Red Riding Hood
Oct, 2014Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken at Saracen House Studio based in Milton Keynes-UK.Time
This image was taken back in July. I was super excited leading up to this shoot. All the props, the costume and make-up were about to come together to create the character I had in my mind. And yes! It looked awesome. I felt like a little kid on Christmas Eve! I love creating this kind of images and the best part for me is the moment when the model comes onto the set dressed up as the character you had in mind...I think I might be the most excited person on set sometimes hahaLighting
In 99% of my work I use a 3 light setup. Two strip boxes behind the model left and right and a gridded beauty dish at the front . The strip boxes at the back give me a very nice rim light as you can see in this image. The beauty dish gives me a very nice look on the face.Equipment
This image was shot with a Canon 6D and a 24-105mm F4 (iso 100, 1/125, F11) For this images I used a 3 light setup.Inspiration
I love movies, cosplay, comics, ... Most of my photo shoots are based on a theme. The theme for this photo shoot was "Red Riding Hood" but we wanted to give it our little twist. I work very closely with prop maker Shortie (ShortieProps). Together we decided to turn Red Riding Hood into a warrior rather than the nice little girl from the story. Shortie made all the props for our character and the costume was designed by Sara Fay Tailoring. It took us months to plan and prepare this photo shoot because of the hand made props and designed costume. The story behind our shoot is that Red Riding Hood's grandmother did get eaten by the wolf. Out of revenge she hunts down the wolf and killed it. From the scar by her eye we can tell that it wasn't an easy fight but she survived and now is the leader of the pack. We explained our make-up artist (Gwen Reece) the story behind the character and she delivered an awesome look.Editing
Yes! I love Photoshop! I do a lot of compositing. Compositing allows me to create images that are not always possible without compositing. This image was originally shot on a grey background. I then changed the background to something that matched the story and the character. Because of the planning we did prior tot the shoot I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve. To make the character and background look as if they belong together I played about with the selective colour adjustment layer.I added a vignette, brought out some detail and applied some dodge and burn to really make the image pop.In my camera bag
In my camera bag I have my Canon 6D with the 24-105mm F4 attached and that is all I need for the images I create. Before my upgrade to the 6D I created images like this with a canon 50D and the kitlens. I also carry with me a yongnuo speedlight with some triggers. I'm getting into speedlight photography so I'll be using them a lot more now.Feedback
I think the best advice I can give is to plan your photo shoots. My team and I plan for months. Collecting reference images, making props, costumes,... While I'm doing the planning I communicate a lot with my team. The biggest benefit is the fact that everyone in the team knows his/here role. The model jumps straight into character because her task was to study the character (Reference images) and that's the only thing she has to worry about. Talking from experience , I can honestly say that planning and preparation is key! And I don't think that only counts for compositing. If you're a landscape photographer, you have to plan your trip and timing,... Of course I used a bit of Photoshop in this image but my planning gave me a clear view of what I wanted to achieve. If I don't know how to create certain effects in Photoshop, I look up some tutorials prior to the shoot. Because everyone in my team is focussed on their part I don't have to worry about anything else other than my job. Photography (light) and Editing.
