Portrait Project – Evaluation

To evaluate the portrait project I believe that I have been able to develop my technical camera skills and my skills on Photoshop due to the different approaches of portraiture I studied. The project started off with me looking at Environmental portraits, which allowed me to focus on implementing context and concepts (Gender Roles in Society)  into my images. It allowed me to think before I capture, as I had to decide whether the portrait I am capturing is conceptually showing what I envisioned. This photo shoot developed my skills as I am more aware of how I can always add conceptual and contextual factors to my images. After looking at this style of photography I moved on to look at Henri Cartier-Bresson, who looked at street photography. Conducting a photo shoot in the style of Bresson, was nerve racking and allowed me to step out of comfort zone, as capturing strangers on the street is scary, as you are unsure what reaction you may get. In this photo shoot I developed the skill of adjusting your camera settings quickly in order to capture the people in the street, without them walking off. Afterwards, I looked at studio lighting, which allowed me to explore and experiment with different lighting techniques. Within this shoot I learnt what : One Point Lighting, Two Point Lighting, Three Point Lighting, Ring Lighting, Warm/Cold Lighting, Intensity of the Light and Lighting Rig (On Ceiling). I experimented with all these styles of lighting in order to get an understanding of different affects, for example chiaroscuro. Due to the different lighting styles, it allowed me to experiment more with the way I edited my photographs, all the edited images I always attempted to make them as if they are ready to be placed into a magazine. In contrast to artificial lighting, I then looked at natural lighting and how reflectors can be used to light up  the whole of the model. Within this shoot I produced some strong images, however it did allow me to focus on my camera settings. I mainly looked at depth of field and white balance, this shoot allowed me to use these setting more confidently. Next, I looked at tableaux photography and how a still image can present a story. In this I looked at a contextual piece and recreated it, as it again allowed me to develop my confidence in attempting to implement contextual factors into my photographs. After that, I looked at the show Wicked, and how  could create images inspired by the show but still create a story within the still image. In this I developed my confidence in adding conceptual factor into my photographs, making me more aware and attentive to what I am photographing. I then looked at photo-montage, which allowed me to explore and develop my skills in Photoshop. In this I used photographs which have already been taken from previous photo shoots, and used the different tools in Photoshop and other images to produce an overall image. I looked at two aspects within photo-montage dadaism and surrealism allowing me to explore these two different approaches. The Photoshop skills I acquired was, using different tools to cut out segments of the model, being able to combine and implement image and text and being able to add effects to layers of the image in order to make the cut outs stand out. I feel that the broad approach to portrait photography has allowed me to explore different portraiture techniques. Overall, I have been able to produce strong outcomes towards the style of photography and have made clear links towards my work and the artists work.

Loss of Identity – Evaluation

Moving on to looking at identity, I decided to go down the route of loss of identity. The portrait project nicely linked into this project. I was able to use the different skills I acquired from the portrait project and used them within identity. Only having three weeks to explore this theme, I believe I managed to achieve a lot. I started off by looking at the different types of identities, but felt loss of identity best suited my style of photography. I started off by looking at Lorna Simpson who photographed their model without capturing the face, which inspired my first photo shoot. This photo shoot allowed me to use my creativity, as I had to come up with different ways of taking a picture of a model whilst disguising their face. This also allowed me to ‘play around’ with the camera settings as I explored making the photograph darker and lighter via the shutter speed and ISO. I also looked at Saul Stienberg who introduced me to the concept of mask photography. I was able to explore different ways of using a mask to disguise and hide the identity of my model. This allowed me to use Photoshop skills when editing, as I looked at being able to use the hue/saturation tool to make the image naturally lighter and darker. As time was short I was unable to research more case studies, which limited my understanding and research into loss of identity. However, I did manage to conduct more Photoshop edits with left over images from the portrait project. In this I was able to use different tools in Photoshop, such as the different filters, the paint tool and the spot healing tool. Due to these Photoshop edits I managed to broaden my understanding of Photoshop and showed further experimentation towards this small project. Overall, I believe I have been able to manage a lot in the short time frame I have had to complete this mini project. I have been able to produce and edit some strong photographs which had clear links towards the theme of loss of identity.

Evaluating my final outcomes, I believe that I have chosen strong responses which showcase my understanding towards that style of photography. Each photograph also shows my camera skills which I have developed as well as my different Photoshop skills. I am very happy with all the outcomes I have produced and displayed as it has clear links to the theme of the project/photo shoot they were taken from.