Being artistic is essential when creating a stunning and dynamic mood image. Besides having a creative eye, it is also important to select a suitable photo shoot location, use proper photography and lighting tools, and implement special photo editing skills, which requires imaginative ideas and patience.
In this photography tutorial, we will unveil the secrets of shooting an image, giving it a more dynamic mood!
Image used during the image editing section is:-
First of all, choosing an ideal location is important in every photo shoot because it provides ample photo opportunities that include different angles, natural lighting and so on. In this photoshoot, the storyline is about a Police Officer being chased by a criminal in a car. Our aim is to create a dynamic mood so we chose a setting of an indoor parking lot with dim lights and a wide space area as our location because it fits the idea and storyline of the picture perfectly.
Producing a dynamic mood image can get rather complicated when it comes to placing and controlling each light strobe. You will need to play around and experiment with the subjects in order to get the ideal exposure and mood. This diagram below shows the positions of every light strobe and subject placed during the photo shoot. Do note that these strobes are not similar with other strobes, so they are arranged based on one’s creative ideas and personal preference.
In the diagram, there are five lights and each light serves a different purpose. Two Softboxes are used to illuminate Subject A in order to create a spotlight effect coming from the car’s headlamp. The two Softboxes are Softbox C (the ‘Fill Light’) and Softbox B, located in front of Model A (the ‘Main Light’). Softbox C also creates a ‘Soft Kicker Light’ effect at the side part of Model A. It may not be obvious but you will be able to notice some soft highlights on the Police Officer’s coat and bag. In this case, Softbox B will serve as a ‘Fill Light’.
In this image, only two Softboxes are lighted up while the other strobes are turned off, which is not very noticeable on the car located behind Model A. As a result, the background of the image ends up being pitch black.
So, in order for the image to be more prominent, we use Strobe D. You will be able to notice the difference as the side of the car is slightly lighted up.
To create a particular mood for the next image, we light up Strobe A and the outcome is shown in the image below.
Now, we can’t really see Model B. So, we set up another strobe at the back seat and bounce the light so that the inside part of the car is lighted up. However, there is a lack of key light so the image ends up looking like this image below.
The particular key light that we need is from the car’s headlamps, which illuminates Model A and emphasizes the current mood of the image.
The car’s headlamps are not strong enough so, we will capture another image with a longer exposure just to bring out some more illumination for the car’s headlamp portion.
The model’s expression is very important too. We got the model to display different expressions so that we can get a suitable look for the photo shoot, based on our current theme. After a few trials with different angles, this is the desired outcome.
Lastly, we will enhance the image to give it an extra edge. We will use the Adobe Photoshop software to create an additional effect by adding in some smoky elements at the car’s headlamp section.
First, download the image entitled ‘Studio background with smoky effect’ (code: 9233707), as shown in the thumbnail image at the top of this tutorial.
Then, merge two images, ‘Studio background with smoky effect’ (code: 9233707) image with the previous image above.
Apply a ‘Blending Mode’ effect to overlay both the images onto the main picture. After that, apply some ‘Masking Mode’ on the car’s headlamps, smoke and fluorescent light.
Finally, adjust the ‘Color and Contrast’ mode in order to transform the image into a dynamic mood image.
Here is the final result of the image after applying the smoky effect.
Now, doesn’t that image look super awesome??
Thanks so much for checking out this photography tutorial. We hope you are able to apply some of the tips offered. In your next photo shoot, be bold and experiment with different methods of creating a dynamic mood image. Have fun!