Into the Dark: UV Glow Make-Up and Video Experiment

In this video I did a self-portrait photoshoot with myself in ultraviolet light. UV light, also referred to as blacklight, is one of my favourite genres to work it. Warning- this video is not suitable for people who are sensitive to light flashes or patterns. 

Shooting yourself isn’t easy. Shooting yourself while half blinded by blacklights, in the dark, without a trigger (!), is even worse.

Because I lost my trigger (a device which sets of your camera so you can sit in front of it and pose), the shoot became a huge struggle. When working all by yourself, while doing your blacklight make-up and filming as well, your studio quickly becomes a huge mess. Especially when you have to work in the dark (the effect of blacklight is only visible with ambient lights off).

Settings: Aperture F2.5, ISO 500, Shutterspeed 1/60 sec.

Another problem I faced was that I had to work with great apertures (small f-numbers), to keep good image/footage quality. When working with great apertures, you have to stay in position perfectly, otherwise you won’t be sharp. Staying in position is quite difficult, when you have to run back and forth to your camera to set the timer. Just moving 1 cm from your focus point can cause unsharpness. Add working with a not-so-fast shutter speed (1/60 sec or 1/100 sec in pictures, 1/30 in film), and you can easily end up with a failed shoot.

Settings: Aperture F2.5, ISO 500, Shutterspeed 1/60 sec.

Luckily, I managed to get some sharp shots, out of the few I took. 

Settings: Aperture F3.2, ISO 800, Shutterspeed 1/100 sec.

About the video. During the shoot, I was singing to some music. When I started to edit the video, I noticed I looked kind of silly, and I came up with an idea. What if I don’t just make a normal blacklight make-up tutorial, but something different? I’m an aspiring filmmaker, so why not try to actually make a small film, that shows a bit of the make-up tutorial, but is also a music video experiment?

So there you go. The reason for my different video this time. I hope you will enjoy it!