Rankin photographing Miley Cyrus

John 'Rankin' Waddell is a British portrait and fashion photographer from Hertfordshire. This photo is of controversial pop-singer Miley Cyrus. In December 2000 Rankin launched his own quarterly fashion magazine, RANK. He also publishes Another Magazine, Another Man and more recently "HUNGER".

Rankin is known for his use of bright, clear lighting which is apparent here. The lighting cast very little shadows on the face, in contrast to Slimane's more moody lighting. Rankin often incorporates more daring aspects of make-up and hair into his commercial shots and this shot doesn't disappoint - the use of nudity and an abundance of glitter is something which is more difficult to recreate and eye-catching to the audience. The background is completely in darkness where as the subject is lit very well and it creates a dramatic contrast.

Candle Photoshoot

This photo-shoot wasn't particularly inspired by any photographer and was more as a response to a  Godfried Schalcken painting I saw at an art gallery, entitled "A Boy Blowing on a Firebrand to Light a Candle". 

I found the lighting in this painting really intriguing and so I attempted to do a shoot with similar lighting, using a single candle to illuminate my face. I used myself as a model as I knew the kind of photo I was wanting to produce. These photos were all a little too dark, but I liked the mood of the photos and thought they were interesting. 

I liked the orangey colouring of the photos, as its not something you usually see in commercial images, howevver I experimented with turning some of them black and white.

Photoshoot Four

I returned to an indoor studio shoot with a female model, and instead chose a black background which, in retrospect, I regret as the models hair was black and it meant it blended in. For this reason, my photos are more cropped and focused on the models face. 

I love the colour of the models skin against the black background, so I kept most of the photos in colour, to keep that contrast. However I did experiment with black and white, as they felt more like Slimane's photos.

Having the model look down on the camera makes her look more majestic.

Photoshoot Three

This is the first photo-shoot where I ventured outside and experimented with different textures for backgrounds. This shoot served as a tester for this location, which I will return to at a later date to complete a proper shoot. I liked the mix of backgrounds, and I will use these for my proper shoot. I barely edited these photos as the lighting on that day did most of the work for me. 

This shot was an impromptu shot on the way back from the location, as we found this gorgeous coloured blue barn door. The lighting on this day was cloudy which I found perfect for portrait shots as having a bright sun tends to highlight imperfections and flush the model out.

This shot was also on the way back from the main shoot. This photo is slightly blurry which I don't like, but I love the contrast of the black polo-neck against the bright green of the leaves.

I loved using this wide tree as a background as it was wide enough to fill the shot and the texture means the background is interesting but it doesn't distract the eye from the models face, but instead compliments it. Having the model slightly off center means the shot feels more considered and less basic than having them dead in the center of the photo.

This photo, if in black and white, feels reminiscent of Slimane's photos of Jake Bugg outdoors, due do the setting. The flowers make an interesting background, and the cloudy lighting was perfect for portraits as it was bright enough to be clear without completely flushing out the model's face.

The brightness of this photo is slightly too high as the left side of the models face has lost it definition slightly. I like the composition of this photo as having the model in the bottom hand corner is slightly more unusual.

Having some of the flowers in the foreground of the photo creates different depths of field.

Photoshoot Two

For this shoot I started considering the background and the clothing more, as my project title is Fashion Portraiture. I used one of my models from the initial shoot and borrowed a fur-lined hooded coat from a friend to use as the main 'fashion' piece, as the models own clothes weren't suitable. 

For this photo I reduced the motion blur by a fraction, as the blur added a softness to the photo without making it appear out of focus. 

I increased the brightness of the background to make it appear whiter, as it had a slight grey tint to it. I had to be careful to not make it appear artificially changed, or the edges of the coat would look strange. 

The overall colour of this photo was very cold, but considering the white background and the fur coat, I figured that this fit with the theme. However, I did edit the skin colour to see if it would appear better with a warmer tone. I like both versions of this photo, but prefer the original colder photo.

The photo above is the warmer version, with blush and tan added to the skin and the contrast increased slightly.

The colder colouring of this photo fits with the colourless background and the fur coat, and the photo has a frosty overall look to it.

Turning this photo black and white made the background appear slightly grey, which I don't like as much as it doesn't look deliberate. However, I felt that putting it in black and white payed homage to Slimane's photos, which I am deriving inspiration from. This model found posing more natural and so less direction was required apart from me telling him where to look. The model has quite striking eyes so for moments when I wanted the clothes to be more in focus, I'd ask him to look away from the camera.

I like the composition of this shot, as the fur coat fills the space and the focus is directly on his face. This photo is in black and white as I felt the colour balance of his skin harder to perfect for this shot. The close crop felt more personal, as did the model looking directly into the camera.

I like that the model is looking slightly up at the camera instead of straight on, which makes it feel more like a fashion shot than a school photo. The off center positioning is more interesting than placing him in the middle of the photo. I feel like this photo would look better in black and white as the colour of the jumper isn't quite fitting with the photo, although it does match the models lips.

I ventured into a portrait orientation for a few of photos, and while I liked this orientation less, I did quite like this photo. The look-over-the-shoulder pose feels more like a fashion shot than a simple portrait.

Photoshoot One

For my first photo-shoot I just wanted to practice photographing faces and to test out models, so I used a coloured background and one spotlight shone on the face via a reflector. This simple lighting and background allowed me more freedom to experiment with composition and angles of the faces without having to worry as much about the final outcome. Below is my contact sheet of my initial photo-shoot.

After taking my initial photos, I then went onto the editing process. I wasn't sure whether I was going to use Hedi Slimane's usual choice black and white, or if the coloured background was worth keeping, so I made two copies of each photo, one in colour and one with the colour removed, as a comparison. These photos were more inspired by Slimane's Rock Diary than the fashion photography he has done, as these photos were less experimental.

One editing tool I try to utilise on Photoshop is the 'Adjust colour to skin tone'. With the slightly harsh artificial lighting, my model almost appears flushed out, and so this tool makes it easier to restore some colour to his complexion without having to mess completely with the colour of the photograph. I decided to add a tad more blush to this photo, as his complexion appeared quite pasty. 

After comparing both the coloured and the black and white images, I decided that I'd use both, as the colour of the background creates an interesting contrast with the models face, but having the photo in black and white means the focus is more on the model himself. 

This shoot was simply a test shoot to try out these two models, which explains why this photo looks more like a musicians portraiture than a fashion shot, as the model isn't doing a particular pose. I like the angle of this shot as it's more interesting than a straight on portrait, however I feel that it would be more engaging if the model was posed more.