Studio photography

I wanted to create a series of photographs to develop in my final piece. I decided to take photographs in a studio using a variety of lighting set ups. I took numerous photographs of my friend both closeup and torso in a raw format allowing me to access all of the information from the photo itself. 

I used these photographs to experiment with composition so they could be used to create illustrations from primary sources. My drawings would then be developed to explore anthropomorphic forms.

I started by using a flat light set up. This was using two strobes, a 20 inch soft box on each to illuminate the subjects face.

I then decided to use a single strobe and soft box using a Rembrandt broad lighting setup. 

This allowed me to create a shadow over one side of the subjects face by positioning them at an angle. 

After creating a shadow I then wanted to experiment with different ways of shadowing the subjects face. For this I used a 'badger' lighting set up. This includes setting the strobes and soft boxes behind the subject to illuminate the sides of the face. This darkens the background and gives a badger style shadow over the models face. 

From these photographs I selected which lighting set up I found most effective. I felt the Rembrandt broad was effective due to the facial shadow it created. I felt this setup would create the best photographs to illustrate. 

I positioned the lifted and angled the lighting downwards to allow for more darker and prominent facial shadows. 

Once I had finished shooting all the pictures I needed I then decided to edit them black and white by adjusting the images saturation. I then used curves to create darker shadows and background and to illuminate the highlights. 

I felt these photographs would be most effective to draw from because of their detail and rich shadows allowing me to experiment with different mediums for my illustrations. 

These photographs were then developed into illustrations using different materials during my development stage, to then be used in my final outcome creating an 'exquisite corpse' themed final piece.