Brand: Bvlgari Jewelry company. Bulgari S.p.A is an Italian luxury brand known for its jewelry, watches, fragrances, accessories and leather goods. Bvlgari was founded in Rome in 1884 by the silversmith Sotirios Voulgaris (Italian: Sotirio Bulgari) which also means Bulgarian. A single jewellery shop that has, over the years, become an international brand. The company has evolved into a player in the luxury market, with an established and growing network of stores. Its Major competitors in the luxury goods are big name brands like: Cartier being one of the biggest rivals, and Chopard, as one of the biggest competitors among other brands like Dior, Tiffany & Co and Graff. Bulgari is a brand that preserves its heritage, but It’s not strange to the young crowd. Bringing the Italian fashion to the Us with powerful influencers and eye pleasing ad campaigns.

For my final project I would like to recreate the style or mood of  The “Parentesi” campaign by Bvlgari. This is a collection of high end portraiture showcasing their luxurious jewelry on beautiful women in a quite elegant design. 

The deliverables are tight cropped head shots for pendants and neck and hands for recklessness and rings. The lightning seem to be a combination of short light with  Rembrandt style but the jewelry that falls on the dark side seems to be highlighted to emphasize the product. The background appears to be illuminated with a spot light from behind the model creating a very smooth gradient fading dark towards the edges, this also creates separation of the model from the background. The mood color it’s a dark green for the background which also spills in the shadows tones of the model. The dark green reminds me of emeralds and beautiful stones which complements the luxury of the brand and jewels.The warm skin tones contrast the cold green, being the two predominant colors in the pallet.

***Shooting Plan***

Model  Female 25-35 years old, slim body, light, tan or dark complexion

hairstyle: slick back or tight up bun (or an hairstyle that leaves neck and ears clear)

Clothing: Black cocktail dress – Neckline (off the shoulder – Scoop Neck)

The shots are Medium to high crop so it could be a dress as well as an nice formal blouse. 

Props:  Jewelry: Necklaces, rings, earrings or pendants, Brazaletes

Make-Up:   Cocktail party formal wit a light dewy finish

Shoot 1 (Monday 3rd ) – Lightning Diagram

Background: color emerald green 

Possibly cto in the key light to emphasise skin tones!

Shoot 2 (Monday 10th )

Darker more neutral mood 

Tim Wallace is a photographer specialized in Commercial and Advertising photography of vehicles, aviation, and transportation media in a wide gamut. He has shoot for the most iconic brands through his career and is well recognized as a prominent figure on its line of work. He also has many photography awards among them Hasselblad not surprisingly as one his main tools to capture great detail in medium format.

The cars shot on studio have a dramatic and luxurious mood. The lightning is delicately place to remark volume and shape it’s almost as it were shooting the sensual curves of a woman’s body. It has that romantic low light lighting from a hotel lobby. The reflections on the windows are perfectly smooth and on the right brightness almost as they were drawn. In a nutshell every piece of detail in the car is brought up in the most subtle way that its pleasant to analyze without any harsh lights that can distract you in the process. The cars shot in location have a little bit more of a realistic approach. You can see the dirt or dust on the cars, this tells you they are not a toy and they are fast machines. The environment of some are a race track adding to the sense of speed. The skies are full of clouds and the weather is just right. The dramatic look accentuated in post production with clarity it’s just one more touch of its amazing work.

Some trucks are shoot on location to convey the sense of on the go. The the trucks are freeze on the spot while the pavement seems to have a motion blur to create the sense of speed. This could be done with a slow shutter speed and panning the camera along the truck when passing by. Or could also be done simply in post production. Either or  I think the message that conveys of power and speed are appropriate for the heavy machine. He also has some trucks shot on studio with a much more controlled light and with that neat and clean look that makes you wanna buy it just for collection and not make a scratch on it.

The work of Julia Sent seem to be a recollection of memories in space and time through objects or belongings. Her still’s feature an object with a story of sentimental value. A story she wants to show through her compositions and style. She also aids the composition with other props like fruits for a bawl, flowers for a base, or simply something completely unusual like crab legs on a cup. Her compositions are neatly arranged with just a few objects, yet the appear very organic and give you the sudden feeling they were just laying there and she caught them in their appropriate moment.

The lightning seems to be Rembrandt style coming from above at a 45 degree very similar to a soft window light. At first instance I thought they were lit with some kind of softbox, but looking closer to the details it seems this are completely lit with ambient light. My guess comes from the fact that in one of the pictures with glass you can seen a window in the reflections. For another instance I notice the photos carry a thick noise this could be because she is using a high ISO.

For some of the photos there’s a very marked horizon line and for others the horizon is gradually faded, merging the light foreground to the dark. The darkness of the background creates a smooth contrast with the colors of the subject’s in front. Accentuating the vibrance of colors without that saturated look. The result is a very emotional and antique mood, with an elegant profile.

This lightning style reminds me of the chiaroscuro technique from the Baroque movement from painters like Caravaggio, Rembrandt and such. I can say this is one of my favorite lightnings color contrast and moods.

The Art of the Mountain is a delightful photography exhibition by a number of talented Chinese photographers. Currently being host in the private gallery of the China Institute in Tribeca, New York.
The Exhibit contains a collection of stunning imagery of mountains, capture in its most appealing and compound way. From the collection, there is three pieces that stood out to me the most.

Lopsided Tree, taken in 2008 at Mountain Sanqing, Jiangxi by Lu Yanpeng (b. 1984)“When I cannot paint, I write poems to record my feelings. But When I have the camera , Is almost as if I could neither write nor paint so that I could focus all my emotions on “That single moment ” As Lu Yanpeng mentions in the description this particular series are poems. This photograph say a whole lot more than it shows at first glance it might appear simple and with out much to say about it, but take a second look. This frame is what i call a silent scream. The setting is simple yet professionally composed. The composition: The side of a mountain with a lopsided tree on top left corner, falling along down the curved line of the mountain across the frame creating a stylistic “S curve” diagonal filling the frame from top to bottom. Contrast of the dark Mountain and light sky. The Poem: One image says more than a thousand words, this is the photographer feelings of a particular mood of his life that we do not necessarily know, but we could stare at this image and dive into endless stories and feelings and make it our own story, perhaps a dream. Dreamy, fantasy, moody, melancholy, even horror are some of the many words I could say about this. Quite Inspiring.

Peach Blossom Colony No.1 , 2011, source images of the photo collage: Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, and others. The subject of the peach blossom colony derives from the fiction “Peach Blossom Spring” written by the Eastern Jin dynasty Tao Yuanming. Based on a bitter scent for modernism and the materialism that possesses the new generation and has taken away the spiritual and naturistic side of our human side. At first glance, It amazed me since it looked as a fantasy painting. Taking a closer look I admired the details and shifted up and down emotions. This composition is represented in a panorama landscape. Earth, sky, field. In fist plane a lady wearing a white dress. She is facing the landscape contemplating the city in the distance from the contrast of nature. Perhaps she is a reminiscence of times or she is being lured into the city. Well balanced composition in my opinion. Trees or set of branches on each side almost as putting a parenthesis to frame the scene. The lady is standing in the left 2/4 lower section of the frame. In the opposite side is the mountain to balance the weight in the upper section. Now the key attraction here is the mountains. What at first glance look like simple mountains, are more than that. Probably the most meticulously editing part of this piece, the mountains are fuse with buildings or to be more specific, its a set of buildings fused into a mountain shape with a quite impressive detail.

Huangshan W25, 1991 by Wang Wusheng (b.1995) Taken at Lion Peak, Mount Huang. Another impressive composition with two rows of mountains were one is being hit by the light of the sun, while the others are on shade. Judging by the shadows on the rocks it seem to be at an early sunrise, since the light its at an 10 degree angle blocking the light for other mountains. The clouds, the fog is what made me stop for this one. The light from the sun is very bright hence the exposure for this shot had to be quite fast giving the opportunity of a couple of shots, but maybe he just waited for the right time to take it. The motion of the fog coming down the mountain it gives a feeling of the power of nature and the majesty of of creation and makes you think how small we are against the divine nature.

Ralph Smith, 21 years old, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, $25

The Series “Hustlers” by Philip Lorca Dicorcia is a collection of photographs of male prostitutes of the 90’s. The portraits are capture in a remarkable lightning that seem mostly natural ambient light even though they all are meticulously planned. One of the Photographs I like to talk from the collection is “Ralph Smith” a 21 years old from Florida. I find the lightning in this composition was very well thought. Starting with the way Philip Lorca integrated the ambient light with the artificial. The use of the Big Bright led sign like a Soft box as a key light. In the opposite side he fills in the shadows, probably in the street with a gridded soft box to direct the light.

The composition is quite busy. It has street lights bouncing around everywhere but still it doesn’t distracts from the subject. The guy is set in the middle of the frame sitting in the grass looking at a lower corner of the frame blank point in space. Overall the lightning composition along with the character pose convey a quite dramatic scenario of a possible moment in a day of this individual. One can learn quite a lot from this artist by analyzing the light, the colors, the composition the way this artist think and frames a story. Captivating attention by first glance Phillips portrait works, tells you a whole lot of story with only one frame.

He seems to focus on capturing a personal quality or an aspect of their personality. In conjunction with the environment or set where they are captured, which also plays part of their personalities. For example for this particular collection its about kids in the school most of the portraits are in a corner or against the wall. This could convey the message of feeling trapped on a social circle that is not of their nature or simply the feeling of self-consciousness.

Another aspect Bay uses to show their subjects personality  its posing. Arms crossed hi up showing a defensive side of their personality or leaning forward to show some attitude and self confidence.

The theme palette is colorful yet slightly muted.
Some portraits are warm while others are cold. He also uses color analogy for contrast. This helps drawing the eye to the subject’s character.

The rooms are well lid, the subject’s in this case teen students are mostly next to a window.
The lightning is soft and minimal almost as natural light from a window, which obviously seems to be Bay’s intention.