ArtofWarPeace
Channel: ALEXMADE
Date: 30/09/2015

The goal of our photo-shoot was to reveal the theme "The Art of War. The Art of Peace"
Photo-shoot was not provided in a studio, we did it in the decorated old pavilion. In fact, we had a large dark room available with shabby walls and metal constructions. For lighting, we used classical set of Dedolight Portable Studio kit, that consists of 5 lights and accessories.

The stylist created costumes for our models in the Fashion Art look. The first model in black latex and leather coat with a cage on her head symbolizes the War, which absorb the energy from harm and destruction. Lighting scheme: Two sources of hard light are located in few meters on the both sides from model in a backlit for lightning the line of the coat, hair and cage - to separate the model more from the background. Another source of light is a mini-soft box that stands in pair meters to the left and lights the floor to create more depth of the scene. The main source of light – soft box is held by assistant at an angle from the model. It allows us to illuminate the model and to achieve more dramatic shadows on her face. One lighting source with the projection head Imager and a red glass-filter lights up the background from the 7 meters distance to make more dramatic effect. Red light from it falls on the metal constructions so it also discards red stripes on the floor. Also, we used a projector with minimal brightness settings that projects the image of the skull and the destructions of war on the wall. It’s made to impart story to our pictures and to reveal the theme of the character. In fact, it is a reference to the "informational war" broadcasted on the big screen. Here are some photos we took with this light scheme.

The second fashion art character –is a girl in white - symbolizes Peace. She tries to escape from the nets that tangled her, escape from the horrors of War.
Lighting scheme: we tried to highlight the model as much as possible and visually separate her from the background – the wall of destructions. The main source of light – soft box, which is held by assistant in a meter from the model. Hard light source is located behind and below from the model. Directed ray from it lights only her hair. To the left and to the right sides two light sources are located at an angle of 45 degrees illuminating the clothes of the model and creating the outlines of her dress. Mini soft box is located to the left and lights the lower half of the model. It is needed to compensate the light with the upper main soft box. For backlight we use a projector to create the mood of the scene. Here is a series of frames that has been taken with this light scheme.

The third scene is a direct interaction of War and Peace. The Peace is trying to break free, but the War pulls her into the abyss of destruction. 
Lighting scheme: one light source with the projection head Imager and red glass lights up the wall from a distance of 4 meters. The second source of light with a red filter lights up the chair and the floor. The third source- a mini soft box is located on the left side to light a little bit the model. With these three light sources we shot a couple of frames with the "war" sitting in the chair. For background we also use projector with the picture of destructions. 
After we added two more light sources and lit them a second model - the girl in white, that symbolizes peace. One source of hard light stands on the left behind the model at an angle of 45 degrees and highlights the clothes from a distance of three meters, separating the model from the background. On the opposite side the assistant holds soft box at a distance of 1 meter lighting up the model. With such a scheme we filmed few more shots of interactions. We didn’t change the light scheme, only the camera angle.

In all of the schemes we have tried to achieve the maximum effect of the cinematic image. All photos that are submitted here are the examples with minimal retouching and color editing. Thank you for attention.



Photographer: Alex Romanenko (ALEXMADE)
Video:  Dmitriy Semenov
Andrey Melko  
Models: Sofiya Beletskaya
  Lolita Kuharchuk
Stylist: Maryana Slavyanskaya
Hair and makeup: Dara Dukhnovskaya
Assistant: Nikolay Ponomarenko

Location: Ukraine, Kiev, VDNH