.case study | Article One AW21
Article One is an Australian menswear label focusing on simplistic and minimal everyday wear apparel that focuses on essential wardrobe pieces at affordable price points. Earlier this year I had the opportunity to shoot the FW21 collection for both the brand itself for their upcoming e-commerce platform and look book but also for Australian retailer Glue Store for their own e-commerce platform and content for social and marketing purposes. I was given some creative freedom with both shoots regarding lighting so with that I chose to make the two quite distinctively different. Here’s a breakdown of how I lit for both shoots.
Shoot 1 - Article One Look Book / E-Commerce
Client: Article One
Model: Kevin Sun (@kevinsun_)
Camera settings: Canon R w/ 24-105mm , F10 , 1/160s , ISO100
These first set of images were from the shoot for Article One. The brief was that they wanted soft lighting with product and model being well lit on a non-white background that could be easily replicated in the future as this would be the staple lighting setup for both their look books and e-commerce imagery. I settled with this light, warm toned grey for the background as it would give an inviting and calming mood as well as giving a more premium feel to the collection (with combination to the lighting). With the lighting, again with wanting it to look more ‘premium’, I had to key light which was strobe with a 140cm Octabox to the model’s side and had a fill light on the other side to lighten up some of that shadow, which was achieved with a strobe w/ a standard reflector head being bounced onto white polyboards. I chose to have the fill light in this manner as I tend to find that the light is much softer this way. Also I didn’t have access to large sheets of diffusion to shoot through… I had the model stand slightly further from the background so there would not be as much shadow fall-off onto the background. As for taking the shots, since the model was standing in the same place for each shot, I was able to shoot with the camera on a tripod to have consistency between shots with a focal length of 50mm. Detail shots were done freehand with a much more telephoto focal length, between 85mm to 105mm.
Shoot 2 - Glue Store Marketing Shoot
Client: Glue Store
Model: Marcel Brendenbals (@marcelbrendanbals)
Camera settings: Canon R w/ 24-105mm , F8 , 1/160s , ISO100
As well as shooting in their standard e-commerce style I had the opportunity to shoot some more creative content. There was no brief with this so I had some creative freedom regarding lighting. I felt like playing with harsh lighting and shadow tones would contrast well with the brighter and softer feel of the e-commerce imagery. I also wanted to entertain the use of coloured gels to show what it could add to a studio shot. I kept the overall image quite warm with most of the apparel being in the warmer tones with a strobe with yellow gel on the left and orange on the right. In hindsight I wish I had chosen a slightly warmer yellow for the left, but having a difference in colour between left and right created a nice gradient of colour, rather than a gradient of tone. I chose to bounce the strobes against white polyboards to soften the light and colour as well as help spread the light over a larger range. Next the key light, which was a strobe with a grided beauty dish which sat on a C-stand over to the left. I kept the light slightly angled instead of right over the top to slightly light the model’s left side more and give some more dimension to the shadow. Since the key light was overhead and had a grid on top, it helped create this pool of light in center of frame, giving some visual separation from the background being coloured from the gels. Lastly I added a soft fill light again from the left to assist lighting the overall image ever so slightly which was achieved through a large 140cm Octabox. Since the main lights were to the left, the yellow gelled light was not too pronounced on the model and the orange gelled light created a nice rim which suited the model’s skin tone, though I toned the orange light down a little after the first outfit.
For shooting, I tried to keep the focal length at quite telephoto lengths, between 70mm to 105mm at the same height as the model as I did not want too much distortion and wanted to have the images quite quite clean looking. We had a small moodboard on shoot for some different pose inspirations to have slightly different images for each outfit.
For the last shot of the model levitating, it was quite simple to achieve. I simply had him sit on a stool with the jacket following over the back. From there it was simply having him throw up his legs as if he was in mid-air and grabbing a few shots as well as a clean plate, ie a shot without him in frame and just of the background. This allowed for retouching the stool out much easier in post as well as retouching the shadow on the floor.