Shoot #2 - Suspects!

As promised, all the photos are scanned in! I ended up taking 30 photos on the day but due to time constraints on the film scanner I was only able to scan 15 of them in. It turns out that my woes about the light changing were for good reason as the entire first roll of film is a lot warmer than the rest but overall I am very happy with the result. Below are a selection of my favorite images in their raw format.

Now that I'm all finished shooting I plan to start editing the images in the next few days to keep posted for a much more refined look!

Shoot #2 - Pending...

I shot my final shoot today down at the Rocks with my four suspects and it all went pretty well. I was just a bit worried about the lighting because it kept changing (clouds etc) but I'm pretty sure I bracketed enough to get a good result. I plan to get them developed tomorrow and have them scanned in by class on Wednesday.

Final Shoot #1 - Photos!

I haven't really been keeping up to date with the goings on and I bet you're pretty interested as to how my progress has been going! Well, last Thursday I had my first shoot which was fanastic. It consisted of the crime scene and the dead victim sporting the 'Glasgow Smile'. Below are the unedited transparency scans.

It was really interesting to watch Yoshimi Kumai, our makeup artist, work. It has seriously given me some respect for that profession and an understanding for the time needed for a good result. I think the scar, bruising, blood etc took about 40mins.

Overall I am very happy with the shoot and am looking forward to editing some of the shots. Below is an example composite with some sample 'forensic notes'. They don't actually say anything of value but I wanted to check that the aesthetic would work.

My next shoot will take place this afternoon and will consist of photos of the suspects.

Thursday's Portraiture Session

Due to the fact that I couldn't organise a makeup artist in time, I was forced to cancel the main crime scene shoot and postpone it until Monday night. But, seeing as I had all the equipment booked, I decided to go out and test some portraiture shots with one of my models. His part in the whole scheme of things is as a suspect. In my story though, he isn't the guilty one...

These were shot on my Canon 400D (10px) and where lit by two slave triggered Metz flashes. I also took some shots on the RB67 but they are only being processed now. I should have them up by tonight.

Monday's RB67 Scans

I spent today scanning in the shots I took on Monday using the Mamiya RB-6x7. Due to the fact that I haven't scanned in any film since first year, it took a bit of refamilarisation before I was able to really get any quality but the prints definitely look great. When scanned at 3200dpi the images are unbelievably large (100mb+) and are perfect in quality. From a medium shot you have to (at the very least) zoom into a person's ear before you hit full resolution!

Below are the three best examples from Monday's shoot. They are all monochrome unfortunately (I think now I would prefer to shoot full colour and slightly desaturate in post) but they are pretty good for my first time using a medium format camera in the field.

All these images were taken on B&W 125 ISO film. Next I want to test with full colour transparency flim. Hopefully these will turn out as good.

Monday's Test Shoot

Last night my actor, a friend and myself went to the rocks to start experimenting with exposures, positioning and framing. All the images below were shot on a Nikon D90 but also borrowed an RB67 to familiarize myself with it. I plan to get them developed tomorrow.

The location has really grown on me even more than before and I think it is absolutely perfect for a murder. Below are some example positions where my dead body could be.

After much experimentation I believe that the photos below best reflect the 'look' that I am going for. Obviously there aren't any props in these shots (you'll just have to wait for the final shoot!).

Reck Shoot Photos - Finding a location

I haven't posted an entry in a while BUT it doesn't mean I haven't been busy! My first reck shoot took place last week and it consisted of me scouting a few locations that I had in mind.

The first location was the carpark of Greater Union Mosman.

The carpark really did have a great eery feel about it but I really felt that it wasn't interesting enough to base an entire shoot around. While I was shooting the movie 'Inception' was playing upstairs and the sound was resonating the walls and making the light flicker! It definitely added to the mood but might have been a bit hard to convey through the still image.. Even while I was taking the photos I felt that the place wasn't special enough.

The second location was The Rocks, specifically underneath the harbour bridge. From the start this felt more authentic and I really felt that I would find a good place to shoot. Here are a few locations that I though could be appropriate.

All these locations looked the part but I couldn't find somewhere I was totally happy with until I came upon this location. It was almost directly under the harbour bridge and was sparcely lit dead end just around the corner from a pub. Here are some rough location shots.

This place is perfect!

The plan is to now have a shoot with my model in costume to see where it would be best to have him. So far I am thinking directly under the light looking down the street towards the road.