Low Key Beauty - Work Diary

As a follow up from last lesson, we now focussed on low key lighting. To make this more interesting, we also explored the use of colour gels. I looked forward to experimenting with colour gels as this is not something I had used before but enjoyed the outcome of in images. I wanted to create images that had a good level of depth and dark tones, but still showed the vibrancy of the colours from the colour gels. I feel that I was successful in doing that as I took many pictures that I was very happy with and felt showed the exact outcome I hoped for. These images were taken without the fill light as the images that I took with the fill light removed the shadows and this is not something that I wanted.

This image was my favourite from the shoot. I feel that it shows exactly what I was hoping to capture - dark tones and vibrant colours from the colour gels. With the way that the lights were set up, the direction of the light was aimed towards his face, which means that this is where the most light is and so where your attention is drawn to. I further darkened the rest of the image by adding a vignette in Photoshop, which I feel ties the whole image together and created exactly the effect I wanted.

This image was taken with the fill light on and shows how the shadows in the image were removed. You can see how this is different from the image above as the whole picture is illuminated and this was not the style I was hoping to get. You can also see the light beam coming from one of the lights on the right of the photo, which I could have cropped out but this meant that the framing of the image would have changed and would be too close for what I liked.

Progression

If I were to recreate this shoot, I would try using different colours as I want to experiment with the mood and atmosphere that colour gels can create. I would also try using different models and having them all pose differently so that I could see how the shadows would change and create different effects.

Can I use this in my project?

I may be able to use this in my project as I plan on carrying out some shoots in the studio, but I don't know if this will suit my project more than high key lighting. I will experiment with it in terms of my theme but it may not be used to create my final images.