‘Getting commissions from designers’
Introduction
To build on what I have learnt from Assignment One I now need to be looking to produce images for latex and corsetry designers. However, getting commissioned to produce images for clothing designers is a difficult area to break into without already having high quality images of this style to submit to potential clients. In order to be able to market my services to well-known designers it is first necessary to produce images using their (or similar) products with an industry recognised model as a way of introducing your work to them.
Aim
The main aim of this project is to further develop my practice and produce a set of five images which are of sufficient quality to potentially be submitted to latex clothing and corsetry designers with a view to securing future commissions at a later date.
To be suitable for potential use the images will need to feature a published, professional model and high quality make-up and outfits. The images will be taken in the studio using the most suitable lighting style to showcase the model and the product. The images will be created using the Phase One Digital Back and they will be RAW processed using Capture One. The images will then be retouched and finalised in Adobe Photoshop CS4 and supplied as A4 prints in a portfolio.
Methodology
- To look at specific designers within this genre.
- To look at the current standard of images within this particular industry genre and determine how to produce similar quality images.
- To contact photographers, magazine editors, agencies and designers to enquire about their criteria when choosing photographers or images.
- To look at appropriate retouching techniques and tutorials - e.g. Gry Garness, Natalia Taffarel and set aside specific times to learn the techniques.
- To use a workbook or blog to develop ideas.
- To use a Phase One Digital Back to capture the images.
- To use Capture One to convert the RAW files.
The Model
The choice of model is very important and one who is experienced in modelling latex and corsetry is essential. For this assignment, the model will be Cervena Fox (http://www.whosthatfox.com/), a full-time model from London who started her career modelling for L ‘Oreal in 2007. Cervena has been widely published in magazines such as Bizarre, Total Tattoo, Skin & Ink, Skin Art etc. In addition, she has modelled for latex and corset designers such as Burning Violet, Eustratia and Kimberlicious, Kaoris Latex Dreams, Jane Doe Latex, Lady Lucie Latex, Shh!Couture and Valkyrie Corsets. Cervena also designs and produces her own jewellery range - Lady Hollywood Jewellery.
Outfits
The outfit choice is also important and well-known brands should be used. Designers may supply outfits for free if publication is guaranteed, otherwise suitable outfits may need to be rented. For this shoot I intend to use outfits by Burning Violet, Eustratia and Kimberlicious for the five sets.
This shoot needed to be booked quite a way in advance as Cervena was working in the US during October and she is always in demand for shoots for various magazines and designers.
Once I had the model booked I needed to ensure that we could the main studio as I wanted to be able to use the infinity curve for the main part of the shoot. In addition, I would need the Mac in order to shoot tethered with the Phase One Digital Back.
The shoot took place shortly after Cervena's return to the UK and in the run up to the shoot we kept in touch to work out what outfits we were going to use. Cervena managed to secure some great outfits from a good range of designers and I was keen to light these well in order to get the best shots I could. The lighting workshop that I attended in September has really helped me improve the quality of my images and I have been experimenting with using different combinations of lighting modifiers.
On the day before the shoot I managed to break my 50D and 5D MK II! A cheap card reader had damaged the pins on my CF card and this (I later found oout) in turn had damaged the centre pin in the CF tray in my MK II. Thinking that it was a problem with the card I tried it in my 50D and it was only later that I discovered that both card slots had beeen damaged. Although I was using the digital back for this shoot, I was using my MK II as a back up as I wan't fully confident with using the Phase One. I found that my MK II would still work tethered and I decided to research how to connect it to my laptop - via USB - using Canon's software.
On the day of the shoot I connected the Phase One to the Mac via Firewire and my Canon to my laptop via USB. My USB cable was slightly shorter than the cable with the digital back and I found it quite restrictive to shoot with.
This shoot was all about creating technically excellent images that could be used for designers to showcase their outfits in either product catalogues or onlinesoftbox and honeycomb grid) to give the desired lighting effect. In addition, I also used backlighting to make the images stand out. The backlights were set the same as the grid, while the softbox was two stops under.
Here's some random shots from the shoot.
Once I had the model booked I needed to ensure that we could the main studio as I wanted to be able to use the infinity curve for the main part of the shoot. In addition, I would need the Mac in order to shoot tethered with the Phase One Digital Back.
The shoot took place shortly after Cervena's return to the UK and in the run up to the shoot we kept in touch to work out what outfits we were going to use. Cervena managed to secure some great outfits from a good range of designers and I was keen to light these well in order to get the best shots I could. The lighting workshop that I attended in September has really helped me improve the quality of my images and I have been experimenting with using different combinations of lighting modifiers.
On the day before the shoot I managed to break my 50D and 5D MK II! A cheap card reader had damaged the pins on my CF card and this (I later found oout) in turn had damaged the centre pin in the CF tray in my MK II. Thinking that it was a problem with the card I tried it in my 50D and it was only later that I discovered that both card slots had beeen damaged. Although I was using the digital back for this shoot, I was using my MK II as a back up as I wan't fully confident with using the Phase One. I found that my MK II would still work tethered and I decided to research how to connect it to my laptop - via USB - using Canon's software.
On the day of the shoot I connected the Phase One to the Mac via Firewire and my Canon to my laptop via USB. My USB cable was slightly shorter than the cable with the digital back and I found it quite restrictive to shoot with.
This shoot was all about creating technically excellent images that could be used for designers to showcase their outfits in either product catalogues or onlinesoftbox and honeycomb grid) to give the desired lighting effect. In addition, I also used backlighting to make the images stand out. The backlights were set the same as the grid, while the softbox was two stops under.
Here's some random shots from the shoot.
I did encounter a last-minute colour problem when I was getting the images ready to take to Farnell's. I edited the Canon images separately from the Phase One images and it was only when I put them onto the stick I realised that there was a colour problem so I ended up having to reprocess them in Capture One and alter the embedded colour profile before conversion to sRGB.
I think I have produce images that would be acceptable to Designers and Magazine for advertising purposes and I now need to build on that to enable to develop further. The most difficult part was choosing the final five images to add to my portfolio book.
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