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To finish my post card creations I wanted to create a series of stamps using the home shoot images which can be added to the back of the outdoor images after they’re printed as the card sets. To do this, I worked in Adobe Photoshop to create a series of stamps based around a free template I found online. The original image of a blank postage stamp is shown below and comes from ‘backgroundsy’ which is a shutter-stock style site where vector images can be downloaded. I filtered through a number of these template blanks to find a design which would be suitable for what I was looking to create. I selected the image on the right hand side below as i was happiest with the edging format. Loading this into photoshop, I added my own images as a second layer on top of the original template. These were scaled to size and adjusted to fit the frame. The next step was to create a clipping mask and mask the images to the shape layer forming the stamp image.

The stamps I created using the process above in photoshop had sections of pure white which didn’t show up clearly against the background on this blog. To add clarity, I added an artificial drop shadow – again in Photoshop – which will not be printed with the final image and is purely for presentation purposes. The plan for these stamps is to have them printed on sticky-back paper (likely 85gsm) and attach them manually to the back of my cards rather than having them printed as part of the designs. This manual method will produce a hand-made finish to the final piece which should still look professional if printed correctly. I will have the stamp series printed privately as I need full control over the weight and finish of the paper and prints. Below are the first two stamps I designed which feature full frame images taken from the home shoots. Though plain, they are effective but overall very basic. To expand and develop on this idea, I intend to experiment with a series of images from across all shoots to create a selection of alternative ideas which may focus more on abstraction.

Working with images from the shoots that explored subjects further than a typical front-facing portrait, the next step was to experiment with a series of stamps that utilised my knowledge of both photoshop and graphic design. The first of these experiments was a simple double exposure image featuring photos from both the home and external environments. I focused on a closer portrait for the base image and overlaid a photo of the landscape the model chose which happened to feature a vertically focused display of trees with some elements of water in the background. Rather than using a dodge tool, I used a simple eraser and blending sliders to have complete control over the format of the images and the way they connected together. This process used fewer layers and resulted in a double-exposed final stamp image. Below is also a slide showing my photoshop layout complete with the layers used in this section of the project. 

Linking to some of the more abstract orientated stamps I researched as part of the inspiration for this project section, the stamp below was created by layering several images over each other in a block-colour format. The image in the background needed to be relatively calm with a central focus which in this case is Maya. On the left and right of her are two more abstract photos which feature small sections of landscapes we crossed through on the journey to create the final images. The plants were taken outside her house which she identified as not being a physical home for her in any sense other than the place she sleeps. On the right of the image is a small section of sky which fades out towards the bottom of the stamp. This image actually shows Maya too up at St Ouens bay but for this experiment I cropped it to show just the blues of the sky.The next experiment was a simple image rotation technique which runs back to the work we completed earlier in the year on Idris Khan and the double exposure methods which rely on multiplying images. Further research on this experimentation can be found here in a previous post, “Multiply“. The method is simple but worked well with the relatively plain portraits I shot of Jack against a natural, green background. The second layer image is actually a different photo but is almost identical other than slight changes in the facial expression. Though still relatively simplistic, this image is arguably one of the more successful as the uncluttered design draws the eye but won’t distract from the rest of the piece.Going a bit mad with design ideas now, I created a bizzare and colourful stamp using a base image from Emily’s shoot on the beach. The slide below shows the original image, though adjusted and faded slightly, clipped to the stamp design but otherwise natural.
Using a variety of photoshop options such as posterise, colourise, colour burn, dodge, full saturation and other editing methods – I created  the alien looking landscape below. The image features rich colours that draw out tiny details with the mad colourings (such as seaweed in the bottom right). Though odd looking, there is something pleasing about the unnatural edits of this image and the way they are presented here. Taking this further, I blended a selection of stock images and patters to create further distortions in the image. Below are a selection of slides from photoshop showing the layers used for this part of the project as well as the blended stock images used . 

The final outcome has an off-world feel and is more science fiction than anything natural or human. The colours are unsettling and focus heavily on saturation, hue and contrast to form the final image. The next step of experimentation here will focus on possible additions to the postcard backs such as letter stamps, wording and placements. Another possible addition could be layering the stamps as if each image had ben posted more than once? Just something to think about and possibly explore later on in the project.