Mirror Illusions

When exploring different ideas for for this shoot (or multiple potential shoots) I came across the use of mirrors obscuring different parts of the body, and though this would be a great way to not only show the loss of identity in a person, but also have a further metaphorical meaning of how so many people ‘reflect’ onto other people when talking, not relieving how they really feel. Similar to the picture below (left), i wanted the mirror to cover the face of the subject, to show how people take ideas from around them, similar to how a mirror reflects. However, the pictures to the right show that using Photoshop to erase the inside of the mirror to show what is behind the subject (by taking one picture with a subject in frame and one without) makes the image look, in my opinion, a lot cleaner and even more professional.

Multiple Exposures and Slow Shutter

While using mirrors is at the top of my priority list, I also wanted to focus on using double or multiple exposures, as well as long exposure times to create blurred and distorted images of peoples faces and features, further showing the nature of uncertainty of the subject’s identity. Using similar techniques as the pictures below, i want to create my own interpretation of them. As i have experimented with long exposures in the past for landscape photography in my own time, i understand the basics, however I have never really used a slow shutter speed when taking portraits unless it was absolutely necessary to bring up the exposure, but still using a tripod.

Other Ideas:

While the two techniques above are what interest me most, I will also try to explore different such as: burning printed images, using objects to obscure parts of the image, damaging the image(scratching, ripping, taring, etc.), digitally erasing parts of the image,  and selecting specific coloured areas.