Commission - Snow Angel

Model: Genevieve House

Make Up: Liv Foley

This commission was for burlesque dancer Genevieve who's new act was based around white outfit and veil. At the time of the shoot it was still more of a concept than a set idea, but the term Snow Angel was use quite a lot. 

This gave me an idea of shooting using mixed lights plus shutter drag for effect. What this means is that I used continuous lights (they don't flash) to light Gen on the sides to give motion blur and then two strobes (flashes) to stop motion. It gives an effect of movement but keeps her face sharp and clear.

The final touches where obviously done in Photoshop. Combining a couple different versions to increase the size of the veil. Colour and contrast work plus texture.

The end result is more etherial than I first envisioned, but happy none the less.

Before and After

Now For Something A Little Different

Model: Erin McCutcheon

Sometimes you just want to try something a little off centre. So we used a spray bottle to wet Erin's hair, face and arms with a mixture of water and glycerine. It's a common mixture you will see on sets wanting to make people look sweaty without doing any work. In this instance we drowned Erin in it to make it more like she had stepped out of a shower. Mix it with hair whips and we end up with something a little different for the folio.

Mathew - A 1920's Mugshot

A few years ago I saw images from the Sydney Police Photographs exhibition online and thought they where so very interesting that I would love to try replicate the look.

So I finally got around to trying it out with my friend Mathew Dobson. While not someone that would be a typical groomed look of that era, he did have suits on hand and was all to happy to jump in front of the camera.

The tricky thing about trying to emulate a photo from 1920's is technology has changed somewhat in regards to cameras, film and development. Back then they used large wet plate cameras. Basically the size of the rendered image was about 5 times bigger than the sensor on today's 35mm DSLR. This does a few things, but mainly the focal depth is very different than can be achieve today without actually using a large format camera.

Solution is to use a technique called The Brenizer Method. Simply you take the photos using a long lens but up close and then stitch them together like a panorama image, except it's a portrait. It gives you very similar depth of field as a large format camera and huge file sizes.

So I successfully created the images with around 9 photos each. The processed them in Photoshop to have the same colour and texture of a vintage wet plate photo. For added effect I also wrote on the images like they did back in the 1920's. Excuse the handwriting, I am much more adapt at a keyboard (most of the time).

Overall I am very happy with the first attempt at this style and hopefully can challenge a few more friends to get their 1920's mug and rap sheet out.

“Loiters in the vicinity of theatre vestibules, tram and bus stop pings places, or any other place that affords opportunities for one of his calling.”

— Mathew Dobson Rap Sheet

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Horns & Light

Just a fun shot from last nights Design Talk function at PX Tapas Wine.

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Horns & Light