First Edit
April 4, 2014
This shoot was a photography lighting assignment based on the 2005 film Sin City by directors Frank Miller and Robert Rodriquez. The purpose of the assignment was to imitate the highly stylized look of the Sin City films which includes the following.
Elements of Sin City Lighting & Aesthetic:
-Very high contrast black and white images with few to no grey tonal values.
-Heavily accented rim lighting.
-Strong catch lights in the character’s eyes.
-Use of one color, preferably primary colors, to accent a specific part of your image.
-To come up with a super bad, evil character.
These visual elements add a very dramatic and sinister feel to the images as well as a comic book like aesthetic.
©AliciaM.BlairPhotography A before and after shoot of one of the final images.
Second Edit
January 31, 2017
©AliciaM.BlairPhotography
Changes:
Now that I’ve come back to re-evaluate these images, I decided that the character would benefit from being placed in a location.
I tried my best to use one color in the images in order to stick to the original formula, but I discovered that the images became stronger when I used two contrasting colors to add in that extra level of contrast and drama.
I also re-edited some of my original added effects, most notably the wings in one of the images. These new wings are more complex and have a great deal of dimension compared to the ones used in the original images.
Final Execution:
I’ve always been fond of these images because they feature a very sinister and evil character, a persona that I don’t normally include in my work. This project was not only fun to shoot and edit, but it also proved to me that I have the capacity to create work that is based on characters that I don’t normally gravitate towards or photograph.
Dream Team
Retouching: Alicia M. Blair
Model & Make Up: Susana Blair
Styling: Susana & Alicia M. Blair
To view the full series, please click on the link below.
http://www.aliciamblairphotography.com/darkness-becomes-her
Stay evil everyone!
Alicia M. Blair
