Monday, April 26, 2010

Behind the photograph, Sleep Solutions Promo

Sometimes I get asked about photographs, posing and lighting.  And when I can, I oblige the idea and explain what I can on the end result and processes in getting there.  Here is an example of some recent promotional/advertising work I've done in studio.  The face of Sleep Solutions needed an updated head shot with both the assistant and head merchandiser, otherwise known as being the brains behind the catalog. 

The concept started with ideas of nail polish and slumber parties and ended with ideas of pillow fights and sleepwear.  So with those ideas, I added a simple, fresh and clean concept keeping with the catalogs main goal of selling sleep care products for a mainly female audience.  Ultimately, the idea was feminine, fun and fresh.

Now about the lighting.  As you can see it's mainly soft and front directional.  The main lighting is a 2x3 soft box hanging from front above angled down 45 degrees and another bigger 3x4 soft box below tilted up 45 degrees. A bare bulb behind the models filled the white seamless and created a slight separation between the models and background.

This lighting is pleasing on skin since it softens angles and evens skin tone.  In a sense, the main goal was to "shed some light" on the normal women behind the products, their personality and charisma. 

As for post editing?  There was little to none since the clean white background was something that was desired in the end.  There was no need to mask out hair and since the lighting was pleasing enough on the skin, very little retouching!

In the end, the women loved their photo and I as the photographer loved the efficiency of the shoot.

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