Studio Proposal

From my studio workshops I now have a good idea about basic lighting setups which I can use during my final studio shoots which I have now written a proposal for:

"For my studio work I'm going to be creating a portrait to promote Nike Sportswear. I will be focusing on creating a shot that would be suitable for an advertising campaign so it must fit the current style of Nike as a brand.

I will be using a studio backdrop to put focus on the models clothing instead of the location. Nike as a brand is quite modern. Their adverts are always clean and often use low-key lighting and negative space to their advantage. This is something I want to keep in mind for my own shoot, as this is a key element of the ‘Nike’ look. The backgrounds are often black and the subject is always well lit which creates a sense of atmosphere in the shot and again this often makes the model look strong as the main focus is on them.

I have discovered that Nike adverts are most commonly in colour but with low saturation and contrast this is something to keep in mind when editing my shots. The models always look confident and strong which is a key part of a sporting brand especially one as large as Nike.

I will be using a Canon DSLR and a range of lenses so I have mixture of focal lengths to work with. I will aim to capture a range of angles focusing on ones that make the model look dominant and powerful. This combined with the lighting will make or break the photos so will take some experimenting. I will be looking for a final photo that would be easily identifiable as something similar to a Nike style ad."

After finding some shots I liked the look of I decided to research how to achieve similar lighting for my studio project. The style of lighting used is 'low key lighting'. It is used to add atmosphere to a shot as there is usually a lot of contrast and shadow in the photo with only selected parts lit.

It is very popular with portrait photographers as they can selectively highlight a models best features while adding a lot of drama to a shot. Here are some examples of low key portrait photography:

These style of shots are achieved by either using one main light and a reflector or a main and fill light. The main light is usually set around 1/2 power and offset to one side of the subject with no modifier as a soft box would reduce the harshness of the shadows and this is counter productive when trying to achieve a low key look.