

As mentioned, I am far more satisfied with the shoot than the first. I feel the images from the second shoot look more refined and pick up on the Irving Penn, Avedon style I aspire to well. 

With the tuxedo photos I went for a very minimal, almost graphic look. I wanted strong contrasting shapes agasint the white background. I took a lot of time moving my model to capture the exact angle I wanted. 

As for the shots of my female model I am equally as pleased, I feel these photos look more natural and relaxed than the previous. I think because I had previously photographed her she had become more confident infront of the camera and therefore easier to work with. 

After analysing the shoot I have uploaded my favourites from the shoot and now will pick my favourites from the shoot to create my Lookbook.

My ideas for my second shoot were to simply follow on from my previous shoot and improve where I could. I planned to photograph a male in a full tuxedo also, so did a little bit of research before hand, to analyse the most effective ways of photographing this style of clothing. I wanted to use the same, or similar, lighting set up to what I had previously used as I wanted continuity throughout my images. The images followed a simplistic approach, like my previous shoot, as I wanted to continue with the clean minimal look. 

I dicussed my work with a teacher today and we came to the conclsion that a closer crop image seemed to be working better. The image of the bag on the shoulder and the hands on the hips shots were most the powerful and successful. We also spoke about the use of shape and how to use the arms and hands to create more depth to the image and interest. When he hands are just by the side of the model the image looks a little flat and straight, it needs shape. I feel more confident now for my second shoot and can concentrate on creating power powerful images by cropping closer and using shape.

Below are some of the 3 best images that I have cropped. I am much happier with the close crop and think it produces a more interesting image and not a typical full body fashion photo. 

I will research poses now and how the model interacts with clothing. I think then I will have all the factors I need to create my desired images.