After a shoot at Shrewsbury Prison earlier this year, where, as part of a Live Brief at uni I was acting as an assistant for Pete Muller during a professional shoot. Throughout the day we were involved in photog lighting setups, acting as a model and then some videography and acting later on. More of which can be read about in this previous post.
Yesterday, Pete sent us the results of his shoot and after some clarification on how we could share them, I’ve been able to add them here to my journal, and this can then be used in conjunction with the other post too look at the results of how the lighting was set up.
From the images above you can see the influence of the Colour Temperature Blue (CTB) gels in the rear of the earlier shots that lit up the environment behind the models and then the warmer tones from the Colour Temperature Orange (CTO) gel are hitting the sides of the models along with the honeycomb light in front of them light up the faces a little.
The first couple of shots are shot on wide and you can see the vanishing point disappear behind the prison guard or the group of five subjects. The depth of these images are outstanding and offer a great viewpoint.
The very last image of the set features a fight breaking out over a game of chase and it was interesting to see the lighting setup for this being developed. I didn’t expect the light to be so cold on the seated character and the guy furthest on the right. The prison officer has a warmer tone on his face and this was coming from a CTO gel on a soft box to the right of the photo, that I happened to be standing behind.
There is a shot in the mix of me standing solo that my kids (in their twenties) found hilarious and said I looked like someone that they wouldn’t want to be friends with if they were inside. It’s not overly flattering of my large frame, but I guess that it’s partially my fault for the food I eat and lack of exercise, as well as the wide angle lens that Pete was using at the time combined with the low shooting angle.
Looking at the photos I can see the use of clever lighting, posing and camera position have given Pete the shots he wanted. They are incredibly moody and could be in a list of TV Drama preview images for a show on Netflix or BBC iPlayer. The solo images might also fit in as character selection screens for a video game.
It was also interesting to be a part of the shoot as a model, standing in for someone who was running late, and also fascinating to see how he has presented me and the other subjects in the images.
The photos fit in with Pete’s portfolio, in that the lighting and the angles all seem to gel across the many photos. In terms of fitting in with my practice or style, I think that I would not have made these photos the same way. With no disrespect meant at all, my preference would be for a more natural looking light even using some of the natural light that was entering via the glass roof. I wouldn’t have chosen to use lights far in the background before but I think Pete’s vision works well to light the prison and stop it falling off into obscurity.
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