Sixth Form Photography students were lucky to spend the day with fashion, portrait and commercial photographer Ester Keate last Wednesday to explore different studio photography techniques.
The lesson started off with Head of Photography, Miss Chloe Mordue showing students a gallery of Ester's work, which has taken her to locations all over the world including Portugal and China. They talked about the different lighting and camera techniques Ester had used in her sustainable fashion and beauty photography. Ester also talked about a personal lockdown photography project where she photographed models from outside their homes.
It was then on to the studio to talk about the different lighting techniques you can use to get different effects in portrait photography. Each student took turns being 'model' while Ester demonstrated how to set up the studio lighting using key lights, back lights, umbrellas, softboxes, barn doors, gels, a honeycomb light diffuser and snoot.
Miss Mordue, said: "We were delighted to welcome Ester into our Sixth Form classes last week to learn all about the world of a commercial photographer as well as studio techniques. It really helped the students to get an insight into all the different lighting options in a studio and how it is important to spend time practising with the equipment and documenting your results to get the look you want.
"It was also great to hear all about her career to date starting as a photography assistant and digital operator to where she is today. It was a really interesting and inspiring day. My thanks goes to Ester for taking the time to impart her experience and knowledge on us."
