Work Record February 8th 2013

Preparation;

My exam title is Contrast, and so I want to explore various different contrasting ideas, and develop them and eventually chose a favourite idea for my exam piece. For this shoot I am going to explore the idea of life and death. For this I am going to use myself as a model and paint on a skull to show the death side. Then next week I am going to show the life side.

                              

 

I like these two photos as they are not too bright, and they are quite grey which emphasises the death aspect of the photos. I like the left photo as it looks quite dirty and rough making it seem harsher in general. I like the one on the right as it looks more refined and lifeless due to the angle, and expression of the model. I also like how the skull design extends to her neck.

To Prepare I Need To; 

• Book the studio
• Decide if I want to use any props
• Decide on the design
• Think about angles and compositions. 

 

I hope to Achieve;

 

During this shoot I hope to achieve a dark and sinister shoot representing death through the idea of skulls. This shoot will then contrast the shoot I am planning on doing next week that will be brighter and representing the contrasting idea of life.

What I Achieved;
I am really happy how my shoot went, and I achieved my goal which was to create a shoot showing the idea of death, which I will later do a shoot for life as they contrast and my exam title is Contrasts. The shoot went how I wanted, and I managed to create the look I wanted with face paints. I choose to use a red background as it connotes death, and shows up the dark and light colours. I used a variation of both lights and just one light to show up form and shadow more, creating darker and brighter looks. I originally was not planning on using props for this shoot, but I did have an idea to use a rope so it looks like I had been hung as that emphasises the death. I also used the rope wrapped around my hands and face to show the confinement that can be related to death. Although these ideas worked out, they were not the best. At last minute I also decided to include some fake blood in the shoot. I think this worked out well as the blood extends the ideas of death and makes it seem more surreal. Overall, I got enough photos that represent the ideas that I wanted to show and think they went really well. When editing, I experimented with different effects such as Gaussian blur and adjusting the curves and levels to get different, unnatural looks.



This is my favourite photograph from the shoot. This is due to the editing and the composition and light used in the shoot. For this photograph I used both lights and that minimised shadow. I really like the position I am in, turned away from the camera but with my head towards it makes it seem more natural and looks like I was distracted and almost caught off guard by the camera. When editing, I touched up the makeup in slightly patchy areas and made the red blood more vivid. I then changed my eye colour to red as it emphasises the living dead feel. Once I was happy with how it looked, I then desaturated it slightly, but not so much that all the colour went away. This is definitely my favourite photo from this shoot.

This is another photograph that turned out really well. For the shoot I only had one light on to the right. I feel that the lighting is what made this photo good as it creates a lot of shadow to the right of my face, and that along with the fact I am looking down and seem almost upset it gives the feel that I am hiding. When editing my original plans were not to add text, but after increasing the contrast, desaturating the image and brightening my hair with the dodge tool, I decided to experiment with adding text in the gap. I think the text works well and fills the space takes up a lot of the composition. The words all relate to the image as they are mainly negative words associated with death which go with the ideas represented.

This is another photograph I like which looks a lot more simple and natural. When shooting this I had just the right light on which helps emphasise the form, and due to the distance I was standing away from the lights and camera, the shadow is not harsh and overpowering. My favourite thing about this photo is the my position and expression. I like how I am looking down at the camera slightly making me seem powerful, yet the sad expression on my face sort of contradicts that. When editing, I made my eyes stand out more by using the dodge tool. I kept the editing for this simple, by just adjusting the curves and saturation, then to I softened the image with Gaussian blur. The fact that this is softer than the rest makes this stand out more as in a way it does not show the idea of death in such a harsh way compared the other photographs.

What I am going to do next;
I am really happy with how this shoot went and, my next step is to develop the idea of life, then plan and do the shoot to present it. I am going to use myself again for this to keep the link between the two shoots clear and consistent. I also plan on - once the photos for the life shoot are edited -  doing some edits of the life and death photographs together.