Work Record - Personal Shoot 10

My Bloody Valentine:

Plans for the shoot:
My plan for today's shoot is to look at the before and after effect's on a flower's life. I am going to take a bunch of flowers and photograph them from different angles and perspectives. In the editing I want to make these images look really bright to represent a pure characteristic and tone. Then I want to completely destroy the flowers by smashing them against a wall so that they look really rough. When I shoot these images, I then want to use fake blood and drip it from the petals to also show a contrast between human life and nature. I think I also want to create some animations and multiple imagery pieces from today's photos, including some possible overlay photographs.

Shoot Evaluation:
I was really lucky with todays shoot as nobody else was booked in for the studio, so I practically used 3 whole hours to experiment with the flowers that I brought in. I didn't get around to doing my crushed flowers as I knew that once I destroyed them, I wouldn't be able to do anything else with them, so I might save this idea for another shoot. I did however manage to find some fake blood, and I experimented heavily by dripping it across the flowers whilst they were hung upside-down to give the impression that they were 'dead', mixing human characteristics with nature. I think the work also shows contrast in the colours, and also in the themes of life and death, as flowers are normally symbolic of life.

I really like the composition of this particular shot because I didn't shoot many portrait, but I think it works as it shows that the flowers are being hung upside-down, whereas you wouldn't necessarily identify that in a close-up crop. As nice as the actual flowers look in this picture, I am disappointed with the lighting, as I think I may have blocked the lights slightly as I took the picture which has caused the darker shadow on the left side, which I don't particularly like in the photo.








This is one of my favourite straight prints from the shoot because I was actually able to capture the blood dripping from the flower, which was initially very difficult to do as focussing the camera took longer when the drips were unpredictable and too quick to shoot. I think the brightness of the lighting and the white flowers contrasts really nicely with the red of the blood, and the crop allows the viewer to focus directly on the blood which is about to drip onto the floor. I like that I used a whole bunch of flowers instead of just one as it fills the whole frame and adds depth to the image.

I also made an animation for the flower shoot showing the bouquet go from empty to full, and then it repeats. The only problem I had with this is I realised I should have perhaps included a picture of the vase completely empty, but I forgot this. 

Best Personal Work So Far - 21.11.13

Work Record - Personal Shoot 9

Changing of the Seasons:

Plans for the shoot:

My initial plan for today's shoot was to focus on the idea of HDR landscape photography. I have researched the technique of HDR photography and I wanted to apply it to a few landscape photos to show the dynamic contrasts between tones, colours, exposure etc. However, the weather wasn't particularly good for this sort of a technique because the lighting was quite dull and the 'landscapes' around the college aren't as interesting as I would have hoped. Instead, I wanted to make good use of the dull lighting and photograph some more 'wintery' images. I know I have already photographed some autumnal and summery images already, so I plan to combine all the images together in some way to show the contrast between the seasons.

Shoot Evaluation:

This isn't the only image I took from today's shoot, but it is definitely my favourite as this was my goal for the day. I used lots of photo filters and curves and levels to adjust the impact each season had on the photos, and I love the clear contrast between each of the four. The use of colour allows for a clear distinction between each season and the variety in the types of images makes the piece more interesting to look at. However, I may re-work this piece and experiment with various other techniques or perhaps some different images for the grid as I feel the autumn row looks quite weak in comparison to the other three.

Progress Check - w/c November 25th - What do I have left to do?

Contacts personal - eleven.....

Work diaries - Personal project 11.....

Further Evaluation of Results Achieved from Personal Shoot 3

original edit

new edit

Since completing this shoot several months ago, I have gone back to re-visit the edits I produced from the shoot to help improve the quality of my best work. The original 'melting' photos I produced were created using a method of different brushes, and then adding shadow to the layers to add depth to the images. I initially thought that the effect looked really effective, but once I had printed the image off, you could tell that the colours didn't match up as well to the skin as I had have liked, and it clearly looked 'painted-on'. I have now changed my mind about the images that I produced and I wanted to improve the results.

I came across the liquify tool in Photoshop recently and I had never really used it before now. Using this tool, I drew strokes down from the hand to give the impression that it was melting, and I think it looks a lot neater and more realistic, as it is simply the hand's properties being drooped down, so there is no need to worry about the colours not being correct or the shadows looking unrealistic. I am definitely going to replace the work I produced using the initial technique with this new technique I have learnt. 

Work Record - Personal Shoot 8

Evolution of Technology (new and old) [part 2]

Plans for the shoot:

When I first shot this particular topic last thursday, I didn't get a chance to finish off all of the ideas I had planned to do due to experimenting with the first half of my ideas. I focussed mostly on the cameras last week and created an animation for this idea, but I still have the evolution of music to look at, where I have brought in vinyls, CDs, tapes, ipods and mp3 players.
I am going to start off with this shoot a lot more basic than the first one; I want to make sure I photograph each of the objects individually before I get into anything complicated. I am going to use this time to photograph 'an image within an image' as I want to place items such as the CD 'inside' the vinyl to show the change between old and new music.

Shoot Evaluation:
I didn't quite get all of the time I needed in the studio today due to other photographers over-running in the studio, but I didn't mind as all of my shots were quite basic. I will use my next lesson on monday to edit the shots I did produce and create some final pieces.

 Although quite basic, I really like this edit as it subtly shows the contrast between new and traditional media. Even though you can't fully see the first vinyl record in the line, you know what it is because of the recurring theme of music in the shot, and that's what I like about it. I also feel it is important to put them in a line as it created a nice pattern for the viewer to follow from vinyl to CD.

I really liked the idea of this image-within-an-image piece because I knew I could easily show the comparison between modern and slightly older photography methods. However, what I didn't realise is was that the digital camera was upside down when I photographed it, so actually in this image the shutter button is on the bottom, and the photo didn't look the same when I flipped it over because of the lighting, so in that sense, I am quite disappointed with the result.

Contrast of the Elements : Computer Experiment

This images are part of what I call an 'extension' from my second personal shoot where I photographed Katie for my 'ageing' idea. Once I had done this I came across a really interesting photoshop tutorial where you can give a portrait an icy or firey look about them, Ice/water, naturally, is a complete contrast to fire, and I wanted to create something really eye-catching from the basic portraits I captured in that second personal shoot.

Work Record - Personal Shoot 7

Evolution of Technology (new and old) [part 1]

Plans for the shoot:
Last night I rummaged around my house with my dad looking for various pieces of technology from both of our generations, as I decided for this shoot today I wanted to focus on the contrast between old and new technology. I have managed to collect: a vinyl record, CDs, various old phones, my ipod, my smartphone, digital camera, bridge camera, old disposable camera, and a video tape. With these, I am going to shoot in the studio using various techniques. This will be another of my 'experimental' shoots where the final pieces are more likely to come after I have edited some of the shots together. I am going to start by photographing each of the individual items and then I'll photograph the old and new items side by side. I'm also going to use an overlay technique to show the contrast. One of my shots will focus more so on the cameras I have brought in, using an 'image within an image' technique, starting with the disposable camera and the getting 'newer' as the shots come 'closer' to the front.

Shoot Evaluation:
Despite the initial struggles with this particular shoot, in the sense that I felt like I wasn't getting the results that I wanted, I was able to get some really interesting images from them. With this first animation, my initial plan was to have my model holding out the cameras on just one hand, but the weight difference between the newer and older cameras was so substantial that it was near impossible to keep completely still, which would have made the animation look ineffective. I decided then to place my model siting on a stool, so that way she could be supported by her lap and would only have to focus on keeping the rest of her body still. Although there is some slight movement in her head in some of the shots, because of the change in the frames on the animation, the movement isn't so evident so essentially I did achieve what I had planned and I am really happy with the result. The only thing I would criticise is that the camera doesn't actually appear to be that old, and doesn't create much of a contrast. I think the camera would have looked older in colour as you would have been able to identify it more, but I wanted the black and white effect as this again gave the impression that it was taken with a really old camera.

This second image was again another complete experiment, as I wasn't planning on doing this particular effect with this shoot. When browsing for Photoshop tutorials, I came across one to turn an image into a Polaroid-style collage, and I thought to myself, that the Polaroid camera is another example of an older style of camera, as they are not so common these days. However, I didn't have a Polaroid camera with me, which is why I chose to use the tutorial on this image of my model holding the more modern digital camera, as this to me shows the contrast of old and new technology again. I really think the actual effect itself looks amazing and I will definitely use it again considering how easy it was to produce. 

FUTURE SHOOT

Yin and Yang:

Plans for the shoot:
Because I have only just started planning for Thursday's shoot, I know I am not going to be ready in time for one of my other studio-based shoots I have planned in my Improvement Plan (previous post), due to not having a model or the correct costumes I will want to use. For this shoot, I am going to conduct it at home as I can use one of my younger brothers as my model. Daniel is only ten, but I think he has a very serious, almost grown-up face and this will work well for the mood of the shots i want. Using black and white face paint I am going to paint the Yin and Yang symbol across his face and photograph him against a plain white background. I am going to experiment shooting in colour, but I think the results will look best when I change them to black and white in Photoshop. Because I have two younger brothers, I am also thinking that I might experiment by painting one of their faces completely white, and the other completely black and photographing them close together. If they have the right t-shirts, I will also shoot it so that they are wearing the alternate coloured top. Ideally, I would want to do this sort of a shoot in the studio, but because I specifically want to use my brothers because of their similarities in height and age, I can only do this at home because they are in school all day and wouldn't be able to come in to the studio before Thursday.

Shoot Evaluation:

IMPROVEMENT PLAN:

After evaluating my best work from my personal shoots, I have decided that I need to create a basic plan for the next few shoots I am going to conduct in order to improve the quality of my portfolio. I decided that a lot of my work so far has been focussed on location-based work, and mostly with objects and visual contrasts, but in order to boost up my final potential grade, I need to think deeper into my topic and also vary the appearance of the images within my portfolio.

SHOOT IDEAS/PLANS:

• Firstly I want to look back at some of the shoots I have already conducted and re-evaluate the results I produced and potentially re-do them to improve such results. This is the case so with the 'pumpkin' shoot I produced not too long ago, as the results didn't show my initial contrast as much as I had wanted them to. My thought was to contrast the idea of something scary - i.e. the Halloween element of the pumpkin, with something really innocent and sweet, which is where the idea of the fairy lights came from. I also intended to use some sweets and shoot them pouring out of the pumpkins mouth to show this contrast, but I didn't think about the use of lighting enough with this shoot, which stopped me from using the sweets as they couldn't be seen as well as I had wanted, so in the end, I had a shoot which did show the Contrast between light and dark. So, to further improve my ideas, I feel like I want to use another pumpkin, remove the fairy lights and therefore use a brighter background, which will allow the overall brightness of the results to strengthen, meaning that pouring sweets through the mouth will be more visible than before. I have also thought about using melted chocolate through the mouth as this will represent something such as blood, but instead again bring a contrast of sweet and evil. 

• Another idea I would like to introduce into my portfolio is something I was inspired by by one of my researched photographers. The Holi festival is a Hindu festival celebrated with a 'party' of colours, and the people all throw and decorate each other with coloured powders. When I was looking for inspiration online, I also found that this is a really fun and effective technique used by modern portraiture photographers, and I feel this will look really effective if I can shoot this in the studio. I can either start outside and throw the colours onto a model wearing a white t-shirt, and then photograph the model inside in the studio against a black or white background. A white background will allow the colours to be picked up as a stronger contrast, or a black background will also introduce contrast between the t-shirt and the background. I also really like the patterns created with the use of coloured powder paints and they can make really magical effects in a photo. I want to also try this shoot outside which will allow me to photograph the paints as they are being thrown, whilst I can't do this in the studio for making a mess.
• I want to do a second shoot based on the above idea, but further contrast it with the use of white talcum powder against a black background. This way it will show a contrast between black and white, and I can also use the shots and create a photo combined with the coloured shots from the previous shoots.  

• Similarly to this shoot, I want to also try the same effect with paints. This shoot I want to conduct at home because I can use my two younger brothers. As they are both of the same age and height, I think this will look effective in showing contrast because there will also be similarities to contrast with the contrast (if that makes sense). My more specific plan for this is to focus more on close-up shots, having my two brothers face to face, close to each other etc. with each of them 'representing' a different contrasting colour. 

• I also have an interest for fashion photography, and the only thing that stopped me from doing it as a whole topic was knowing that I wouldn't be able to provide models on a regular basis. I would like to continue my idea of black and white as a contrast, using one model across two individual shoots. Firstly, I want to use my model wearing a jet black dress and shoes against a white background. I then want to reverse the appearance using a white dress and shoes against a black background. This idea was derived from  the idea of Yin and Yang, and I may also incorporate the symbol somehow in my edits. I want to create a repetition-piece using these shots, alternating between white and black. I will then also try with the two different shot types against the white background, and then blending the different images to make it appear that my model is appearing more than once in the same image. 
• Following on from the last idea, I have seen some make-up inspired photography based on the Yin and Yang symbol. Whilst there is the contrast of black and white already within the symbol, the individual meanings also contrast each other. Using a male model (I may use my brother unless I can find another male volunteer) I want to paint the face half black - half white. On the white side, I want my model to close his eye so I can paint the eyelid black, whilst on the black side I'll ask him to keep the eye open as this will act as an immediate 'white dot' without needing paint.

• In my project proposal I talked about a really creative idea of mine inspired by artwork from a Deviant-artist based on the contrast of good and evil. All fairytales have their heroes and their villains, and I want to portray this image in shoot. For this, I am going to either need to create a costume, buy one, or find a model who already has one - I want my model to dress up as a stereotypical 'Disney-style Princess' to represent the usual good in fairytales, but put a twist on the way they are presented i.e. cover them in blood, dark heavy makeup, weapons etc. I have some friends so far who are willing to do this particular shoot for me, which will take place in the studio, but before I can conduct it I need to be able to get hold of a costume which I can essentially 'destroy'. 

More Inspiring Pics:

Unit 3 Best Work So Far

I am really proud of some of the pictures I have produced so far this year, but I think it is evident from my powerpoint that I need to improve my future shoots in order to make up more numbers for my final portfolio. So far I feel like a lot of my work is quite basic, and I am still waiting to take on more complex ideas for the theme of 'Contrasts' but this has so far only be due to not having a model around. With my portfolio so far, I feel I have covered a wide range of different topics under Contrasts, but there are still many more which I would like to explore.

My favourite shoot so far has been my 'orange' shoot and my shoot with the ice, and I feel like the use of Photoshop has really improved and benefitted the quality of my work. I think the use of brushes in Photoshop makes these shots stand out the most in my portfolio, and I definitely want to take these skills forward into future shoots I conduct to give my work an 'edge.'

I feel I have definitely demonstrated skill in my location shoots, and with objects, but I definitely feel like I want to take my work forward by working with people more, and not necessarily looking at visual contrasts, but perhaps mental contrasts, or contrasts which can't be seen.

Essentially, I don't think I am planning for my shoots enough - I am often leaving them till' last minute and I need to learn from this by planning all my shoots in advance and scheduling everything in. My photos so far don't look like they are all good enough for a grade A, and I was rather limited to what images I wanted to include as I don't think I am producing enough, good-quality images.