Action Plan

Me and a group of friends decided to explore an area of woods just outside of our local town, as we had heard people talking about a potential old German bunker being found in these woods. I decided to bring along my camera and capture some portrait photographs at the same time. The images are a mix of images of my friends taken by me and portraits of me taken by them and sometimes self portraits taken by placing the camera down and using a self timer

Due to the complete absence of natural lighting in the woods, I had to constantly rely upon my camera flash, so as a result, there are some over exposed images and negatives. I took all images holding the camera as I find tripods way too immobile for a situation like this.

Contact sheet

Here is my contact sheet from the shoot. I have included all images from the shoot and I will use this sheet to aid me in eliminating any negatives and unwanted images. Here is the contact sheet

Standout Images

Here are some images that I find stand out from the shoot. I will also include my thoughts on the nature and composition of the images.

Image 1

I like this image due to the subject standing out from the background. This is achieved through the background, Being the wall of a 1940s era German Bunker, featuring signs of decay and age, In comparison to the subjects clean manner. The brighter colors of the subjects skin tone and T shirt help to create a nice color contrast and make him stand out much more. I find that the image will require a slight bit of cropping due to an apparent vignette around the corners of the image.

Image 2

This image features myself and is taken by a friend. I particularly like the composition of the image and the out of focus nature, which creates and in camera form or blurring, Meaning that I will probably only have to edit this image slightly in order to achieve the effect I am looking for

Image 3

Here is another Image where I have utilized self portraiture. The photo was taken on a 10 second self timer and I adjusted the Hue setting on my camera to give the image a very slight blue tint in order to highlight the blue colors in my outfit. I Like the angle of the image as I had propped my camera up on a rock and I am happy with the angle and how it turned out.

Physical editing Ideas

For Photo shoot 1, I outlined my ideas for manipulating the images through photoshop. I would also like to experiment with editing the Physical photograph itself. I will achieve this through the processes of taping and tearing. Taping will involve either black gaffer tape or grey duct tape on top of a printed image and Will be used to conceal the identity of the subjects in the images. Tearing will be used to remove facial features and features of identity by physically tearing up a Printed image. I would also like to experiment with scratching an image with sandpaper to give off a distressed effect to the image.

Here are some outcomes of my different physical editing techniques

Taping

For this particular image, I have decided to utilize black gaffer tape as I feel it gives off quite an industrial attitude towards the piece. It is also quite an interesting texture and I like the patterning on it. I have cut the tape into strips and created a cross to give off a “patchwork” type effect. Here is my Image with the taping method applied:

Tearing

I find that tearing out the face from an image is a great way to remove the identity of the person photographed. This method has spanned from michal makus idea of gellage, the sense of physically transforming an image by tearing. I however,  Am focused on tearing out facial features and removing the identity of the person so all that is left is their figure and clothing. Below are some images of the tearing process

During the process, I also experimented with the idea of tearing and placing black gaffer tape underneath the image to give the tear a background. It portrays quite a dark sense of loss of identity but is effective at making the image bold at the same time by adding more texture and detail to it.

I have also explored the idea of tearing for aesthetic. I wish to give my work an aged and distressed feel, Which will easily be  accomplished through the scratching process that I will discuss later on in the post, However Tearing for aesthetic can also help me achieve this distressed look. Here is an image where I have added in an element of tearing that does not necessarily involve the obscuring of the face

I have incorporated the tear into the bottom left hand corner of the piece and taped over it to connote the idea of attempting to reconstruct and repair the image.

Scratching

Scratching a printed image can give off quite a worn, distressed feel to the image. It also alters the texture and makes the image unique. I achieved this effect through the use of sandpaper and rubbing it on my physical print. In some areas I have applied more pressure in order to create variation throughout the image. Here is an example below

I like the idea of scratching all over, purely for aesthetic but as you can see in the next photo, I will also use scratching to obscure identity as I find it is an effective way of achieving the effect I am after.

For my project into identity, I have decided to focus on the different factors that help to develop and influence the identity of young children. I feel like this is a relatively broad topic, as the factors that influence children and how they perceive themselves range from the influence of parents, to the influence of media and their peers. I will be focusing on how the different factors that play into children’s everyday lives effect and influence them, either positively or negatively, and help to shape how they identify themselves and others around them.

I will be taking inspiration from the artist and photographer Tish Murtha, as I feel that her documentary style photography of working class subjects in the mid to late 20th century documents how social, political and economic factors in their lives influences and shapes their social identity and behavior. I will be taking inspiration from Murtha’s documentary style photography, as well as using the concept of external factors influencing identity in order to complete my project into how children develop their identities.

The below images are examples of where Murtha has used children of subjects in order to display the complex nature of the social dynamics of children’s relationships with one another. Murtha’s work also shows how children’s external environment effected them during the 1970’s-80’s, as the children depicted in her images are often shown to be playing freely and with little supervision:

I conducted a range of photo-shoots in order to collect images that can be used to present my theme of how factors influence the developing identity of children.

A portion of the images I took use the documentary style that is also utilized by Murtha, as the subjects are captured in candid, natural poses. As well as the images that make use of documentary style photography, some of the images are posed, inspired by the close up shots that Murtha took of children in and around the area in which she worked.

For the layout of my final images, I have decided to create the following pattern, using 8 of my final images in order to fill the boxes. I feel like this layout is eye-catching, and allows for certain photographs to be emphasized, whereas others are more subtle presented, allowing the viewer to see the different aspects of the images in different ways.

The following images will be used in this final piece layout:

Upon printing, the bottom 2 images will be physically torn in half, to create a divide between the 2 subjects, before being used as the smaller images in the top left and bottom right of the layout.

The final layout of the piece will resemble the following:

In addition to this layout, I will be using the following as a second final piece:

And after the following image is printed, it will be physically sewn into to add to the layer of editing on the photograph:

Action Plan

For my final photo shoot, I decided to feature myself as the main subject of the photographs and took photos in my garden and on my local beach where I have grown up playing football and socializing.  I Then met up with a friend in town and used him as a subject afterwards. We simply walked around the backstreet areas to capture images. I mainly focused on using available light sources such as shop fronts and Street lights however, in some scenarios I used my camera flash

In order for the first half of this shoot to take place, I had to take the photos from a distance. I therefore downloaded the Nikon Snap bridge app, Which allowed me to set timers and take photos directly from my phone via Bluetooth connection. I also used a tripod in order to hold the camera at a suitable height and to get a very stable, focused image. For the second half of the shoot, I simply held my camera and shot from different angles. I preferred this approach more as even though I captured more blurred images, I had more of a free range of movement with the camera and I was able to capture angles that a tripod simply wouldn’t allow me to

Below is a contact sheet from the shoot. overall, The night I chose to shoot on was a very stormy night, So a lot of my images contain a lot of noise and blurring. I have however, looked over all of the images to see if I can make anything out of the negative images due to the nature of my chosen area,  Fortunately I have been able to identify a few which can have some potential further down the line due to their composition obscuring the subjects identity

Contact Sheet

This is the contact sheet of my narrowed down images.

With the help of this contact sheet, I have been able to select images that I feel stand out for numerous reasons. Below are some of these images and my thoughts on them.

Image 1

I like this image due to the clarity of the subjects face. The solid purple background helps the neutral colors of skin tone and the subjects jacket stand out, Essentially drawing all of our focus onto the subjects profile and facial features. The image does need some cropping at the edges in order to ensure our entire focus is on the subject and not the garage door at the sides and top left of the image.

Image 2

I also particularly like this image. The photo was taken using a tripod and as a result of the environment, The tripod was on a slope explaining the angle of the image. This can easily be corrected using free transform in Photoshop. I like the composition of the images color due to my outfit consisting of neutral colors, similar to that of the breakwater I am propped up against, as well as the bright white color of my shoes standing out among these darker, neutral colors.

Image 3

This is also another personal favorite out of all my Images. I decided to utilize the lighting from a red LED shop window display. I asked my subject to step into the light and the result was an effect similar to chiaroscuro, with half of the subjects face being illuminated and the other half being left out of the light and in the shadows.

Editing Techniques

For my project, i have decided to focus on the idea of obscuring identity.I have decided that I will achieve this process through multiple editing techniques, exploring ideas of digital editing methods like pixelating, Blurring as well as physical methods such as taping and tearing. Here are a few demonstrations of my chosen methods demonstrated below.

Pixelating

This method is essentially using a filter from the filter gallery.  Firstly,  I have cropped the image down to remove the unwanted garage doors on the sides of the Image. I have then drawn around the subjects face  with the lasso tool, as this is the feature I wish to select for pixelization and Created a new layer out of it with the CTRL+J Function. I have decided to leave a bit of space around the face in order for the outermost pixels to fade into the background rather than towards the edge of the face, as this will also contort the face shape of the subject more if I do this and, arguably , The subjects face shape is quite a noticeable feature.

In the filter bar at the top of the screen, I have gone down to the pixelate function and selected mosaic, as this is a style of pixelation that truly represents the style I wish to Achieve

I have then set the Pixel square size to 70. This is not a set size and will vary from image to image dependent upon the composition of the element I wish to pixelate

Here is the final outcome of this process in the editing stage. As you can see, the majority of facial features are distorted but from analyzing this image, I have decided that In future I may enlarge the pixels in order to further obscure the identity of the subject and break up facial features further.

Blurring

I have decided to also incorporate features of blurring within this project. I will be focusing my work around 2 different types of blurring- Motion and box blurring, Motion blurring is a type of blurring that can occur naturally within an image by either moving the camera when taking a photo, Or photographing something moving with a low shutter speed. For my project, I simply just like the motion blur aesthetic so I will apply it through the motion blur filter interface.

I have repeated the first few steps from pixelation in the sense of isolating the area I wish to blur (The subjects face). I have then selected motion blur from the filter drop down and set the angle at 21 degrees, Meaning the blur is going across the subjects face horizontally and slightly vertically. The blur distance has been set at 169 pixels, As I find it matches the aesthetic I am trying to capture.

Here is my final outcome for the motion blurring. In other images, i may choose to blur the subjects whole body to give off a sense of movement which could portray ideas of a hatred of the subjects own identity or an element of being camera shy

Box blurring is a process that follows roughly the same procedure as all of the above editing techniques, However for this feature, I have decided I want to keep the subjects facial shape the same and instead, blur only the face in order to create a feeling of a lost identity rather than the need to conceal it.

I have selected the subjects face with the lasso tool and from that, created a new layer. I have then applied the box blur filter with a radius of 56 pixels.

I like the effect that is given off by this process, However I feel that the eyes and eyebrows are still very noticeable, So I have therefore decided that desaturating both the layer and the background can help to Hide this. By removing the color of the subjects face, He is now barely recognisable.

Here is the final edit for this process

Straight away you are drawn into the obscured features of the participants face, Features are recognizable such as the nose,mouth and eyes, yet they are obscured to the point where it is practically impossible to identify the subject behind the edit

For my first edit I used a photo that was already quite dark, this was because I took this photograph as soon as I turned the camera on, the sun was only hitting one side of Katie’s face and therefore my camera was obviously on the incorrect settings, because the image came out extremely dark and shadowed, which I then tried to adjust while editing late on using the brightness and highlights settings.

I personally think that this photo looks a lot better as it wasn’t so close up and so I had more room to place bigger text surrounding Katie, I also took this image whilst sunlight was surrounding her, and so therefore, even before editing, the image was brighter and lighter.

As this image was a lot more positive, I chose to keep and enhance the colours, and use a brighter red background, I don’t think that this image looked as effective as it could have, this is because the coulors, although bright, don’t particularly go with each other nicely.

I think that this image was the most like Krugers out of all of my experiments, this is because Kruger uses extremely heavy editing and there is a lot of black contrast, I have edited this image using the ‘threshold’ tool on Photoshop and this is something that I’ll probably take into the editing of my final images.