Why a creative portrait session?
Creative sessions allow you to step outside the everyday in a fun and safe space. To express a creative idea you’ve always wanted, or to work with me to create something unique for you.
How do you want to be photographed?
When I asked this question, Faye was immediately drawn to a creative session, rather than a contemporary or business portrait (though we can always combine different styles into one session). Faye is a huge fan of the tv show Twin Peaks written and directed by David Lynch and I was excited about the visual themes of the series and incorporating these in styling and postproduction.
Before and after video from double exposure post processing (12 seconds).
The final creative portrait collection
Set 1: Double exposure
A double exposure image is a combination of two images into one where one image is overlaid onto another at less than full opacity.
I learnt a great method from the amazing photographer Kate Whyte’s You Tube channel How to make a double exposure style composite in photoshop
I chose a number of my own nature images from Finland to resemble the forests and rivers of Snoqualmie Valley (Seattle) where Twin Peaks was filmed. For Faye’s final image I was looking for interesting shapes and textures with bright and dark parts. These would make a bigger impact when turned into black and white. What makes a black and white image appealing is having the full transition from black, to grey to white.
My landscape photography from Finland used in the double exposure images.
Set 2: The agent look
Faye’s style is a homage to two characters from the show, Audrey with her red lipstick and Agent Cooper in the suit. It played off the idea ‘what if Audrey had become an agent later in life?’
This set up used the portrait lighting style, clam lighting. My camera settings were 1/200, F/5.6 and ISO 200 with a 55mm lens.
Set 3: The projector
This was a a darker style to invoke Laura Palmer’s tragic ending at the beginning of the tv show. Faye had a wet hair look and I projected an image of bare, lifeless trees onto Faye’s skin.
This set up used a digital projector, with another nature image I’d taken in London. As the only light source was the projector I needed to allow more light into my camera. My camera settings were 1/100, F/4.0 and ISO 1600 with a 55mm lens.