The Brief:

Assessment Task:

Who do you think you are? David Bailey?

Upon graduating, you are expected to have a body of work that you can present to prospective clients, be they magazines, photographers or art directors. People are going to want to see what you can create, and good photography will give your work the best chance to shine. Do not underestimate the importance of this. This unit will give you the chance to develop the basic photographic and post-production skills needed to create a portfolio of work. 

This unit will be about photography first and foremost, however you will still be asked to use your best hair and makeup skills in your submissions. A good understanding of photography and lighting will enable you to plan your makeup and increase your skills as an artist.
Although you will not be graded on your quality of application or the design of your makeup/hair look, it is important right from the beginning that you treat every assignment like you would if this were a job of your own. You will be expected to produce high quality application. Your teaching team would like to think that at any time during your degree you will produce a shot that you will keep in your portfolio.

This unit introduces students to the fundamentals of photography in the studio, allowing basic camera controls and studio lighting to be explored, giving students the confidence to take their own images. Students will then be introduced to Photoshop and basic post-production skills, providing students with the skills to create digital mood boards, and make basic enhancements to their own images.

The final assessment will include 6 images and a mood board demonstrating digital photography and presentation techniques for the fashion and beauty industry.

BRIEF 1
Using either a white, grey or black background, produce three colour and three black and white beauty portraits emphasizing natural beauty, headshot only, from the shoulders up. The three shots are to be from the same portrait – featuring a profile, side and back (hair) shot. 

You may use the same model and makeup for both images, however you will be required to use two different lighting set ups. This is because the lighting that will look best for a colour image will not always work as effectively for a black and white image, and vice versa. It is important to take into account the desired look of your final shot, and learning to light for different outcomes rather than relying on postproduction will be a big part of this.

The theme for your portrait is "The Perfect Base" with a single key colour (not white) to set the image off. Take into account the skin tones of your model and use either a complementary colour or an analogous one. These terms will be explained in your lecture on colour theory.

Also consider a hairstyle that will complement your look, this is a crucial and oft overlooked component of a perfect beauty shot. Will you use hair up, smooth, curly; the options are limitless - remember to experiment with your model to achieve what works best for their face shape. The more you do this the more you will begin to pick up which works best for which face. 

Minimum use of Photoshop expected, for basic colour correction, increasing contrast and cropping (if necessary) and light spotting. Heavy retouching is banned for this assignment, for later projects you will of course be using post production methods to smooth the skin and do all sorts of amazing things to your models, however for this assignment I want to see what you can do with just the camera and the lighting, sometimes retouching can change an image so dramatically it can be hard to judge the quality of the photography.


BRIEF 2
Using Photoshop, create a mood board to explore the concept of natural beauty, this should include research into your chosen colour palette, whether you are looking at complementary or analogous colours, are you going to concentrate on just the eyes, or the lips? or both? As an optional interesting sidenote, why not explore different face shapes and how different they all are! Different face shapes will suit different lighting as will certain colours palettes, as will different hair styles/textures. You should also research lighting concepts. This should be started before you take your final shots, try keeping a folder with all the images in so that when you start your photoshop lessons you have all the necessary material needed to create your mood board.

You will also be required to keep a technical blog detailing your practice lighting set ups, practical photography, experiments etc. THIS WILL NOT BE MARKED. However you will be expected to create at least one entry a week to chart your progress and show evidence of your ongoing work. You will be shown how to create a blog in your lessons.

Final Outcome
This should be in the form of a single PDF containing four pages.
Page 1 - Mood Board
Page 2 - Colour Beauty Shot
Page 3 - Black & White Beauty Shot
Page 4 - link to your technical blog hosted on blogspot.com