Gallery Hoppin'

Today I went to the River North galleries! I went to see the current exhibits at Edelman Gallery, Schneider Gallery and Stephen Daiter Gallery. It was enjoyable to look at all the work. There was a wide variety of work between all three galleries but the theme of identity seemed to be prominent in a lot of the work.

Colorful Weather We're Having?

The weather has been quite strange today. Its like it cant make up its mind. I was sitting in my room with the blinds closed when all the sudden there was this ominous light coming threw and I could hear the wind howling. I looked out my window to find a beautiful rainbow accompanied with gorgeous lighting. I ran outside to snap a picture.

Five minutes later while I was in my room, uploading the image I just captured, I looked out the window again and this is what I saw.  :]

Table Top

Today Erika, my professor, demoed table top shooting/lighting to us. This will be interesting for me. I have never done anything like it really. She then gave us all random objects to photograph in 6 different ways. I got a pink sparkly ornament. Stay tuned for the outcome!

Greenberg Experiment

This week we learned a complex 7 strobe set up similar to Jill Greenberg's style of lighting. It was alot of fun, as always! The set up seemed a little intimidating at first but as soon as I got everything set up I felt just right.  Here are my variations on the set up.

 This is probably one of my favorite images from the bunch. This was all the lights turned on with a light blue gel on the side left.

 This was shot with just the front three heads on. I like the simplicity.

 For this I had all the strobes on. There was a dark blue gel on back left and a green gel on the backdrop. I really enjoy the colors in this and the blue light on her hair and shoulder.

For this shot I got very experimental! I stood on left side of the set up with the model facing backwards. I really enjoy the effect I got with the flair.

The following are my variations edited in Capture. I did skin retouching in PS but thats all.

This image was shot with all the lights on and no gels. This one is minimal editing. I did basic adjustments using brightness, contrast, and color balance.

For this I used local adjustments to change her eye color and lip color. I played with color balance, color temperature, contrast, brightness and saturation as well. I wanted the image to have a cooler more modern feel.

Here I again used the local adjustments to change her eye color and lip color. I played with color balance, color temperature, contrast, brightness and saturation as well. I wanted this image to have a warmer more romantic/classic feel.

Again I used the local adjustments to change her eye color and slightly her lip color. I played with color balance, color temperature, contrast, tint, brightness and saturation as well. I wanted this image to have a cooler greenish tone. I made her eyes green and added more magenta/purple to the color of her lips to compliment.

Gypsy Princess

This is my dog. Her name is Gypsy. She is a chihuahua-rat terrier mix and shes quite the character. During the day in her spare time she likes to lounge in the sun with her over sized bone and look very cute. :] Shes the best. <

Skillz to Pay the Billz

Learnin' the skillz to pay the billz.

Fashionably Emotional

This week I shot assignment numero dos. IT WAS A BLAST. I felt like a kid in a candy shop. I checked out just about everything and went to town for 6 hours...I'm not kidding...6. My model and I had alot of fun coming up with different ideas. Im very please with the results. For the assignment I was given 8 words to convey in 8 images with the use of lighting and a model. I tried to follow the assignment while still keeping the images fashion based. Some work better than others.

AMAZED
For this shot I didn't want it to look too corny or over the top. I used a beauty dish on the model and a reflector with a medium grid on the backdrop.

REBELLIOUS
This was shot with one head with a reflector, diffused with a silk. I wanted the model to look like a badass.

BRIGHT
This is one of my favorites. I shot this with a medium soft box on the model and a medium grid on the backdrop. I told him to sell the bag, I wanted it to look like an ad.

 QUAKING
This image is one of my least favorites. It was hard to come up with something for the model to do that wasn't corny. I wanted the lighting to be dramatic. I used one head with a medium grid.

UPSET
This one was pretty easy. I wanted him to look boyish. I think that hat placement helped. This was one head with no grid and a silk to diffuse.

INSPIRED
This image is one of my favorites. I think his expression really comes across as inspired. I love the colors of the wardrobe and the backdrop. I wanted this to look commercial. I light it with one medium soft box on the model and a head on the backdrop with a large grid.

EMPTY
We didn't spend a lot of time on this word. I just told him to look vacant. Kept the lighting simple and slightly dramatic. This was one head with the silk pretty close just for a little diffusion.

TENSE

We had the most fun shooting this emotion. I came out with a few images I liked very much but I felt this one fit the emotion the best. I wanted him to look stressed and slightly disheveled, while of course still being attractive. I shot this with one head with a silk to diffuse. Some of the others I shot with a back light to catch the smoke, but this one turned out better. 

Here is my favorite shot. I just felt the other one was more "Tense"

Trendland.net

Christel Bangsgaard Beauty Photography

After searching around on Trendland.net for a little bit, I was struck by this photographers beauty photography! As a makeup artist and photographer, images like this one really catch my eye. The lighting is the perfect balance of even but still dramatic. The editing makes for a flawless image. This is very inspirational to me! Click the link at the top (of the photographers name) to see more images.

Assignment #1

Here are the images from my first Studio II assignment. I will periodically be posting my assignments for the class here.  

  

 The mood of this photo feels confrontational due to the models expression and body language and also the direct frontal lighting.

 In this image, the mood feels powerful because of the models pose and they way her face is illuminated.

 The models expression and the way her face is lit makes the mood feel melancholy or reflective.

 This image feels personal as if the model is staring back trying to communicate something intimate to the viewer.

 The slight back lighting and subtle flair of light paired with the body language and expression of the model makes this image feel soft and quiet.

The mood in this last image feels inquisitive. The way the model is looking up and the light is highlighting her silhouette gives a sense of importance. 

Shooting this assignment was fun, easy and relaxed. Using the strobes felt very natural to me. I'm so excited to finally have access to them! The quality of the light is much more crisp compared to the quality you get from hot lights. After doing the requirements of the assignment I played around with diffusing and reflecting the light. The results are posted below in my last post!

Few Favorites

Here are a few of my favorite shots from today's shoot. They were all shot with diffused frontal lighting, with a single strobe. The makeup was done by me. I was going for fun, fresh, bold and beautiful! 

First Time

Today I shot my first assignment for my Advanced Lighting/Studio II class. It was a success! It was my first time working with strobes. The assignment was pretty basic so I decided to do the assignment and then have some fun with different ways of shooting! The results will be posted soon.  ;)

Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired

Last week I shot interiors and exteriors for a property that is on the market. The house is a beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright style home. It was fun and interesting to shoot!

Check out the rest of the images HERE

Happy Birthday Erica Davis Salon & Spa

Today we celebrated my sister's salon's 2nd Birthday! All of the girls from the salon went to Francesca's Fortunato for an early dinner and drinks. The food was DELICIOUS. For starters we had bruschetta and fried calamari. My sister and I ordered two different dinners and split them. One was a white fish with mushrooms, asparagus and sweet peppers. The other was a shell pasta with chicken, pine nuts and a light creamy garlic and white wine sauce! For desert my sister and I split banana fudge gelato! 

Favorite Image

This image is a part of a series I did for my View Camera Final. It was shot with 4x5 color film. All of the hair, makeup, styling & post-processing was done by me. The series is made up of very extreme Avant Garde images. It focuses on simple elements like color, shape, and line, but it also speaks to the concept of androgyny in the sense of femininity vs. masculinity. All of the images are of women and they each have a different feeling of sensuality to them.