Early Ideas for creative artworks
Chloe is an amazing piano player and also plays the guitar. Initially the shoot was going to be Chloe playing the piano with some sort of outdoor background. We thought about cutting out the studio type shot of her playing piano and putting her next to a lake and reflecting the piano and Chloe in the lake. But then we decided that there was too much photoshop going on in the scene wasn’t going to be real. It was a very creative artwork idea but there is something awesome about doing the whole thing in camera!
Silhouette | Creative Artworks
Sometimes simple is best. Her stepmum Angela decided she wanted a silhouette of Chloe. This was going to be a very simple piece with Chloe‘s face and eyes looking upwards slightly with beautiful filtered light from the window. As you can see the final result is very beautiful and still a very creative artwork.
One step further | Creative Artworks
I decided to go one step further and to do two double exposure silhouettes. This was because Angela had seen one of my artworks of a girl, my daughter, with a hand through her face. I knew that she liked this type of thing but that she was teetering on the edge. Sometimes something looks wonderful on the website but would you be comfortable having it on your own wall in your living room or in your hallway? I love to challenge my clients and do something different – but it doesn’t mean they will like it and they may just go back to the simple artwork. There is nothing wrong with that at all, it’s all just personal taste and what you can live with on the wall.
Piano double exposure
My first double exposure silhouette was using a piano. Luckily we have a piano in our house as my husband is an avid player. My son also loves to pick out tunes on the piano and his learnt how to play Ghostbusters and various other tunes. I took the same plain silhouette of Chloe and then a photo over the top of the piano keyboard. The raw file actually looked pretty plain. But I knew I could bump up the contrast and make this look spectacular. The resulting photo is absolutely amazing. I was so happy with it, it blew my mind that I could make something like this and do it all on camera with no help from photoshop apart from a little bit of contrast and adding some blacks in.
My wildcard silhouette – lavender | Creative artworks
My second silhouette I called my wild card. It was very very last minute. I grabbed a pillowcase – a white pillowcase and a bunch of dried dead lavender from my garden. I often leave the lavender well into winter never trimming it because the little birds come and eat the tiny seeds from the lavender heads. It is very beautiful to see the tiny finches eating in my garden.
I threw the lavender onto the pillowcase which I had to actually iron while Chloe and Angela were there. Whoops! The creases in the pillowcase was cheap and I thought it wasn’t going to add much wow factor in the final photo. I moved the lavender around to match the silhouette that I could see in my camera of Chloe’s head. That is the wonderful thing about the Fujifilm X-T2 is that you can see what the final photo is going to look like when you overlay the second photo.
When I had the lavender in an almost perfect position I took the second photo and saved it. I am astounded with how well this photo came out having been thought up at the very last minute. This is the photo that Chloe and Angela chose.
Edgy or soft creative artworks?
What would I say about the two different photos. The piano photo is very very edgy and challenges the brain. It is not for everybody. However, it is a piece of art which stands out due to its graphic nature and would look just as good in a New York loft is in a local Christchurch house. It would look great in a room with black highlights and white walls maybe black kitchen bench and black pendant lights.
The lavender photo was also astounding because the white pillowcase, which is actually just a cheap pillowcase, ended up looking like fine linen. This look is a much much softer look for a teen girl and I think at the end of the day it suited her personality better than the edgy piano shot. This photo is going to look absolutely wonderful on the grey block wall that it is going to be on. It has a full range of whites greys and blacks and will have slightly more contrast when framed in a black frame.
An Oversized print | Creative artworks
I’m incredibly happy with the two final artworks. Other photos taken at the session included very plain studio shots in black-and-white which Chloe can have as digital files plus the plain silhouettes I took. The final lavender art work is going to be 80 cm in width and 112 cm in length – an oversized print. It will look amazing on the wall and be the perfect size for the large house.
If you would like to book a creative portrait session please fill in my questionnaire or ring me to book on 021 180 8928
The final image in this collection shows the wonderful final artwork on the wall. Doesn’t it look magnificent. This is what it is all about!
