As promised, a short and sweet blog post this week! Happy reading!

So I haven’t tested in ages! Testing, if you don’t know, is a collaboration between creatives. Generally, no one is being paid but it’s a time where we can experiment with ideas and concepts, whether they’re mine or another member of the team, and see what we can create.

Last week I shared some images from one of my ideas from the test shoot, called ‘Newspeak’. Make sure you check out the last blog if you haven’t already (https://www.mattwilsonphoto.co.uk/blog/2019/8/14/creative-nowhere-land-blog-newspeak)! This week I thought I would share the images that, my amazing makeup artist, Gaby Hunt wanted to create from the shoot.

Gaby is a highly creative MUA who brings so much to a shoot and I would highly recommend booking her if you’re a photographer or creative in need of a professional MUA. Gaby has kindly contributed to the blog with some of her thoughts on the shots below…

“For this look, I really wanted to create something beautiful that played around with light and texture. I used Fenty Beauty Diamond Bomb as I loved the contrast of it against the models’ skin. This is also a brand I really believe in as it’s cruelty-free and offers a diverse range of tones and products for all ethnicity’s. It’s always fun to get creative especially when you have a great team behind you, the end result of the shoot was more than I could have hoped for.”

— Gaby Hunt, Makeup Artist

I loved what Gaby created with this cool Fenty product and how it reacted to the light on the skin of our model, Shaleema. It looked like a galaxy of stars (you can see where I am going now with the blog title, right?)!

Once I had worked on the final images and sent them off to the team I thought it might be fun to experiment with the shots a little. That’s what testing is all about after all! I had a spare half an hour in front of the computer so decided to create something ‘out of this world’ haha! I few clicks later and Shaleema was transported to another galaxy.

I will be honest, I was messing about really and I wasn’t going to share them with anyone but the team, but the more I looked at the shots, the more they grew on me. I love the simple and expensive look of the original images but sometimes it’s just about having some fun with a shot and creating something crazy. These are definitely crazy but there is nothing wrong with a little crazy every now and then!

I would love to know which set of images you prefer?

I’m sure these images will split opinion. I’m split and I was part of creating them. Either way, it was good fun and I’m grateful to have had some time to do some testing. It’s not always the easiest to get time to test as a commercial photographer, but I think it’s essential for any creative to find the time. We are all continually learning so test that idea, test a lighting style, test with a creative team, test, test, test. It will benefit you in the long run, I promise.

A massive shout out needs to go to Gaby and Shaleema (and Shaleema’s sister who came along for the day as a willing helper) for indulging my mad ideas and having some amazing ones themselves. It made for an incredibly creative day and loads of really interesting shots. I’m very lucky to have had such a great creative team involved in this shoot and you can find their details below along with some of the technical stuff that some of you might be interested in.

Thanks again for reading and I would love to hear which set of these images you like the most! Get in touch and let me know or just drop me a message and say hello if you like the blog and have any requests on future topics for me to discuss.

Until next week… Keep creating!

TECHNICAL

Camera: Canon 5D MK IV

https://www.canon.co.uk/cameras/eos-5d-mark-iv/

Software: Capture One Pro

https://www.captureone.com/en/

Lighting: 1 x Elinchrom Ranger RX S Head + Octa Modifier

https://www.elinchrom.com/battery/ranger-series.html

Background: Cloud Grey

https://www.photography-backgrounds.co.uk/Photography-Background-Papers/2.72-x-11-metres.html

Model: Shaleema J

https://www.instagram.com/shaleema_j/