LO5: Final Photographs

An Abnormal Identity

The theme I chose to focus on was 'The Identity of Abnormality'. The idea behind this is that feeling of being singled out and different. This type of photography was mostly inspired by the surrealist photographer 'Christopher Mckenney'.

I decided to cover my models faces because I think it gives a sense of irony to the word 'Identity' at the same time as enhancing that idea of being cast out from the crowd.

 

In The Looking Glass

 For this picture editing was really important. It presses two images together to create this 'image within an image' effect. The idea behind this image is how you can feel like a completely different person when in certain situations. It's the common idea of seeing someone completely different in the mirror.

Again, the vale creates a feeling of nothingness, and I felt that was an important element to an image like this.

This image will be displayed in the gallery at 594 x 841 mm.



Eyes

This image is supposed to hold on to the idea of 'being watched'. I think there is a bit of a ghostly feel about the image, and so covering the whole face and body was beneficial. The dress and uncovered arms give the model a sort of innocence I feel and so that obviously contrasts with it's overly dark tone

This image will be displayed in the gallery of 842 x 594 mm.



Migraine

This quite simply displays someone who is not in their right frame of mind. The use of colours makes this image really pop in my opinion, and illustrates that 'shaky' feeling you get when you have a migraine for example.

This image will be displayed in the gallery at 842 x 594 mm.





Having Visions

This image again follows that idea of being in the wrong frame of mind. I used various effects to get this image to look old and eerie. I think the lighting is also an important aspect to this image as it creates more spectacle for the viewer.

This image will be displayed at 842 x 594 mm.


A Dark Warmth

This is another image that I think really comes through in the editing. I think this image displays the idea of feeling out of place. There is little use of vibrant colours and I think that helps to make the image more interesting.

This image will be displayed at 594 x 842 mm.

Absorbing

For this image I wanted to create something really dark. The smoke curls around the whole of the right side of the image and I think that helps to make it appear more eerie and interesting. The fire is out and I did this to portray the feeling of having everything taken away. Even though the fire is out the girl is still trying to absorb what's left of its heat, which I think is a dark but powerful message.

This image will be displayed at 842 x 594 mm.


Stand Against the Flame

This image is all about ''Playing with fire'' and generally being too close to something when you know you're going to get hurt. I personally think that's a very strong message and so the best way to portray this, I thought, was to have my model very central standing close to the fire and having no care. Like all of my photographs his face his covered, which is important in this image because you can't see any emotion or reaction to the flames. He's just there, standing against the flames.

This photograph will be displayed at 841 x 1189 



Hiding in the Ashes

This image has a similar message to the previous one but is more about letting things get to you because there is nothing you can do it. The fire is gone out in this image and that's symbolical to me because it's really showing it's too late in my opinion. I chose a girl for this image because stereotypically they are associated with innocence, and I think that innocence is really important when all you can do is stand and watch the world crumble down around you.

This image will also be displayed at 841 x 1189.

I want both Hiding in the Ashes and Standing Against the Flame to be significantly larger images because I personally think they are the most significant and think they embody the theme the best.

Public Display

LO4: Editing Photographs

Image 1

This is the original image.

I then edited that image in photoshop. I made the photo black and white then played with the contrasts to make the model very clear in the image.

I also created a black border which I edited to make it appear more textured.

After that, I printed out the image and re-scanned it in to the computer to make the image look older and have that 'streaky' effect. I wanted this to look like an old fashioned photograph to enhance the meaning of this person being so distant from themselves. 

Image 2

This is the original image.

Here, I have cutout the figure and duplicated it twice. I applied a two different colour overlay, one in green and one in red. Then I brought the opacity right down to give it that blurry effect.

This is the final image, for this I increased the space between the coloured layers to increase the blurred effect. I really wanted this image to portray the feeling of being in the wrong frame of mind, so I used this 3D effect to enhance the meaning behind this photograph. I then darkened the background to make the figure stand out much more. 

Image 3

These are the original images

Using photoshop, I traced the edge of the veil in the first image and then cutout that shape from the second image. I turned the opacity and layered it over the top so that the images appear to be inside of each other.

I then turned the first image black and white, to see how that looked.

I then decided that I wanted some colour adding to the first image so that it really appeared as though you was looking straight through the image. So I edited it so that the colour was very vague and added a blue tint so that the edge of the veil in the first image was very clear.

This image is supposed represent the way that people can be different people depending on their situation. In the first image the girl is sat alone, she is unwanted. But to create meaning  I placed the second image inside of the veil, with a looming male figure behind her, I did this to suggest she feels controlled.

Image 4

This is the original image.

I created a white layer over the top of the image and turned the opacity down. I then cut out a circle from this layer and here I am trying out different bezels on the circle.









At first I tried an inner bezel to give the image a rounded look.

I also changed the contrasts around and enhanced the green colour to give the photograph a warmer feel.

I decided that the rounded bezel didn't really convey the sort of meaning that I wanted in this image. So I changed so that it had a flat outward bezel. I wanted to portray the idea of someone always being watched and so I thought this made it appear like a spotlight which I thought helped to enhance that meaning. 

Image 5

This is the original image.

I changed the contrasts and brightness in this image so that the figure stands out a little bit more. I made a cut out of Lewis so that he appears as though he has been placed on top of the image.

I finally decided to make all of the subject black and white, aside from his tie. This was to enhance the meaning of him being out of place, as that is what I feel this image represents. By making the colours of the fire warm and vibrant and the colours of the subject dull, but distinct I think the subject feels out of place but he also seems to be showing no fear.

Image 6

This is the original image.

I created several different circles  and then played with different colours, bezels, contrasts and brightnesses. I wanted this image to feel really surreal compared to some of the images, and I thought these high contrast sections were one of the best ways to embody that.

The idea behind this image is the way that people can feel like they are being viewed in many different lights, and consequently I edited this image to enhance the meaning quite blatantly through using different amounts of light in the individual images.

LO3: Photographs

In the above picture I am organising all of my files using Adobe Bridge, I did this by renaming them all and rating them out of 5 stars so that all of my best photos can be grouped together.

These are my final photographs as unedited JPEG files. 

The main photographic technique I used was the rule of thirds. This was so that I could properly position the model, and the camera so that they were relatively central to the image, when they needed to be.

Another photography technique I used a couple of times was leading lines. This is most apparent in this image (left), I used this to create more spectacle for the viewer because the logs lead the eye to the model.

All of these photographs were taken in the same location, Charnock Woods. I used the woods as I thought because it is such a desolate area it would help to enhance the idea of someone who is abnormal and an outcast.  The titles for these I think should have a lot of metaphor behind them to enhance the meaning of the photographs, for the close-up of the girl with her face covered for example I could call it 'Blank Expressions' or the man standing besides the fire 'Standing with the flames'. For any of these images it could be as simple as naming them after the location such as 'In the woods'.

For some of these photographs I decided to use the surrounding area to frame the photographs, for example when Lewis is lighting the fire, the firewood itself is covering the bottom half of his body. The eye is drawn to the centre of the photograph and the rest of the photograph is almost obsolete. I think his actions are very obvious in the photographs here so it may be simply titled 'Lighting the fire' or the use of framing could be involved and it could be called 'Covered by the flames' which I think would add more meaning to the photograph as well.

For the pictures of the fire I decided to make the exposure ever so slightly longer, so that any flames could be captured in the image. At this point however the fire had significantly died down. What I really like about these images is that the surrounding area was so dry that that the contrast of the ash and the dirt gives it the appearance of snow on the ground which of course would be impossible besides a fire. I think this could simply be titled 'The ashes' or maybe I could draw on that appearance of snow and call it 'Snow on the ground'.

Because it is difficult to control natural light I had to be very careful with my camera settings to avoid photographs from becoming over exposed and looking bleached. To do this I used a fast shutter speed and a narrow aperture between f/5.6 and f/8.