Stylish, iconic promo shots, and moody album art, with smoke, light, wind, color and shadows.
Bella Ferraro is no stranger to photo shoots… Having been a runner up in X-Factor in 2012, and getting signed to Sony shortly thereafter. However, when we got the call, a photographer had just let them down – and of course we’re always winning to jump into action, whenever there’s a chance to play.
There weren’t all that many references or concepts Bella had for the promo shots, beyond wanting some contrasty album art, and to integrate wind and smoke in the promo shots – with a dark, moody atmosphere with a touch of class, and a hint of fairy tale mystique.
So we warmed up the smoke machine, fired up the LED panels, and got to work!
We started with just a single light, that would create soft shadows, sculpted to Bella’s face, making their cheekbones pop.
Within 20 minutes we had a whole series of shots that Bella loved, so we moved on to the more fun part…
With the wind blowing, and smoke bellowing, we tried a few different color combinations to work as a moody teaser image, where Bella was obscured in darkness, face obscured. This was to be Bella’s first release in a couple of years, so it was all about being coy with these images.
We killed the color for a few shots, shifting to black and white to act as an alternate teaser with a similar setup – albeit with the blackout curtains open now, to give us some soft natural light in the shot to work alongside the flashes.
Then it was back to color, closing the blackout curtains, pumping the smoke all over again.
We changed the camera white balance too, to turn these shots into something more otherworldly, turning Bella into some kind of ice queen! We took advantage of the 11m depth of the cove to create an almost forest-like texture of smoke to congregate in the background.
Then it was time for the final setup – similar, but different to the last. The white balance altered once more, we hung the panels from the ceiling, using it as both toplight and bounce to make sure Bella’s fatures didn’t get lost in the darkness.
And with that, the sun was setting, and our last-minute shoot with Bella was at its end.
Can’t think of another shoot that was so much fun with a new client, and we’re very lucky to have had Bella back since for music videos and photo shoots – but that’s a breakdown for another time…
Review in Eat This Music
Review in Celeb Mix
Review in Ruush
Review in Skope Magazine
Interview in Girl
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