Blume BTS

Heyyyyy, I'm excited to share this BTS post with you all today! This was a shoot that we did pretty recently for Blume, and it might be one of my favorites. If you're a Saturday or Sunday level member, Arabela posted an Edit With Me video showing how she edited one of the images from this shoot, so make sure to check that out if you're interested. 

Ok, let's jump into how we concepted this shoot. Here are some sketches that I came up with during brainstorming. We've talked about this before, but sketching and mocking up your concepts before you go into production is super helpful! Because I created these sketches, I was able to reuse aspects of each set so I had less production work to do, and the images turned out more cohesive. I also was able to figure out what props I needed and the size of the shapes before cutting them. These sketches are pretty rough and not totally to scale - I've now started creating mockups using Illustrator on the computer and my Ipad because it's easier to make changes and scale everything, but if you don't have those tools available, you can definitely create sketches like this. 

The client wanted images that were simple yet unique, used their brand colors, and alluded to products on a bathroom counter. They specifically requested tile. You all know we love working with tile, and we have a whole post about how you can make your own tile backgrounds as well as an IGTV demonstrating the process.

We decided that we wanted to use peach and blue tile for these shots since those fit in their brand colors. Since purchasing colored tile can be expensive and shipping times can be long, we found a way to make our own colored tile quickly and easily. We spray paint the tiles once they are placed, before we add grout. You'll want to make sure that you use a spray paint that is matte and durable. When you grout the tile, make sure to move quickly and work in sections  when you add the grout and wipe it off. If you allow it to dry, it will be more likely to take off the paint. 

I also wanted to make a textured background that would be simple but add some interest. I ended up purchasing wooden dowels from home depot. I cut them to the size I wanted with our scroll saw. I put wood glue along the middle part of the dowels and then hot glue at the ends and spaced them out on a piece of particle board. The hot glue was to hold the dowels in place while the wood glue dried so I didn't have to use clamps. The reason I didn't use hot glue along the entire length of the dowel is because it would cool too quickly and not stick. A quick way to space them out is to place a dowel in between the one you glued and the one you are gluing.  Once all the dowels were glued and dried, I spray painted the board with the same spray paint I used for the tile. 

Blume uses a lot of organic shapes in their packaging, and they loved it when we incorporated them into previous shoots, so we decided to use them again in this shoot. To make these shapes, I used pieces of particle board and drew the shape we wanted to cut out with a pen. I then cut them out with our scroll saw, sanded the edges, and then painted them with matte interior paint. 

We wanted each of these shots to reference something about the product, for example cotton for the 100% cotton tampons, or wooden stars for the Stargirl face spray. These extra props were purchased from Etsy. The cotton had dark brown stems, but I painted them with interior matte paint (which I don't recommend - it took FOREVER). 

Here are some more BTS shots as well as some of the sketches compared to some of the final shots - feel free to ask me questions about anything that you're curious about! 

Is it the weekend yet?
Elle