(Making of) The Dreaming
The Dreaming
The Dreaming
Chloe and I planned this shoot in just over a week, and given the scale of my shoots (particularly the styling, props and accessories I like to include) I was both nervous and excited at the challenge of pulling it off at short notice. It helped that Chloe had sorted the outfit and suggested a location, so I only needed to think about any accessories and props I wanted to add.
Moodboards
I hastily put together some moodboards, exploring different ideas, colour schemes and concepts for the shoot. I wanted to capture an otherworldly vibe, something ethereal and dreamlike and was definitely leaning towards something soft, with pink tones and lots of light, hoping the weather would be kind.
The Dreaming
Chloe had a stunning, long white wig she suggested for the shoot which she aptly described as her ‘Daenerys wig’ which gave me strong elf/fantasy vibes. I had snagged a bargain on an eleven style tiara a few weeks back when browsing eBay, which was not due to arrive until September, but fortunately it arrived just days before the shoot and I knew immediately it would finish this look perfectly. I was hoping to use my light pink cape for the shoot too, but for the life of me could not find it anywhere! Thankfully, Chloe came to the rescue and repurposed an old top into a gorgeous little cape with a crystal fastening. I packed up my stash of fake flowers, some white webbing and misc fabrics and we were ready to go shoot!
The Dreaming
We’d only spoken briefly online prior to the shoot and I had a feeling we’d get on well but I’d never have guessed how well! Turns out we are both massive geeks so there was much bonding over our love of video games, geeky tv shows and books. Paired with our shared love of photoshoots and it made for an epic collaboration. Chloe was full of enthusiasm and ideas, and we were both buzzing with creative energy. It made for a very fun shoot, and the time just whizzed by!
The Dreaming
The location was already magical, lit up beautifully in the sunshine, but I wanted to add a little something extra. I set up an array of fake flowers around Chloe, to give that pop of colour around her and have them appear as if they were blooming from her prescience. It made for quite the scene - as evident by the number of onlookers who commented and took photos as they passed us (turns out the location is a more popular walking spot than we realised!). We were also blessed with the arrival of the most spectacularly coloured dragonfly I’ve ever seen - but their appearance was so fleeting I sadly couldn’t capture them in the shots.
The Dreaming
I used some of my white webbing to add an extra touch of drama and mystery, though goodness knows what Chloe was thinking when I was pulling big tufts of white cotton out of a bag and attaching it to the ground, the trees and branches around her!
The Dreaming
Alongside the trusty crystals I use for reflecting light and giving colourful flares to images, I brought my set of battery powered fairy lights - another staple in my photography kit bag. They are perfect to put in the background of a shot but for these images I wrapped them directly around my lens to create some warm light flares. I can never resist adding a little something extra to give an effect in camera! It can be difficult to position them and shoot at the same time, but well worth the effort as it always looks better if you can get it in camera than trying to add the effects when post-processing.
The Dreaming
We shot at various locations along the walking trail, catching the pockets of bright sunlight for the dramatic lighting I had hoped we’d get. We found a little patch of greenery which was more open, the sunlight pouring in to light the whole scene. Chloe jumped right in to the middle of the grass and we shot quickly to catch the sun in between the rolling clouds. We also made a new friend here, in the form of Frank the spider (sadly not pictured).
The Dreaming
As we wrapped shooting and began the trek back to the car, it began to spit with rain. I counted my lucky stars with our timing as we’d caught the best of the weather that day and were driving away by the time the rain hit. I was buzzing to get home and editing!
The Dreaming
I got the RAW files transferred onto my laptop and imported into Lightroom, picking the images I wanted to edit via the rating system and then getting straight into the colouring. I stuck with warm tones and pink hues, pulling down the saturation a touch but upping the vibrancy to give the shots that dreamy aesthetic.
Once I had the colouring I wanted for the shoot done, Lightroom makes it easy to turn it into a preset you can quickly apply on all the images, speeding up my workflow considerably. After that, the shots needed barely any work, just some minor tweaking of the exposure here and there, some occasional colour correction and a bit of cloning on the waterproof coat I had laid out for Chloe to sit on for some of the shots - to avoid getting any patches of mud on her outfit.
The Dreaming
Then it was just a case of exporting, resizing and sending them off to the lovely Chloe for approval! This shoot was such a blast and I’m really happy with how the images came out. I am also definitely less hesitant to plan a shoot short notice again in the future!
Model & MUA: Chloe Day
Photography: Rebecca Andrews-Smith
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