The Composite Picture

So my Stylist Magazine cover shoot with Miranda Hart finally arrives. I think it looks rather good.This is my third shoot with the lovely Miss Hart-she even bought one for her new book cover, and it got me thinking how more and more, my pictures are made up of elements. The brief on this job concluded with three clear prop ideas: Balloons Balloon letters a cover shoot whee she wrecks the title letters The balloon shots were easy, although their height and the way they shadowed her face led to some minor alterations in flash angles. The balloon letters though-Hah! As if any of us had thought about how they would sit facing us neatly in a warm crafty photo studio. We tried every which way to hold them in place with wire and sandbags, but in the end, it was the locked off camera and composite that gave us our final image. Otherwise, one letter was always at the wrong angle:

The cover shot involved making real letters and drilling a fake shelf to the studio wall on which to balance them. They also had to be lined up with the standard place where they would be on the magazine cover-not easy in itself. We originally wanted Miranda climbing a free standing ladder to give her more height, but despite fixing the ladder to the wall, we found Miss Hart (understandably) reluctant to climb a dodgy ladder and the wave around, despite the presence of crash mats.

So, thank God for the composite image. I normally loath not getting it all correct in camera, but this shoot ended up all the better for it.