PHOTO SHOOT PLAN: 

WHY: I was conducting this photo shoot in order to capture my interpretation of place and identity, using models and the appropriate props in order to capture the images.

HOW: The images were taken using my regular DSLR camera with the aid of a tripod as it was a very windy night and I wanted the images to crisp and sharp.

WHERE: I took the images outside for 3 particular reasons:

• I was using powdered sugar which was messy and hard to clean up if done in a professional studio setting.
• The wind outside was beneficial as it dispersed the sugar in a way which I thought looked more natural and well fitted.
• Conducting the photo shoot outside meant I had a o of dark space which I could use in order to take the images.

WHEN: I took the images late at night (8-9pm) as this was the time of day when it was most windy and dark. I wanted a black backdrop for all my images to make the editing process easier later on.

WHO: I initially used two models, both my family members (as I was trying to link my whole family identity to this photo shoot).

INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS OF MONTAGE:

One of my favorite parts of the “identity and place” unit was the photo montages which I created previously. It includes themes of surrealism and alternate reality which I find fascinating. Creating images which defy normality was something which I wanted to pursue for my final piece. My photo shop skills and the imagery which I captured, I thought would be adequate in order to achieve the outcomes which I wanted.

The Surrealists sought to channel the unconscious as a means to unlock the power of the imagination. Disdaining rationalism and literary realism, and powerfully influenced by psychoanalysis, the Surrealists believed the rational mind repressed the power of the imagination, weighing it down with taboos. Influenced also by Karl Marx, they hoped that the psyche had the power to reveal the contradictions in the everyday world and spur on revolution. Their emphasis on the power of personal imagination puts them in the tradition of Romanticism, but unlike their forebears, they believed that revelations could be found on the street and in everyday life. The Surrealist impulse to tap the unconscious mind, and their interests in myth and primitivism, went on to shape many later movements, and the style remains influential to this today.

source: https://www.theartstory.org/movement-surrealism.htm

In order to create a similar photo collage as the previous one I had to choose a variety of images which included different angles of the same model being in positions which all varied in different ways. I thought it was essential that I capture images which had a very crisp black outline around them as I wanted to make the editing process as easy as possible for myself, something which would have been very difficult of the backdrop had variations in texture of color.

FINAL OUTCOME:

After making a final selection from my images which I took I settled on 4 images which were most successful and fitted the criteria which I set in order for them to be used. They all incorporate a crisp, and even black backdrop which made it easy to edit out. The positioning of the arms and the plooms of smoke in the air were all varied which was ideal for filling in the black background of the base image which I used. After taking out the background from the other images and blending them together, I thought it was best suited that I also make the image back and white in order to link it better to my previous work .

EDITING TECHNIQUES:

The main editing tools which I used in order to create my final piece were:

• lasso tool – With the Lasso Tool, you can draw a free form selection outline around an object.
• the magic wand tool – Photoshop’s Magic Wand Tool selects areas of similar color with a single click. The “Tolerance” value in the Options Bar sets the range of colors that will be selected.
• eraser tool – The Eraser Tool in Photoshop permanently erases pixels on a layer. It can also be used to paint in a previous history state.
• warp tool –  the Perspective Crop Tool to both crop an image and fix common distortion or perspective problems.
• crop tool – the Crop Tool in Photoshop to crop an image and remove unwanted areas.
• smudge tool – The Smudge Tool in Photoshop smudges and smears the areas you paint over. It can also be used to create a finger painting effect.
• blur tool – The Blur Tool blurs and softens areas you paint over with the tool.
• adjustments setting (exposure, brightness, black&white)

In order to create my final piece I started by removing the backdrop from all the images apart from the base image. I did this by using a combination of the lasso tool and magic eraser tool.  I prefer the magic eraser tool as opposed to the lasso as it gives me a larger margin of error when working. It sometimes becomes very tricky using the lasso tool as it is very sensitive at points and clings onto unwanted areas. After removing a majority of the black backdrop, I moved onto to using the eraser tool in order to get the edges very crisp and free from all the black backdrop. I then used the smudge tool in order to make the edges less sharp and blend in better with the backdrop as I wanted all the images to appear as one large element as opposed to something which was stuck together.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:

VISUAL:

One of the first and most striking aspects of this photo montage is the various facial expressions on the subject. The various positions in which the extremities are placed means a lot of drama and movement is created in the image. The action of throwing something is very apparent in the image. The clouds of white dust in the air are highly contrasted with the pitch black backdrop, creating variations of both tone and texture within the image. The distinctive contrast between the white shirt of the subject and white powder create very sharp outlines within the image which. The use of repetition within the image by using the same model over again creates themes of hallucination, surrealism and hyper reality as the imagery is far from realistic or plausible in the real world. The themes which come to mind when looking at this image is worry and stress as expressed by the models face and hand positioning, touching the face and hair. There are many elements and layers involved in the image which create confusion. The hands central in the image have a gesture which pulls the viewer in, a sort of hypnotizing movement that makes them focus in. The straight lines of the edges of the arms, guides the eyes from the bottom of the image to the top where the hands and face are located.

TECHNICAL: 

For this photo shoot, the main and single most important technical aspect was the use of flash photography whilst capturing my images. I really wanted to create a clear and crisp outline so that I could use very simple editing techniques later on to edit and blend the images together. During the photo shoot I also used a tripod to keep my camera as stable as possible, maneuvering it into angles which allowed me to capture various angles of the subject. At points the images which I took were quite overexposed to due to the flash and bright clothing of the model, but I was unable to change this as the flash of the camera cannot be made less bright. I relied on Photoshop and editing in order to fix the exposure of the images. Working outside with the white powdered sugar posed many challenges. Many of the photos were fairly blurry due to the powder getting on the lens. The powerful wind also meant that both the camera and tripod were blown over on many occasions.

CONCEPTUAL:

For this photo shoot I was again keen to get my family involved in the process as I felt I wanted to portray the theme of moving on and letting go. The representation of each of the elements in the images go as follows:

• The two models which I used in the photo shoot are my own mother and brother. I wanted to portray the change in our own lives and how we have moved on from a previous life which was less than ideal. It is a conflicting feeling relating it back to the love and passion I feel towards my heritage and tradition with the Latvian folk dance.
• The white shirt: used to represent a fresh start, a sort of blank canvas from which to start from. I wanted the subject to be dressed in a way which was very simplistic and basic as I wanted all the focus to be on the facial expression.
• The white powder: this is used to represent the past life. the action of throwing it into the air and allowing the wind to blow it away is representative of letting go and accepting a new beginning. I wanted to use something which would highly contrast with the dark backdrop of the night sky, making the smoke stand out even more.

CONTEXTUAL:

Both subjects in this photo shoot are my own personal family members. The woman (my mother) has a big love for animals, especially dogs. She holds a job as a nursery school teacher during the weekdays. She was born in Latvia, in a small town near the border of Russia in the 1970s. Her farther being a forest ranger, she grew up inside a forest, contributing to her love of nature and all things outdoors. She grew up in communist soviet state of Russia, therefore being very limited to any outside knowledge before the 1990s when the state finally collapsed and she was able to travel for the very first time to other European countries. Latvia, after being in financial collapse throughout the 2000s, made it very tough for my family to remain living it Latvia, legally moving to jersey in 2012. The other subject in the photo is my brother. Being a few years older than me, he has started his own professional career in mechanics.

RELATIONS TO PREVIOUS PHOTO MONTAGE:

The creation of my previous photo montage inspired me to create a similar piece again using different facial expressions and subjects in my new photo shoot. I used the same photo shoot and editing techniques as in the previous photo shoot, using flash photography in order to capture the images with a crisp and clear backdrop.  These two photo montages again create themes of surrealism and hyper reality as they are combined in ways which are impossible to recreate in real life. Both the photo montages which I created are very confusing and difficult to understand

CONTACT SHEETS:

I conducted 3 photo shoots in one night in order to have variations of different props and models. I felt that there was a need to capture many different photos to have a wider choice of selection when editing the images. It was essential that I captured different angles in order to fill up most of the empty black space in the base image. I wanted it to be as busy and confusing to the eye as my  previous photo montage.