Art deco stuff

Art Deco work flow

I was thinking about what I would like to photograph and I had the idea of Art Deco. I have stayed in the Hotel in Speke which has influenced me, and my friend Liz has some Art Deco pieces.

I would like to photograph various pieces Liz has in her possession and they include:-

Jewelry – a Necklace, ear rings, a brooch and a hair slide.

Other items include a small vase, a Claris Clift teapot, figurines and a lamp

Some pieces we will not use are the mirror and a cabinet.

Liz has kindly lent me these things to photograph, and is also going to be there to be the model for some of the pieces.

Liz has also lent me some books on the subject, the main one being “Art Deco source book by Patricia Bayer”, which is a fabulous book. I have taken the opportunity to photograph some of the detail. These will follow at the end of this piece.

I have explored various web sites, the one I have illustrated here is http://www.mschon.com

Art Deco was an innovative design style, with its sleek, streamlined forms conveying elegance and sophistication, and functional and modern. Paris was the source and the trendsetter of Art Deco, (only described at the time as 1925’s style) and had its origin in the 1925 French art exposition at Musee des Arts Decoratifs, but the term Art Deco only came into general usage soon after the 1966 exhibition. The period did not last that long, and was only revived as an art form in the 60’s.

One of the most memorable buildings of this period is the spire on the Chrysler Building in New York.

I have the use of the college studio which will affect all the lighting needs. Lighting is the most crucial part of this project.

Liz kindly came into the studio one Saturday and we attempted to photograph her jewellery.

This image was of Liz's brooch and hair clip. The lighting used was for a model lighting, so therefore is incorrect, but it does show the detail within the items. I quite like the reflection here, but more work needs to be done to light the items to show them off to their best. this has had no work to the image. there is enough room on the image for the text required to advertise these items.

This is an image of LKiz's art deco necklace. I have had comments on the background being too much, but i do not like the bare white bakgrounds that you get in the main advertisers images. I agree that the background can be distracting, so I need to address the levels of lighting, but the sparkle should remain.

This is a close up of the necklace, and needs a small amount of additional lighting to enhance the sparkle.

Lit with one light, this was the first attempt to show the jewellery on a figure. The lighting needs adjusting to enhance the detail in the necklace.

This is slightly beeter and shows the necklace, and earring, to better effect. I think an additional light on the jewellery would make a difference.

Turning Liz to one side has produced a better effect, but the detail of the necklace is missing,

This is the fianl image showing the necklace.