Blacklight Test Shoot

I’ve always loved glowy things. The bright colours, the cool other-worldly feel, the slightly 80’s vibe :D

Every time I see blacklight photography online I want to give it a try myself, but something I’ve noticed is that most of the time models are painted with very thick lines and simple dramatic designs. I am friends with a number of talented make up artists, and one in particular, Celina, loves to create bold experimental looks on a regular basis for her blog Fables in Fashion. It occurred to me that a collaboration with Celina on a blacklight photography could potentially yield some interesting and unique results.

A couple of nights ago Celina and her partner Toby visited for dinner, and afterwards we experimented with using glow in the dark paint as makeup and shooting the results under UV light. Most of the shots were just testing ideas and techniques, but toward the end of the night Celina took the time to try creating a simple ‘look’. Using a circle template and a stiff brush, Toby assisted by spraying different colours in a pattern on Celina’s face.

We loved the look and I took a few photos of Celina, as well as some video. For fun I cut the clips together, added a CC soundtrack and titles, and uploaded the result to youtube. I’m pretty happy with this first experiment in video. You can see it below (please view in HD if you can!), and following that a slideshow of photos from the shoot.

If you would like to browse the gallery at your own pace, or you are viewing via a feed reader, you can see the gallery here: http://neilcreek.smugmug.com/Friends/Blacklight-Test-110603