One of my favorite shoots

For this #showcase-sunday post, I am going to share one of my favorite shoots I have ever done. I had my very first DSLR Camera for this shoot, a Canon Rebel T5 and a 50mm 1.8 lens that I thought was pretty good at the time.

The whole process was a learning a lot of fun and an awesome learning experience. I hope that you enjoy reading about it and like the pictures.

My first big photo shoot

A few years ago I met my friend Noa Cassidy during a Halloween convention and he was selling some of his custom Halloween masks that he had made. He is a professional special effects artists that and makes custom latex prosthetics, creature design, mask making, prop making and set design. Basically anything you can dream up, he can make it.

After I bought some of his masks I started brainstorming on different ways that we could collaborate to work together in the future. I had a final project for a photography class and I wanted to do an axe murderer horror shoot. When I talked to him about it, he said that he could design a neck appliance that looks like the head is getting chopped off. He had been wanting to make something like this for a while and the photos would be used to promote the product for his Cassidy FX Studios company.

Getting ready

@faitherz33 was going to be the "victim" in the scene so Noa began working on putting the neck appliance on and blending it.

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

It took about an hour and a half to get the appliance put on and painted. When it was done, it looked so real. There were tendons and muscles in the neck that were visible along with the windpipe that was split. Noa started to add finishing touches like splattering blood all over her and she started to look awesome.

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

Now for the murder scene

I set up some studio lights in my garage and put some black bed sheets along the walls as a back drop. I had just started in photography and didn't have much as far as gear goes so it was a pretty ghetto set up.

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

It started to get hot in the garage during the shoot, so halfway through we had to open the garage door and step outside to get some fresh air. We had forgotten that Faith was covered in blood and the neighbors gave us some pretty interesting looks while they drove past. At least no one called the police.

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

I think the whole shoot took about an hour and a half in the hot garage, but it was a blast. It was my first real photo shoot using lighting and props. It was also pretty stressful knowing that I was doing this to promote my friend's business as well, but I think the pictures turned out pretty cool and they really showcased the ways that the neck appliance can be used.

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

I hope that you enjoyed this photo series. I really enjoy doing horror style photography and stuff in this genre, hence the name @derangedvisions, lol. This series is different than what I normally post but it is one of my favorites that I have done. I think this was one of the shoots that was a break through shoot for me where I was really able to show case my creativity.

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}