FMP Final Idea

Although this is not a major change to my FMP idea, it is still worth talking about. Originally I had planned to do a series of macro images of various exotic insects following a theme of bright colour but still wanted them to look like they were taken outside in the wild, however, I have recently moved towards the idea of placing these subjects in a mini studio setting.

This idea started out when looking back at some of my older work. I once did a small shoot of one of my geckos in a mini portable studio and I really liked the results. They are still some of my favourite photos to date. As I know I can do this style of shoot well from past experience, I feel that I would be confident in reconstructing them.

I would like to use various exotic animals. This could include reptiles, amphibians and insects and place them on different props inside the mini portable studio. These props could include leaves, branches, rocks (covered with moss for colour) etc. and I could follow these animals round with the camera as they explore and climb on these props.

Being a studio, I will have a lot more control over the lighting in the shots. In the example above I simply had two flashguns directed into the studio from the outside, flashing through the translucent white walls which acted as a diffuser. This gave the shots a very soft and even lighting, which really brought out the detail in the subject.

Obviously for this shoot I would still need to find somewhere that owns these kinds of animals and would give me permission to photograph them with flash. I have a couple of ideas in mind, I just need to get in contact with them and arrange something. The Butterfly Farm in Stratford-upon-Avon has a selection of exotic animals ranging from snakes, lizards, all sorts of insects and frogs. These would be perfect if I could get permission to have a person who works there take these out of their enclosures and let me photograph them in my portable studio. However, this will require contacting them in advance and arranging something with them, whether this means paying more than the normal entry price or not. Another place I had in mind is the animal care department in Solihull College. This would probably be a lot easier to arrange, as they are so close and easy to get in contact with. My only worry with choosing this location is that I am afraid they will not have a selection of animals as great as at the Butterfly Farm.

During this photo shoot, I would like to experiment with different colours. A lot of the animals I am hoping to photograph will be colourful themselves, so I will either use backgrounds that will compliment or contrast with the colours of the animals or just use plain backgrounds (black, grey or white) to make the animals stand out. I would also like to experiment with using coloured gels on the flashguns to see what kind of effects this could create. I could use a normal flash with no gels to light the subject as to not discolour them in any way and then light the backdrop with a flashgun with a gel place over the front.

These ideas have been heavily influenced by photographer Tim Flach. He does a lot of work with animals in the studio, showing incredible detail and colour within his photographs and I have always been inspired by his work.