#saikouapparel

[leelewishnd2c]

Saikou Apparel (Location)

Having previously shot my studio session with neon lighting and that almost “Bladerunner” purple look. For the location sections of this brief I wanted to try my hand at something different. It would still be colour of course, but I would shoot something a little more commercial fashion, for a webstore or something similar. 

I shot these on a 15mm sigma prime, Canon 6Dmkii with a Canon speedlight ontop. I believe it was a 430exii, this was used as direct flash. The location was the main glasshouse in Kelvingrove’s Botanic Gardens. Which was a first for me.

Above is the series which I’d narrowed it down to, I intend to submit all of these but may possibly cut it down as the range is a series of 6-10. The Amber ratings are for obviously very similar photos, the greens are what I feel are the stronger of the similar photos which are next to them, in addition to the possible issues caused by the direct flash (see top right) where there was an imbalance, partially due to how wide the fov is on such a short focal length. 

I’m pretty happy with the product that I ended up with, it was great to shoot in botanics which was unexpected, as the original plan was to shoot on the subway. If I’m honest though I was glad to have the curveball as they turned out fantastic. I doubt I’d do much differently other than have brought a reflector or another person to assist. 

See Below, my series: 

[erinthomsonphotohnd2]

Saikou Apparel: Second Efforts

[jameswalkerphotographer]

Saikou Shortlist.

In a brief for Glasgow clothing brand Saikou Apparel, these are some of my favourite shots. Which one though is most worthy of a magazine cover shot? I like each one for different reasons

[gemmasianpowellphotography]

Saikou Apparel - Front Cover Final Edit - Workflow

08.12.2021

After some feedback from my lecturer I have made a few final edits and selected my image for my front cover. I have gone with the image below. 

Unedited

I first took my image into Adobe Photoshop and made a few basic corrections of levels, contrast, brightness, shadows and highlights. I then made a crop at the top, bottom and left hand side before adjusting the angle to -8.85degrees. I then got the image below. 

Edited

I knew I wanted to keep the front cover image engaging yet minimalistic. That is one of the reasons why I focused in on the subjects eyes and the Saikou facemask. I liked my subjects hair, head position and ear piercings. They are engaged with me. I watched a short Plearn video on Youtube to get further ideas about creating my magazine front cover. 

https://youtu.be/BAP-eDXFIqU -  How to Stylize a Magazine Cover in Photoshop

I used the gradient adjustment mode within Photoshop to create this look below by selecting from the colour chart purple and red. I then used the blending mode to find the best option. 

Blending Mode - Screen 

The Screen blend mode is great for removing darkness from an image or can even be used to create soft glow effects around a subject.

I then used the Darker Colour blending mode and changed opacity slightly. 

This is similar to the Darken blend mode, but darkens on the composite channel, instead of separate RGB colour channels. It almost looks like its “Pop Art”. 

I used Canva to create my magazine front cover below. 

I wanted to keep the text minimal and the title bold. I think the overall layout and final image works really well as a front cover with the Saikou brand and Japanese writing on the facemask the model is wearing and their eyes working together creating a great advertisement bringing together style, fashion and couture. 

[megan-a-mcaleer-hnd2d]

Saikou Apparel Final Front Cover

[danieljohnjarvishn2dphotoblog]

Saikou - Fashion Front Cover

I added the text to this image using Adobe Express and experimented with different fonts, sizes etc.

However, I think this below image is best.

[nicolamarshallhnd1]

Saikou Apparel 

Evaluation

 The Saikou Apparel project focused on photographing clothing from this brand both in studio using a background we had created ourselves and on location, using speedlights as an additional light source. This project was a great opportunity to explore how clothing can be enhanced through the use of different backgrounds, consideration of colour, textures, pattern and most importantly, lighting. 

Working with with clothing that was mostly black or white meant that it would be compatible with any colour, however, it was important to think about how we viewed the brand individually as well as include aspects of what the brand aims to portray their clothing as in relation to the target market.

 To me, this brand’s clothing had and edgy-grunge feeling to it - the dark colours, use of satanic and skull symbolism – all of this made the brand have a more ‘rock and roll’ aesthetic and atmosphere to it, compared to their aim which was a cutesy, Anime-inspired and street-style inspired collection of clothing. 

 The challenges I faced for the project was initially deciding how to approach the clothing in relation to how the brand wanted to portray their products.  Then I spent some time brainstorming how I view the products and what I thought would enhance them, how I can use lighting to create atmosphere and how the products could be styled together.

  Overall, I think I captured the SAIKOU APPAREL clothing in studio using a DIY background successfully, showing experimentation with textures, colour and pattern. Then on location, using a secondary lighting source of an additional speedlight flash.

The Brief

For this project, we have been given the task of photographing clothing from the brand Saikou Apparel, both in studio in the style of a magazine colour and following this will be a series of location images shot using additional lighting sources such as off camera flash.

 Contextual Task – Saikou Apparel

Client – Saikou Apparel

What is the history of the brand?

The brand Saikou Apparel is an East Asian-inspired brand that was founded by youtuber Ross Boomstock in December 2019 who wanted to develop and release clothing that was inclusive and that could be worn by anyone outside of the youtube community.  The brand is based in Glasgow and is made up of about 7 members that work together on coming up with ideas, discussing designs and materials, manufacturing processes and advertising on via social media. Saikou Apparel is currently an online store, aiming to soon have a store of their own which was initially interrupted due to the COVID-19 lockdown.  

 What items do they sell?

Saikou Apparel offer a selected range of items that are meant for comfort, such as t-shirts, hoodies, beanies, woolly hats, varsity jackets and they are also working towards producing a range of jogger bottoms to accompany the hoodies and t-shirts.  As well as this, they began to produce a few accessories such as backpacks/rucksacks and masks (these had been designed and sold pre-lockdown as they were inspired by their trip to Japan where masks are worn by people with any sign of ailment).

 Who is their target market/demographic?

Their target demographic would have began with the youtube community that follows Ross’s gaming channel, expanding out to the gaming and anime communities as the brand does have Japanese-inspired designs and text on their products. Saikou Apparel’s main aim is to widen their demographic to anyone and everyone, currently they are reaching customers across North America, the UK, and most European countries especially in Germany.  The age range for their brand falls between 18 and 35.

Describe their existing advertising images. What message are they trying to convey? How can you tell?

Their existing brand advertising portrays the brand’s street style aesthetic, they have photographed a selection of models in forest and industrial looking locations as well as at locations such as skate parks which are easy going, fun and relaxed.   I believe their advertising aims to convey the purpose of the clothes – to be comfortable, fun and enjoyable to wear, as well as being simple to style with any other item of clothing and styled in a personal way.

 What words does the Brand Manager use to describe their brand image?

The brand manager described their branding as Japanese and East Asian inspired street style, with a ‘cutesy’ aesthetic that is usually tailored towards the gaming and anime communities. They also describe their brand imaging as comfortable and inclusive of ally body types, ages and ethnicities.

 What does the client want from you? What questions do you need to ask the client?

The client wants us to photograph their apparel on a range of models in studio and on location, approaching the brief in our own style and being as creative as we would like to be.  The want to see our take on their brand, how we pose a model, display and style their product, our use of lighting and choice of background to enhance the overall appearance and aesthetic of the clothing.

 What is the end use of the images? What considerations do you need to make?

The end product of these images is to produce a series of images that are to be presented in a magazine lay out, so one front cover image shot in studio followed by a series of location images that portray the brand’s clothing in your own style. The considerations for this would be selecting backgrounds that enhance the clothing and add more visual interest, think about how front cover images are usually shot and the best method of approaching this would be in studio. Also considering the lighting, lens choice, outfit styling and how the image will be optimised.

 How will you do this?

To prepare for the shooting stage of this project, I will research and look for inspirational images of magazine front covers.  Looking at model poses, lighting and use of texture and colour as well as searching for fashion/clothing photography on location to develop my understanding of how to pose and direct a model, as well as consider additional lighting that will be required on location.

[estherbirrellphotography]

location based saikou apparel 

[caradickson]

Saikou Location

8 final images showing a range of close-ups, three quarter body and full body shots. I used a location that allowed me to capture Beth (the model) against a bright colourful mural, playing into the cutesy aesthetic of the brand, while also capturing the merchandise against a textured and grunchy looking wall and environment. 

[ishtarphotography]

Saikou Apparel | Research

For this project we are collaborating with a small clothing brand called Saikou Apparel - are a street fashion brand founded by a YouTuber called RossBoomSocks- its kind of a march for his YouTube channel but he wanted it to be more fashionable than the others. 

They are strongly inspired by the Korean and Japanese street fashion. They want to make the Asian Street Fashion more popular in Europe even though I personally think that it is already very popular. 

I’m Planning on using colour gel filters to and photograph my models in colourful lighting to give the photos a futuristic Bladerunner/Cyberpunk look. 

[robynturnerphotography]

Saikou Apparel Finals

[leelewishnd2c]

Saikou Apparel Studio shoot

So for my first session in studio, I was able to two different set ups with my fabric background. First with my classmate Cara and the latter with my classmate Anna. 

My colour coding for this shoot is as follows: 

Red

Issues with lighting or composition were present in these photos, they were most likely the first photos I took in their respective sets of photos. This was the first step in realising what I had envisioned in the shoot, by tweaking the details which didn’t work out 

Amber

These photos were a step in the right direction in terms of executing the shot which I’d envisioned in my head, but they, much like the reds were merely stepping stones on the way to my end goal. However, they were improved vastly in lighting and composition, only slight tweaks were needed in weaker areas. 

Green 

These were shots which were competent both visually and technically, these were the shots which I knew would be in my final choices once shot. See also the adjustments made to the bottom left, as It is obvious to be the choice for my final cover. 

Final Shots

As far as Saikou Apparel’s aesthetic goes, I believe the colour version to be superior, Despite my fondness of the catch lights in the bottom photo. I will most likely select this for my studio shot. 

[erinthomsonphotohnd2]

Saikou Apparel: Third Efforts

[jameswalkerphotographer]

The brief from Saikou Apparel included a desire for images of their clothing on location. As a lifestyle brand they sought posed casual for their online and social media presence.

This first image catches the sunset in a camper van window.

A simple but striking portrait and logo details on a shirt.

I liked the contrast of the logo as the shirt blends into the background. Not quite the usual street life scene but one that is likely to stop the scroll.

A modest pose to keep the emphasis on the clothing. Deliberately allowing the fall of the shirt to contour the logo is in line with the semi candid nature of the brief.

Sometimes the shot between shots is a hit. I saw this after we had finished, the opportunity was too good to miss. A slight rearrangement of the lanyard adds mystery while maintaining privacy and security.

[gemmasianpowellphotography]

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Saikou Apparel Fashion Magazine 

[megan-a-mcaleer-hnd2d]

Saikou Apparel Edited Images