Kate's Composite Class

My submission for Kate's composite assignment was part of my final folio submission for hanging in the exhibition.

My Kiwi bottle showed more layers used for my composite photograph.

Using the below RAW images i used basic Lightroom editing, which included exposure and contrast.

The following images were selected in Photoshop CS5, which has superior selecting abilities (quick select & refine edge).

Raw files

layers composing final image

raw images for kiwi fruits

Final Report

Introduction

1."Where I have come from"

2."Where I currently am"

3."Where I am going"

1 - history of past work / past inspiration / education and learning process / goals.

2- current work / working process / lighting diagrams / technical aspects / analysis on final portfolio / current inspirations - especially where my folio evolved from / long term goals / mistakes and techniques learnt /

3- the industry / industry photographers / analysis of inspiration photographs /

Final Exhobition work

Marketing media

"Bond Photography" - business

Self evaluation

UN Botanical Gardens Comp

So i was pumped to take photos for the Botanical Gardens Competition, however what I wanted to shoot were the windmills in Bungendore. (similar to when i took those photos for Sylvia's assignment last year).

I could not borrow a longer lens from CIT as it was borrowed out, and when i went to go shoot, they were way too tiny, so i did a couple landscape shots instead. this is what i came up with. i hope they somehow fit into any of the categories for the competition.

New Portraits/Hair&MU

new website

I have finally got my website up and running,

Made with a templated hosting website called LiveBooks. (note: this does cost $ per.Month).

And Domain name with Crazy Domains.

welcome to:

www.bondphotography.com.au

Please note i have not finished uploading images to my site yet, and finalised contact information.

Beauty/Hair

Ok.

So i have decided to go into something a little out of the box for me, usually i like to keep to photographing my little objects in the studio, which are nice and easy (usually!), and don't move, they do what they want you to do (sometimes they dont!). I have chosen photographing models focusing on Hair, and/or Makeup. Photographing models in this fashionista high quality scene is not my ideal comfort zone, however wanting to make a future for myself in the advertising commercial industry i am finding it more common that models feature in any sort of advertisement.

So... 4 shoots completed in only 1 week! WHATTTT!? who would have thought i had so much hair left compared to all that ive pulled out... (joking!), but this has been a stressful 2 weeks during the holidays preparing myself for these shoots. i will soon post some photographs which are "inspirations" for my folio. Although i do have to give much thanks to Tina for showing me that fashion photography is not just the clothes.

So... that being said, i think i will need to focus more on lighting techniques, as i don't want them all to have a uniform look in terms of lighting. Perhaps some on scene observing Lam and Tina will help me with more ideas.

Business Cards

These are my business cards, front and back. The photos on the backside will possibly change, and more information to fill in, email and website.

This is a second alternative to the back...To keep Tina happy hahaha

Marketing and Promotion

Below are the things i will produce to the end of year submissions for my marketing scheme.

I have purchased 5x black folders ready to go.

1. Website grab

2. Facebook grab

3. Blog grab

4. Business cards

5. Business Pens (maybe)

6. Letterhead (includes company logo)

7. Envelope (logo)

8. Example of Quote & Contract

9. Sample CD

10. Promotion (coupon - free consult)

More shoots...

Ok, been a couple weeks since last post, but i have been sitting in front of the computer for hours and hours!!!
Finally, i have finished pretty much every bottle, all 5 of them.

The following bottles i am having different opinions on which image i preferred. The actual bottle had the graphic design on the back of the bottle, but it distorted heavily when trying to photograph the front, with the design still perfect.

So i took off the design, perfected the bottle, and used the design as either a background, or have it on a low transparency behind the bottle's label, which it's supposed to be anyway. One of the bottles have been composed differently as well, a bit of an overlap between glass/bottle.

These photos arent quite finished, as the Gin bottle still needs more editing, (water ripple coming from underneath), and the Absolute bottle needs its label put back on.

hmm

Black or White?

just a quick throw together to see which would work best, black or white..

Imaging 4, Artificial Elements

So for Kate's 2nd assignment we were asked to add artificial elements to a photograph that would suitable go with the image.

So the first one i did "stars". I added stars to the sky, but also in the reflection on the water.

The website i used for this was:

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/starry-sky/

The steps follow:

Add a new layer filled with black. Add noise to this image with Gaussian and Monochromatic turned on.

Create a Gaussian Blur with a very small radius.

Select the Sky, still on the noise layer by adding a layer mask, then adjust the levels, by bringing in A LOT of black, they grey and white is then adjusted to suit your needs.

Set this image to "screen".

This image was helped by the aid of:

http://www.knowledgesutra.com/forums/topic/37180-how-to-make-cool-rain-effect/

Duplicating the base image, adjust the levels of the image to suit a dark, moody rainy night.

On a new WHITE layer, add some noise.

Create some motion blur on this image. Depending on the resolution of the image, it may need less or more.

Using the Levels tool, adjust the BLACKs, by adding a lot more. the grey and white are also slightly adjusted to have more depth.

Repeat the steps, and angle the Blur to a slightly less vertical position to create some "cross-hatching".

Absolute Raspberri

My 4th photograph for alcohol advertising. I am still going along clean, simple techniques, and using different elements in the photograph to pull together a convincing shot (for magazine use). This shoot was VERY difficult in the terms of timing. Of course the ice will melt under the modelling lights, which made it slightly difficult to position the lights to get the highlights etc. I also found it increasingly hard to photograph the ice, so it wasn't so "flat". when shooting i couldn't see the contours of the ice, jaggered bits at all. So this image is actually 3-4 images put together. I am yet to photoshop in the correct exposed label on the neck of the bottle. and the label needs some work, as i was chipping away at the ice, i noticed i was actually scrapping off the red label, which also took off the lettering in a lot of spots. Luckily... i have another bottle to photograph the label, and just stick in there which will be good. :).

I added a reflection to the images, as it was very "floaty" on the white background. I was however considering doing a different background entirely, by photographing a whole bunch of natural (unfrozen) berries, and have the bottle centered.... we will see how this goes first though.

Bottles left to photograph are SOUTH gin, and Absinth Fairy.

Kiwi revised.

So going with the thought "less is more" i revised the amount of kiwi in the shot. Removing the top right kiwi fruit as it was kind of heavy for the frame of the photograph, and it made it look as though the bottle was in a tank, (how the water comes from the top.)

So also removing some bubbles, and less clutter around the image, i came up with this:

Alan Benson

A couple weeks ago Georgia and Nathan went to Poachers Pantry, Murrumbateman on a FREEZING Wednesday afternoon. (Tina and Teri went Thursday). We started off the first 20 mins or so watching Alan work his magic on a plate of canapes. I was honored to work as his reflector assistant twice that day. First I held his gold reflector whilst the 2 shivering models tried to enjoy some food outside. The gold reflector added warmth and a glow to the model's faces, and emphasized the food on the plate. I then got to hold a diffuser reflector whilst the model was on the ground serving a plate of dips and canapes. This actually in my opinion gave me wind/frost burn on one of my fingers, and i couldn't feel anything with it for 2 days. However I did a good job apparently, and Alan got the shots he needed.

I then proceeded to help Nathan and Georgia inside who were taking stock photographs on a white background for web and pamphlet advertisement to deep etching.

They kept bringing out items for us to photograph, which i was actually reluctant to do as i was there to watch Alan. In between items we took 10 mins or so to see how Alan progresses his shots.

His photographs were taken step by step. The food on its' own, and then positioning props around the plate. His lighting techniques were quite easy, but i probably wouldn't have thought about doing some of his techniques. One shot which did stand out in particular was the pizza shot. The dish was lit through a glass block, and speedlites, the glass dispersed the flash with a warm glow, very much like window light through blinds.

So some equipment Alan took with him was a MacBook, tethered.

Lightroom was his preferred cataloging and tethering software.

85mm tilt shift lens

70-200mm nikon lens.

D3 Nikon Body.

prefers available light even when shooting outdoors, not even speedlites.

Black Diffusers,

White reflectors

Transparent diffusers

Loves Square cropping when deciding his final set of photographs.

When shooting outside, be on aperture priority on 2.8

Speedlites

Poachers provided wooden boards for texture and colour for the food.

42 below - bottle

ok so below is my final edit of the 42 below - bottle only.

I included and "morphed" 2 bottles together, the first being the silhouetted bottle, and the 2nd being the label. Below is the Layer by layer process of my final photograph.

I have also cleaned up the bottle, as seen in 1st and 2nd image. on the bottle has engraved information on the back of the bottle, but as it is clear it is still very visible from the front, so i have edited it out. it looks so much more effective without the busy images coming from behind.

The Label took a lot of work as i had to overlay the correct exposure onto the silhouettedbottle. A lot of time was spent on the bottom labels as i had to erase all in between the lettering.

Im still not entirely happy with the bottom labels, potential more editing to come.

KIWI FRUIT BEING EDITED IN NOW ! :)

So this is something which i have put together......

more anjeo

Ok so using my standard "bottle" from the previous post, i replaced the bottles in the following photographs, these photos are the "honey dripping", and sticks, still waiting on the shot glass as editing takes so long! They still have a little more work needed, (esp on the bottom 2 photographs) around the honey. Im very much liking the honey dripping one....

Anjeo Patron

So this is a work in progress collaboratively putting together 3-4 photographs, just for the bottle.

That doesn't include the extra elements going into the advertisement, which will be (not edited yet), honey dripping from honey sticks, honeycomb and shot glass on ice.

Looking through my boyfriend's ESPN magazines from the States, they do a lot of alcohol advertisement, and i feel that my final product would be perfect for their magazine.

So below are some screen shots of "the bottle", layer after layer.

This photograph is what i started with, So i used the cork from this shot.
This shot i used a silhouetted photo of the bottle, using the layer above, for the cork
This image is from a 3rd photograph and i used the label.
the fourth layer is for the lettering on the bottle, from yet another photograph.