Experimental Media: Time Manipulation Film

The First half of our experimental media lesson was to create a soundscape, the second is to create an experimental film for roughly 5 minutes. This seems like quite a daunting task so to get the ball rolling we've been set a task to create a short experimental film within a week based around time manipulation. 

From what I learned during all the previous films I've made I knew it would be a lot easier if i joined up with a few people for this task and hopefully for the final film. The last film I made on DFSA was, lets just say not the best. But, from that task I made a few good friends, who I worked really well with so I asked if they wanted to team up, and Ciara did. I think this pairing is going to work very well because even though some of our aesthetic choices are fairly different I think we can merge them quite well. I also think we compliment each other well as when making films my mind goes straight to the style and look of the film and Ciara handles the consept side of film better than me.

For this film, typically, I knew what techniques I wanted to reprise from my skill set for this film. The technique is called Interpolation and is the pixel motion frame blending of a imported JPEG sequence. so basically it's just warped images. I really link this technique because at base level it's quite simple but how to apply the technique and how to warp the sequence further is how to get the best of the technique. I I think this technique also fits perfectly with the idea of time as it plays on how images are just small captured moments and the technique warps and blends them together almost as a fake or simulation of time. 

To film/shoot we used Ciara's DSLR on the fast shutter as I wiggled my hands and a suggestive motion. We decided on hands for the film as it was a simple thing that we could use and get varied pictures from while still keeping the look of the film professional and aesthetically pleasing. There where a few hiccups that we didn't really get like how a chunk of the pictures came out pink but it worked in  our favour as I using it as a guide for the gradient ramp I overlayed when I was colour correcting. Ciara thought it would also be good to get some regular footage to balance out the JPEG sequences so we shot some slowmo closeups and it ended up giving the film an odd sensual feel in the end with those additions. The edit for this film went as smoothly as it could with using the pixel motion frame blending on JPEG sequences as the pre render for these take an immense amount of time. but apart ofr that the actual editing went well, We used a the song Wall Fuck by Flume which I shortened to be about a minute. This song ended up being a perfect fit as the rhythm matched the speed of the interpolation and it flowed well, there are sections which slowed so I put the actual footage in there and because of the yellow tinge to them because of the tungsten lights for most of those shots i made them black and white, This ended up heightening their break like nature as they became a visual pace break from the rapid interpolation, And and visual colour break from the pink. I added a progression to the film by layering the interpolation, either by just reflection the footage to make geographical shapes or by doing that and the offsetting the time of the footage to create a continuous warping flow. At climax point in the film I editing the gradient ramp and added extra footage of my hands revealing my eye and the tapestry that's in my room just to vary up the visuals. To end the film I tried to break down the layers and the colour correction of the top and finally ended it on a freeze frame as a symbol of the end of the film and also the link back to the original theme of time that this film has. 

over all I think this film is really successful and I really link it I did have some trouble exporting but that was just because the size of the film was just too big but apart from that their were no major bumps and I hope that we get assigned a second mini task so for the next one we can make it more concept based, as this film was primarily my vision I'd like to make one where we can switch roles and Ciara can shine too. 

Portraits Final Series

Yay Finally it's done, I finished cropping and tweaking my images so they all have a unified look. I'm very proud of how they've come out and really fit what I wanted the create. A beautiful set of images that are going to have a positive effect on my life by helping me pass my first year of university. This overruling the brutal circumstances in which they document. I think my images tell the story I want them to tell and I've chosen a name for the series. Heart Strung. I chose this name as a play on the phrase Heartstrings becuase the situation the images show has happened so I wanted a past tense version of the phrase. I also chose name for all my individual images based on Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' view on the stages of grief as she give grief 6 stages; Shock, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. I chose the 6 stages of grief because they fit surprisingly well with the order of my images. I also chose for the 5th image to be there as in the other 2 subject based picture they wool's covering my face but in this image its not further linking to the disconnection. I think the white background I had fit the theme also as it represents my purity and unknowing within this situation and the slight gradient in the background shows the slight progression into darkness. In the end these images ended up being a way for me to get over my ex and helped me greatly. I think my only wish for this project is that I did want to have more digital manipulation in my final images but I feel this images I've chosen are stronger without it. It's almost as if the shoots i did for my last Portraits project worked better for this term of portraits and this terms worked better for the last term, in the aspect of digital manipulation. 

Shock by Joe Palmer

Denial by Joe Palmer

Anger by Joe Palmer

Bargaining by Joe Palmer

Depression by Joe Palmer

Acceptance by Joe Palmer

Portraits: Curation

Possible Layout Ideas for a Final Series for Portraits by Joe Palmer

My main struggle with the curation was what set of images to use. Because i really like Love Laundry as I think they're quite interesting images. I looked into a a couple of way in which I could showcase Love Laundry  and in one I had whipped up a sample of a 4 image to tie the 3 together a little that is a blown up version of the clothes with the text Love over the top in the font Symbols. I did like this set up but the 4 image I added in wasn't exactly a portrait and in general I had more research behind the other images and couldnt find a way to incorporate the string into the Love Laundry pictures. I then played about with different grid formations with the string set (no name yet), I thought it would be a fun idea to actually make the piece multi media by pinning wool to the pictures. with this idea I thought a line of photographs would be a good idea and have the string connecting them all but the 5 image, this is because the 5th image follows the scissors. Altogether this represents how i've now been removed from the equation and my ex has broken the tie between us. I also thought that I wanted to square the images because I simply like them that way. Overall I think this is a solid idea for my series and makes it more interesting for the viewer but the added wool really ties all the images together. 

Portraits: Shoot 2 (FINAL)

After the last shoot, I came into this one with a much stronger vision of what I wanted to create, I also have decided that I want to use myself as a model becuase this entire project is about my relationship and I feel the only way to convey the emotions that I want is if I'm the subject. because of this I've asked my two friends to help me out and be camera assistances. I started the shoot not very well and I was under the weather on this shooting day and actually lost my glasses. I then got a message from both my camera assistances saying they were going to be late, so a bit of a rocky start. I set up the studio and the camera up myself with all the same equipment I had last time because I feel like the set up I had was pretty good on the lighting on the skin. Although setting the camera up by myself lead to the main tragedy of the shoot and that's that the whole time the camera was ever so slightly out of focus becuase I focused the camera without my glasses on. I used a chair with my bag on as the temporary subject. When my friends arrived they helped me finish off the last few things like getting the large beauty dish on the light. I set the lights to be quite brite similar to my last shoot but didn't calculate that fact that the background will now be reflecting a lot more light so the raws were a little over exposed which i had to adjust in Lightroom after the shoot. For this shoot I had a very clear idea of what I needed to be shot rather than experimenting so I was able to speed through the shoot with easy knowing I'd got everything. I needed 2 types of pictures in my shoot, subject photos of myself that I was going to try a few different things on and then secondly I needed pictures of hands. This is because I had an epiphany about how I want my finally series to be curated. 

I started shooting the subject shots as they will be the bulk of the series. I first began with just shots by myself that I eventually realised weren't working. For this shoot I brought a lot of spare clothes as alternates that I thought I could use to create different effects. With this I just kind of had a snap idea, a Eureka moment you could say, to just throw the clothes in the air. so I did.

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

When looking back on the images of the falling clothes I realised that all but one of the tops falling are clothes that have been bought for me by previous boyfriends.  and are actually some of my favourite shirts. I really like the idea of this set of three images and am genuinely considering using them (after alight adjustments on Lightroom and Photoshop) to use these 3 images as my series. One reason I'm thinking of using this bunch is because I really like the name Love Laundry for them. I think they show a very similar message to the one I've planned as I has the calamity of a break up and I feel it links to the stereotypical idea of throwing your ex partners clothes out the window and I think that's a really interesting aspect of these images that I didnt think of while shooting, I just thought it would look cool. I also love the faceless aspect of these iamges and how it stripes my identity away, I think this is where these set of images have their power as the viewer is able to place themselves into the subjects spot easier and it creates a more personal experience with the art. 

After this small detour that during shooting I didn't realise was a very good idea I went back to what I was doing in the last two shoots where I draped on red wool and played with it while my friends took pictures. Only one of the images (the last one shown ) really took my eye which is why I didnt proceed with including any of these within the final series.

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

I think the main problem I have with this set of images Is because I haven't developed the use of wool any further from the previous shoot. I like to develop my ideas a lot into their purest form as this is a work ethic that was drilled into me when I did graphics in College. 

Next I was a little unsure what to do next so I played with the wool more and got alot more pictures have I've gotten from the past shoot, I then thought about using the throwing clothes I did previously but throw the wool instead to see what kind of images I could get from this. I was hoping that it would lead to images that would have the same connotations of entrapment and turmoil, joined with the connotations that came with the faceless images that were created in Love Laundry. 

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

I loveeee these images, they came out exactly how I wanted them the really fit the vision of what I was looking for in thee images; Ethereal, semi candid, clean and bright images with abstract visuals working as metaphors for the real meaning behind the work. I wanted this look for the final pictures as this whole process is about me creating work that is beautiful to combat the unfortunate circumstances of my life. I like the work to have juxtaposition in it as I feel it can create a more impactful meaning. 

This concluded the first half of the shoot, next I did hand shots that i'm going to be using a storytellers within the series. 

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of myself from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of my Housemate Holly from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of my Housemate Holly from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of my Housemate Holly  from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

Shot of my Housemate Holly  from Portraits Shoot 2 by Joe Palmer

These are the final Images I needed for the series and I feel like I got some good ones. As I said earlier I want to use these images as story tellers I want to use the 2 individual hand picture to act as almost bookends, acting as the 2 people within the relationship and then I had my housemates hand cutting the string to show the inevitable journey of the relationship.

Overall this shoot has been fantastic, I think Ive got alot of good material to work with. I think for this bunch of photos I've going to leave the editing to be purely cosmetic, such as cleaning edges, cropping out unwanted background images. This is mainly becuase the images already say what I want them too. Next I just have to work out my curation of these images.

Portraits: Shoot 1 & Editing

Finally onto shooting, This is the first project that I've gone into knowing exactly what I want to shoot and im very happy with that. I tried to plan as much as I could with this shoot before hand to make sure it went smoothly. I wanted to take pictures against a white background with my models looking melancholy and vacant. I also booked out a Nikon D-90, medium sized tripod, trigger, light meter, and a Large Beauty Dish. I bought red wool as a prop, scissors just in case, and changes of clothes for models. I asked for help from my classmates with this shoot to be models, I posted in our groups facebook page and got lots of responses and this was fantastic as I wanted to use as many different kinds of people as I could. This was because different models always do different poses and act differently than the last so I wanted to get as many varied pictures as I could so I could see what worked the best for my vision. When it came to shooting day only 2 people turned up which was a bit of a pain but I still got alot of fantastic pictures. 

The second hurdle that I faced was when I was setting up I realised that I was going to manipulating the images quite alot so I thought I should use green screen rather than using white like I originally planned. In the end this worked out relatively well for the test shoot. I split the shoot into 2 sections, the first being with George and the second with Nina.

Shot of George from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer

The first half of the shoot went overall well, I think i did a good job at directing George, I tried to give example poses for him and explain how he should be feeling although I did make him laugh a bit which was slightly counter productive but I still have fun in this half of the shoot. I started with Just george by himself and I felt he hefl uncomfortable so I added in the wool to give him something to do and I wanted the wool to act almost as if there was a second subject in the frame not only to ease the subject but to make a more interesting image. As for model direction I gave George a pale shirt to fit the aesthetic I was looking for and tied his hair back as best I could to give the image a sharper feel. 

The above image is by far my favourite picture from the first half of the shoot. For me I really like how it has almost a deer in headlights feel too it how George is staring into the huge square soft box. I wrapped the red wool around George becuase I wanted there to be a feeling of entrapment as well as him being 'caught up' in the relationship. 

Shot of George from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer

During the shoot I decided to drape all the red wool around the frame on chairs and the back of the set etc. I did this becuase I wanted to create more of a set and to increase the feels that I mentioned in the previous image I like this development I took but It did become cumbersome trying to reframe to get more varied pics but still have the draped strings in shot. So I took it down and focused on the subject. This was also a good development as trying to remove the greenscreen on these images was nearly impossible and it really left the images look too cluttered for the aesthetic I'm going for in this series.  Also George being the very positive person he is was having some trouble with the sadness I wanted him to express. 

Shot of George from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer

This shot was improvised by George where he held the wool in front of his mouth to replicate a smile. I really like this as it goes back to my my initial thoughts of how different models act differently and you wont get the same pictures with different models. I also quickly changed framing for this picture as I wanted it to be faceless. I really liked this composition and continued it throughout the rest of Georges half of the shoot. Im slightly unsure about the composition change for the images as they do go against my initial vision but I thought I'd experiment in this test shoot. 

Shot of George from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer

I really like this image. I feel it has great potential but I could easily just swap out the backgrounds and it was still be effective. I think my favourite part of this image is how the focal point in on the chest where the heart is. It gets alittle literal but I feel that fine, maybe I can edit the image to be more obscure. 

Shot of Nina from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer

Next I moved onto the Nina half of the shoot. This half did go a little smoother than Georges because Nina immediately new what to do and was very comfortable behind the camera. I started this half just how I started with George by just getting some solo pictures with Nina and no wool, And for this half I didn't wrap the string around nina as I tried that technique with George, Instead I gave Nina a Lump of wool to play with and manipulate to symbolise the struggle in relationships. Although the wool playing left me some really interesting images they become very difficult to edit so I only ended up editing with the simpler images from Ninas half. 

Shot of Nina from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer

The above image is one of the first of Nina and I really like it I think its a great pose that is reminiscent of The Eureka Project by Gem Fletcher  and I really feel I can develop this picture further with editing, currently I'd like to run with the Eureka project theme and maybe involve flowers. Just to see if I can develop my images without the wool and see if it gives the same message. to vary up my images. the only aspects of this image I dont like is how the light isnt hitting her face right but that was my fault for not directing the hair out of her face. 

Shot of Nina from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer

This image is actually the final image of the shoot becuase my camera filled up, as it normally does, and I ended up taking around 400 pictures. Even with that I still really like this picture I think it's very different from what im going for but there's something about it that draws me in, I think it's possibly a very accurate way to portray how I'm feeling in this situation. I also really like how the wool is covering the face like how the ink splatters do in Ink by Mads Perch. 

Editing

I then moved onto editing my pictures I wasn't quite sure where to start so I just kind of dove right in and started with the last picture of the shoot. Overall the editing process was really eye opening as I ended up realising that I kind of wanted to edit my images less then originally thought.

Edited Shot of Nina from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer 

I started my editing journey with this, overall I think its an interesting image but in reality the glitch effect has nothing to do with what I'm trying to do and kind of moves to far away from the original concept. This image to me is more of a comment on technology which I think is a little overdone. This doesn't help by the border I chose for this image  I do still think it has some connotations towards my idea, like how the static could relate to the confusion and struggle that happens at the end of a relationship. There is still the wool visible all all its connotations but I feel like it's eaten up by the glitch and has become more of an afterthought which is not what I want at all.

Edited Shot of Nina from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer 

So from the last image I decided to play around with the editing style in the eureka effect. I took inspiration from the most abstract from that project by Gem Fletcher. It was easy to make as I simply cut out the face and enlarged it, then i added a drop shadow, this was done to create an illusion of distance and perspective. In the eureka effect inside the face was plants to represent sprouting ideas so for mine I took the symbol of red wool and placed it behind the face. In general i think is look relatively cool but doesn't have the same effect as the eureka effect images. Mine came off more like she's obsessed with wool and knitting rather than the turmoil of a relationship.

Edited Shot of Nina from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer 

I then moved to a more inspired rather than copied method of editing with these two images. I loveeeeeee this picture I think its inspired but also has its own meaning, I feel it strays a little from my original concept but I still like it. For me I feel it represents a skewed view of love.  The flowers are a very romantic image and represent love and then I cut out and dragged Nina's eyes away from it to relay the message. A message that I relate too. I do really like this image and I'm considering adjusting my idea to fit this message instead my only problem is that I can't currently think of any other way but this way of editing to represent this message.

Edited Shot of Nina from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer

This image is my attempt on developing the previous concept aannddddd, I'm not quite sure about it. I feel like it feels like its been over worked but thats purely becuase I wanted to make it different enough from the last image It still has the same visual message in the flower but because I couldnt find a way to incorporate the eye piece I took it out and now it feels more like that this image is saying that she's blinded by love to me. I think overall as much as i love the previous image I have stronger thoughts and ideas towards my original idea and will be able to move forward that idea easier.

Edited Shot of George from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer

Next I moved onto editing some pics of George. For this one I took my favourite Image and straight away I wanted to highlight what I like about it, his eyes, So i simply cut them out and brightened them along with increasing their saturation. I did this becuase while I was looking at this image the square light in his eyes felt very unnatural almost robotic like tiny screens so I wanted to make his eyes seem more un-human. I felt like I wanted to edit this image slightly more though so i cut out his mouth and ear and replaced it with a flower as it resembles almost a gag, like george is incapacitated by love.

Edited Shots of George from Portraits Shoot 1 by Joe Palmer

Finally I made these images The left was the original one and the right is a developed version. I really do quite like these images but I feel off about them, I'm not sure what it is but for some reason I just dont think they'll fit. Perhaps its because they are, to me, a more literal depiction of heart break. I created the image on the left by simply cutting out the whole inbetween the red string and then i made a drop shadow within the hole. the right image was a little more complex, I cut out a circle keeping the red wool and then duplicated that wool, spun it round, enlarged it slightly, pulled it out of focus and darkened it placing it behind George. I then created a pink rectangle behind George offsetted it and then darkened it with the brush tool. I think this one is more successful than the previous but the only thing I dont like George does look alittle like processed ham.

Overall I think this shoot and editing session went very well and its helped me focus my vision more. The main problem with the shoot was the green screen, Initially I thought it was a good idea to use a green screen as it would be easier to manipulate the images which it was but all the subjects have a green glow around then where ever there hair, and the wool does too as it's so thin. So moving forward I think im going to have a white background and see how that goes.

Portraits: Concept Research

After the last portraits task I knew I needed to find, choose, and research a concept for the photo series fast in order to streamline my work process and so I can create a stronger series in the end. Initially I was stumped as because we have more freedom on this task it was almost too much and I couldn't focus onto one subject that I was thinking of from outside sources. I was looking into the current political climate and it just wasn't talking to me in anyway. I eventually realised that it was because of more personal reasons that I couldn't focus. Very soon after receiving the brief for this project my, now ex, boyfriend broke up with me and it didn't leave me in a very good place. I've never been very good at dealing with some emotions becuase I kind of just ignore them and pack them away in a box never to be felt, so I thought I use this project as a way to channel this awful situation into something beautiful. 

The Red Thread of Fate

The red thread of fate has been an idea that I've always known about as since I was young Ive been exposed to East Asian pop culture through anime and music, and the concept of it is in most stories. The belief originated from Chinese legend and it's said that the gods would tie a red string around the ankles of people who are destined to be together. In Japanese culture it's been popularised to be tied around the little finger instead. The two people connected by the red thread are destined to be lovers, regardless of place, time, or circumstances. This magical string may stretch or tangle, but never break. The myth is directly comparable to the Western concept of soulmates.

I'd like to utilize the idea of the red string in my portraits series as a way to represent either the journey of my late relationship or as symbolic metaphor within the greater image. I think this alongside the beautiful almost glamour shots I hope to shoot  I think will come together to make a really striking image. With this new Idea I'm not sure how much I want to digitally manipulate my images as I almost want to keep them as simple as possible in order to have the concept be what makes the images special rather than the manipulation. Plus with my style of manipulation being mainly through duplication and layer blending I feel this montage method would end up creating a third meaning within the images which is something I dont want. 

Portraits: Visual Research

I new for this project I wanted to practice skills that I didn't in the last project, because I used a projector in the dark last time I never got a chance to practice with lighting. I really like very bright, smooth, and almost flat images. I really like this type of aesthetic because I feel like they really highlight the subject more and bring out a smoother clean look. To start my search for images like these I went back to Mads Perch's website as I really do like his photography as a lot of his shoots have that clean look. After doing some deeper research into his work I found that he often collaborates with Art Director Gem Fletcher. 

Gem Fletcher

Gem Fletcher is a London based photographic and film art director who often collaborates with photographers locally and around the world on commercial, editorial and personal projects. She states on her website  that "Through everything I do, I want to create work that provokes emotion and challenges perceptions." I really identify with this work method as I would like my work to provoke these same ideas. Gem also states how she works in alot of other fields other than art direction, for example; visual strategy, trend analysis and forecasting, curation, and talent commissioning. She also states that she likes to work with young up and coming photographers to help then get a footing within the industry. 

Title Image from THE EUREKA EFFECT - Shot by Alma Haser, Art Direction by Gem Fletcher 

The Eureka Effect is a project based around a simple idea, Fletchers website states that "Fusing photography and collage together to explore the concept of the eureka effect. The eureka effect refers to the common human experience of suddenly understanding a previously incomprehensible problem or concept." I think this is a beautiful idea matched by stunning imagery. I think this image is wonderful because not only does it look great it also really represents the project as a whole. the flower is such a great visual metaphor for the sprouting of an idea. I also really appreciate the colour story in the image as the orangy reds really match with the flower and also follow the connotations of passion that links in through the original concept. I also really like the lighting in this image and how soft and subtle it is as it lets you focus on the subject and the flower cut out. for me I also noticed how the lighting is very commercial and almost like a beauty shot on the subject, and I appreciated how there's a small connection between that beauty and and the flower and how they are often symbols of beauty. 

Image from THE EUREKA EFFECT
Shot by Alma Haser, Art Direction by Gem Fletcher

This is the second image from the overall shoot that really took my eye mainly for the composition. The main part of it i find so interesting is the vertical split, initially it confused me as it does not lie on the centre or on either 2 of the lines that show the rule of thirds. I then realised is that the line created by the split doesn't matter as the human subject and the flower are what lie on these lines as they are the focus. I also love the colouring of this image and how the pink is really what stands out and it should because the flower is the visual representation of the whole concept. I also liked the touch to add the darker rectangle behind the flower to not only make it stand out more but also I feel like it almost creates a graphic representation of a shockwave, linking back to the original idea for the shoot. 

Image from THE EUREKA EFFECT
Shot by Alma Haser, Art Direction by Gem Fletcher

The final image is definitely the most abstract of all the images. I still very much enjoy it though, its also one of the few images in the shoot where the whole face is visible. I think this is to highlight how this is the final image thats shown for this project on Fletcher's website. Overall I feel this image is to show the final stage of idea development and how the original idea has become fully realised and blossomed (pardon the pun). I'd like to play about with this idea of the face being  a mask in my shoots and how it could be hiding the 'truth' beneath it. Also I've using this picture as a sort of template for my lighting as i can see how its hitting on the face and how its sculpts it. 

Overall this project has really inspired me for the visual side of my project in lighting, composition and editing techniques. For additional research I looked into a project by Mads Perch that Gem was art director on. The project was a personal project that Mads did in order to practice techniques as far as I know as their is little description on his website. He did state though that the project won a PDN photo annual award. 

Image from INK
Shot by Mads Perch, Art Direction by Gem Fletcher

This project follows a very similar aesthetic to the previous with the grey background and the same compositions.  the main difference is obviously what is actually pasted over the faces of the subjects and the lighting is a lot harsher, it does give some great modeling to the subjects but I know for this project I want to have really soft images. I do really like the ink splatters though I think its really interesting how they obscuring the subjects faces I feel this makes the viewer curious when looking at the image as  your trying to look past what is covering the face. I really would like to try facial obscuration in my photography as I think it'll be fun to play around with and i really enjoy faceless photography. 

Image from INK - Shot by Mads Perch, Art Direction by Gem Fletcher

Portraits: Additional Prep

Following The photomontage task I was really in the mood to edit pictures so I took Images from my shoots for the previous Portraits task and edited them to practice my use of creating a third meaning through montage. I also did it to sharpen my photoshopping skills for this current project. 

3 Suzi by Joe Palmer

I started this mini task wit the image to the left, I began by looking for pictures that had similar shapes, shadows, and imagery. I ended up choosing the two main faces in this picture becuase of the way the shadows on the faces fit together like jigsaw pieces. I think fit then together and created a vignette effect by darkening the area around the faces. I think this gives the image an intense intimacy and the vignette ends up creating a peephole effect, I wanted to heighten this meaning by added a third face within one of the faces hair, for me it almost acts as a reflection af if its the viewer looking through a window. I think the projection imagery on this image is very important to focusing the meaning as the shapes created on the face for me act as make up and they way they are exaggerated past the features created a clown look to tie into the voyeuristic spectacle aspect of the image. 

5 Ciara by Joe Palmer

For this next one I noticed that I had a lot of very similar images that were taken one after another. initially I thought it would be cool to layer them all on top of each other like the photo montage task we had but I quickly diverged from that and used similarly to the image above placed them all in a line with the shadowed areas of the face hugging the next face I set all the images to soft light anyway in case there were any overlayering areas they would blend together, for example the hair and shirt.  As the images were set to soft light their colour were dulled so i created a new layer over the top and painted colours on top of the whole image. I then set this marbled colour layer to the lyer mode colour and it added the vivid colours back into the image.  I really like this image as it almost seems like frames in a stop motion, or for me it kind of resembles a journey in a thought process as the faces wander and shift, reflective of thinking.

2 Ciara by Joe Palmer

The final image in this set for 3 I created this image with 2 of the faces from the previous but flipped one of them and fitted them together in a similar manner to the 1st image. I then played around with colour and created a new lyer i which I plained on blobbed of colour and then set the lyer to Colour blend mode and adjusted the colours from there to fit the faces a bit better. I think this image is really beautiful and has connotations of inner intentions and possibly the thoughts within. I think it turned out to be really beautiful and one of my favourites.

Glitch Alice by Joe Palmer

Finally a one off image, while getting my hands back onto Photoshop I stumbled upon some past actions that I created for it, and Action is when you save you History in photoshop and convert it into a playable action in which photoshop will reply everything you created and did on any image you like. I created this glitch action in the past based on the different colour channels. I used it on this image to see if possibly I wanted to use Glitching in my series, im unsure just yet and I'll have to explore it in my Research.