Editing chosen images for the final selection

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My products were very complicated to make. I kept thinking of the best designs that would react better showing my print. My plan was to create a top, a skirt, a tote bag, and tie. My mind had changed about the top and skirt. I am not going to be selling the top or shirt, and I am not having them as a choice. I had to try and find a new design for my choice of products, which I accidently created, one of which was a purse from the back pattern piece of the skirt. This lead to a really good design that people would definitely buy as all women like a stylish purse. I am not worrying that it will not sell, as it is such a stylish product.  To finish off that product, the purse, I sewn on a diamond button for it to fasten. The tote bag was nightmare to make. I was going to take the advice from a You Tube video, of how to make a tote bag, but I ended up running out of calico fabric because of the top and skirt. I bought two tote bags in Liverpool, the week before the shoot and cut them up, because the bags were pink, I didn’t realise that when I would transfer the print onto the pink fabric, it wouldn’t show that much colour, more black and white, with blue in the middle, a more of a darker colour. I think it when really well, it looks creative. I had to bag out the bag so I think I make things difficult for myself, without planning which I need to work on. I bag each side of the bag and then put them together to sew down the side seams but doing that resulted in the seams being really thick, so it was really difficult for me to over lock the raw edges. In result, all the products, even the top and the skirt, look really well created. I have no doubt that they will all sell at the end of the year. 

On Friday 24^th January 2014 at 11am, I came to the location of the shoot at my college studio. I set up my camera, because I have never gone that studio before to check my camera linked up with the light, I was very concerned that it wouldn’t because I think if there was no light it would have been a disaster. It took me an hour of how to do things, and find the settings to ensure the lights did work with the flash, it was successful. The only ordeal that I had was the model came half an hour late, which meant I could not meet her in town, as I had to stay in the studio with the camera. So I had to direct her from Liverpool Central train station to the actual room, so it was complicated to remember where it was. I felt it was unprofessional that I couldn’t meet her, but I couldn’t leave the room. When she arrived at the studio, she was very professional and calm, everything that I talked to her about, and would hope for her to do, her reply was sure that’s fine, she didn’t say no.  

At the very beginning of the shoot I did her makeup, I gave her a bold lines on her eyes and lips. I think the makeup showed a different atmosphere than I was going for. To me when I look at the images, I do see a printed top and skirt, which can be photo shoped and enhanced. When you look at the hair and makeup you see a mood change, it’s on the category of drag queen/circus, which didn’t pull off very well. I didn’t realise throughout the shoot, how difficult it would be to Photoshop the background of the image, when she had backcombed hair, as I wanted to enhance the background colour to blue, there was so many areas between the hairs that you would have to do. So as the photo shoot progressed I got her to go onto other products, which I do think went well, but the hair and makeup ruins it a bit. After all the products were done it was a wrap. She went to take the makeup off, and she put her makeup nicely back on.  I was looking how she put her makeup on, she had a plain face with foundation on, and dark lips. I asked her if we could take a couple more shoots with that makeup on, but I had the idea to take the skirt and put it on her head, to give it a more elegant feel. I took about another 40+ images of her just simply sat on stool, and holding up the products, but with an elegant pose. I think toward of the end of shoot, I realised the last 40 images, were going to be my final choices for the contact sheets. I understand that towards the end of the photo shoot, the way she positioned herself, and the way she give that impression of these are just the products with the pose, made it more professional and fresh. I was trying to be ambitious with the early point of the shoot, with the makeup and hair, and what position she was, stood up. I should have had that idea all the way through the photo shoot, of it being simple, classy, and focusing more on the print than how her hair was looking. 

Overall, I think the shoot went very well. I feel like I did reach my goal, what I set out to do, to just show the print, and that was it. I think it made it look Avant Garde, because I asked her to stick the skirt on her head, which looked like a hat, which was then again showing the print in a different format, it’s not wearable, but it gives you the allusion of what it’s trying to say. 

Weaknesses 

As I said before the only things that let the photo shoot down were hair and makeup, because of my focus to show the print, the hair and makeup were the last thing on my mind, I didn’t focus on it as much as I did when making the products.