Studio - Evolution of Self series

07/10/2005 05:10:27 AM · #1

Evolution of Self

My goal with this series of shots is to represent some stages through which a non-human (picture an anime android such as Armitage or Hannah's character in BladeRunner) goes through in the process of determining its "self".

Images contain more descriptions of the shot in their explanations

Supplicant

Forlorn

Self-Dawning

Sunrise of Self

Grrrl

Comments welcomed.

Thanks,

Kev

07/10/2005 05:15:01 AM · #2

Oh yeah, I meant to mention that this was my first tethered shoot (thank Gil for the suggestions). We were able to shoot, review, recompose and reshoot. It was invaluable for me in getting some poses and lighting that I wanted.

We didn't have a makeup artist or assistants. I'm working on lining up a few MUA's in my area.

I am definitely going to need some gobos as I often like shooting some dark settings and I'm still getting bleedover out of the barn doors. Anyone have any good suggestions on how to make your own?

Thanks,

Kev

Incarlight

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

07/10/2005 05:35:45 AM · #3

You've certainly thought of an interesting concept, and managed to pull it off as well.

There are a few things I'm wondering about:
Did you ever consider using more people than just the subject herself? I think the "forlorn" phase might work with a sea of strangers around her, to emphasize her locking herself inside herself. (Am I making any sense with that description?)
And also, I feel that the step between "self-dawning" and "sunrise of self" is much shorter than the step between "forlorn" and "self-dawning". When you say "anime android" I immediately think of an "inner search" or "comparison to others" phase between "forlorn" and "self-dawning", but that's just how I interpret the concept.

I think this series would work perfectly with a well-written music score in some sort of music montage. Possibly with the explanation for each photo included. Maybe I'm just rambling due to lack of sleep today, but that's the first things I could think of :-)

07/10/2005 08:27:18 AM · #4

Thanks for the comments.

For this session I didn't think of using more than one subject so that I could spend more time working with her on concepts, poses and lighting. In this case while a lot of people would have enhanced the overall effect of that one shot they would have also made the process much less controllable which is what I wanted so that I could work on some of my skills in creating the scene.

You're right on with the proximity of those two images. I felt like the lighting and the larger scene conveyed the message but I just liked the look of the makeup with the gauzy veil. I probably should have left the closeup out of the series just because its not much of a transition from the previous shot.

Thanks again,

Kev

CorySmith

07/10/2005 10:28:55 AM · #5

these are cool, im curious though, do you shoot in raw and then adjust the WB in photoshop? or do you just use like auto wb or flash wb?
because i know how hard it is getting your wb correct when using colored light

Message edited by author 2005-07-10 10:29:26.

07/10/2005 11:23:12 AM · #6

All these were shot raw and then converted to 8-bit after the edits.

Gil P

Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II