For this photoshoot I took photos of two models using  a honeycomb head and a snout head on the lights. I had one person standing next to the lights and holding the coloured gels. I wanted this person to be interchanging with multiple colours such as pink, purple, red, blue, yellow, white and green.

I had one person standing next to my model and holding different shades of reflectors such as silver, gold and bronze. This was to help have the light shine onto my subjects eyes more so that there isn’t shade or shadows reflecting onto my models face. They also moved the honeycomb head to different angles to capture different angles from the light.

I had one person then sitting or standing whilst posing naturally in front of the camera for me to photograph. I told them to look at all different angles for my diamond cameos (inspired by Henry Mullins) I also asked her to do some more natural poses and for her to also do some poses either looking directly at the camera or looking in different directions and using her hands to add extra effect to her posing.

HERE ARE MY BEST IMAGES

I particularly like these photos because they show a contrast of emotions through two people. The covering of the mouth shows a tack of identity to one of the people. And I also asked my models to have different expressions to each other such as e.g. sad and happy and vies versa.

I created these images in Adobe photoshop, I think they create a sense of ‘false identity’ and mystery as they could possibly show the persons real ‘self’ or ‘story’. I really like this double exposure effect for my photos and I think it helps improve their meaning behind it.

I first opened two photos in two different tabs in Photoshop.

I then clicked and dragged my second photo onto my first photo.

I then double clicked on the layer I dragged and deselected R in the channel section of the options menu for the first creation I made and then for my second creation clicked R and B.

I then repositioned my photo to fit to my preference.

I then spent some time ‘experimenting’ with my editing and colours by combining multiple photos in a collage-like formation, I then worked on my layers and added different settings and opacities on each photo to create this final product of a combination of 4 headshots I created. I like this because it combines a mixture of lots of colours like blue, red, purple, green and black and white.

Mind map of femininity:

Mind map of masculinity:

Mood board:

Femininity:

Masculinity:

portrait Photographers are always trying to not just capture you on the outside (e.g. your hair colour, your gender, size, ect). A more interesting photo would try capture who they actually are, there identity.

Identity politics

Identity politics is a tendency for people of a particular religion, ethnic group, social background, etc., to form exclusive political alliances, moving away from traditional broad-based party politics. Its aim is to support and centre the concerns, agendas, and projects of particular groups, in accord with specific social and political changes.

Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign website, on which he listed 19 different identity groups for which he had specific plans. These included tribal nations, women, people with disabilities, Black Americans, military families, union members, rural Americans, older Americans, the LBGTQ+ community, veterans, the Catholic community, students/young Americans, immigrants, the AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) community, the Indian American community, the Jewish community, the Muslim American community, the Latino community and the Arab American community.

Identity Politics In Jersey (history of Jerriaise):

In Jersey CI, Jerriaise was the language used for many years (first seen in 12th century) and has had a rough history. It was considered a ‘farmers language’, and shamed upon if you spoke it. Many people said it was an inferior language to English so it started to die down and people reduced teaching it to there children in 1930s. However, Many people now want to bring back this heritage and culture many busses now have Jerriaise text on the back for example. Here is a link to learn more about it.

Cultural Wars

Cultural Wars area conflict between groups, especially liberal and conservative groups, that have different cultural ideals, beliefs, or philosophies.

Artist and social commentator Grayson Perry crosses the US, exploring its biggest fault lines, from race to class and identity, making art as he goes. He explores these cultural wars around America, collecting many different views on politics.

Here is a cultural war example in jersey.

Here is a cultural war example for BLM in the UK

Gender Identity:

Masculinity and femininity are not ends of a pole, but two parts of an ever-expanding circle, constantly seeking new expression in the world. We’ve been indoctrinated to see binaries where they do not exist, buying into simplistic “either/or” constructs that create false hierarchies and real inequality. Many photographer have explored this for a long time.

gender Identity your deeply-held inner feelings of whether you’re female or male, both, or neither. Your gender identity isn’t seen by others. Gender identity may be the same as the sex you were assigned at birth (cisgender) or not (transgender).

cultural Identity:

is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality or any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture. In this way, cultural identity is both characteristic of the individual but also of the culturally identical group of members sharing the same cultural identity or upbringing.

Social Identity:

refers to the ways that people’s self-concepts are based on their membership in social groups. Examples include sports teams, religions, nationalities, occupations, sexual orientation, ethnic groups, and gender. Social identity groups can give you a sense of:

1. Belonging: Being part of a group can instill feelings of connection and unity, giving individuals the comforting sense that they’re not alone in their experiences or perspectives.
2. Purpose: Group affiliations often come with shared goals or missions, which can provide direction and purpose to individual members.
3. Self-worth: Affiliating with a group can boost self-esteem as individuals derive pride from group achievements and a positive group image.
4. Identity: Groups provide a framework to understand oneself in the context of a larger community. They can help define who you are based on shared attributes, values, or goals.

Geographical identity:

An individual or group’s sense of attachment to the country, region, city, or village in which they live. The key characteristics with which a particular country, region, city, or village is associated.

Political Identity:

Political identity is a form of social identity marking membership of certain groups that share a common struggle for a certain form of power. This can include identification with a political party, but also positions on specific political issues, nationalism, inter-ethnic relations or more abstract ideological themes.

What is Sequence/Grid Photography?

Sequence photography is when you capture the movement of an object or of a sequence of events over time. The photographs are often taken at rapid-fire or they can even be taken separately. This can be displayed as a series of photographs or you could do some editing to make the movement all within one image. This is an example of the subject moving within the same image:

Grid photography can be either a collage of multiple photos together or splitting one photo into a grid known as the rule of thirds. Typologies are also a type of grid photograph and it is when photos are grouped with ones that have similar characteristics and laid out as a grid.

Mood board

Rule of Thirds

What is the rule of thirds?

The rule of thirds is a guideline in photography which places the subject in the left, right or middle third, leaving the other two thirds more open. The image is divided into 9 equal parts by two horizontal and two vertical lines of equal distance. The rule of thirds is generally used to create a well balanced, more visually pleasing photograph and draw the audience’s eyes towards the subject you want them to focus on.

Photo examples

Artist Reference

Brian D Smith

Brian D Smith is an American Wedding and Studio Photographer. He began his career in photography after photographing a wedding and making the decision to pursue his passion and drop his career in engineering. He is passionate about photographing weddings because he believes that committing to one person for life is a beautiful experience to witness. He also enjoys portraits and editorial work because he believes that it provides an opportunity to share a bond with a subject and reflect their beauty.

This is a series of photographs taken by Brian D Smith which have been arranged as a grid. In the top row, you can see that the woman’s eyes are becoming less visible to the camera each time, however, in the middle row she is making direct eye contact with the camera in each photo. On the bottom row, the subject is looking away from the camera in each photo and posing with her hands. In the top row, as her eyes become less visible to the camera, her hands are more visible. For example, in the first photo she is not using her hands, however in the second she is using both but only one palm is visible and in the last one both her palms are visible. Each image that makes up this grid looks like it follows the rule of thirds, apart from the bottom, centre image as the subject’s arm is aligned with the side of the photograph. Finally, this grid does not follow a specific trend as each photograph is different, however, they do all have similar characteristics.

Photoshoot Plan

Photoshoot/Photo Selection

I am going to be using this same set of photos for all Headshots editing.

Edits

Grid 1

I planned my first grid by selecting the photos I will use and positioning them where I want them in Freeform so I can visualise what it will look like.

The photos on the bottom row all appear a bit darker than the others, therefore, I am going to edit them a little bit on Adobe Lightroom Classic.

This is my improved grid after editing the photos:

To make my grid on Adobe Photoshop, I followed the following YouTube Tutorial:

The method I undergone for this was:

1) File > New: 1080 x 1080 pixels | 72 Resolution | Background: White

2) View > New Guide Layout: Columns: 3 | Rows: 3

3) Add a New layer and select Rectangular Marquee Tool then select any colour. Select first box, using Rectangular Marquee Tool, then right click and select Fill… > Foreground Colour.

4) Repeat this process with different colours for each of the boxes.

5) Select a layer and drag and drop a photo to place it on top. Right click the photo layer then select Create Clipping Mask.

6) After this, go to Edit > Free Transform and align the image how you would like it.

7) Repeat this process for the rest of the boxes to get your final result and clear Guides.

Grid 2

I used the same method from my previous edit, just with different photos. I decided that this grid would look better if I made it B&W, so that is what I did.

Grid 3

This will be the photos used in my 3rd grid. I am planning on possibly making the images in the middle row monochrome.

This is what the grid will look like with that row being in B&W. I then decided that I think it would look better with the B&W row being the bottom row so I changed it.

This is the final arrangement of my grid that I will make in Photoshop.

This is my grid that I created using these images in Adobe Photoshop:

Evaluation

Overall, I think my grids are similar to Brian D Smith’s due to the range of hand gestures and poses, although, my grids are different in terms of shape as they are squares whereas his are rectangular.

^ This is my personal favourite grid as I think that it looks quite professional and I like the B&W. I also like how the background of each image appear similar colour, except from the top left being a little darker.

Additionally, the rule of thirds is another form of grid photography and I would say that the majority of the images within my grids follow this rule.

Photoshoots

The following photos consist of three different studio lighting techniques, Chiaroscuro, Butterfly and Rembrandt.

Edits

For this rembrandt photo I chose to bring up the exposure and add some warmth to it too. This made the photo look a lot more clearer. I also changed the vibrance and saturation a small bit just to emphasise that warmth and to bring in brighter colours to the photo instead of the dark greys that are present in the original photo.

In this butterfly lighting photo, I chose to make the temperature colder. This changed the background from grey to light blue, which overall changes the atmosphere of the photo and makes it look a lot more interesting by adding slightly more vibrant colours.

For this chiaroscuro photo, I decided to bring up the contrast so that the difference between both sides of the subjects face is more defined. Also, I rose the clarity so that there is more texture in the photo. Overall, this makes the photo a lot deeper and slightly more dark, while the added clarity highlights the subjects face a lot better than before.

For all the photos below, the camera was set to:

ISO 100

ƒ16

1/160 sec

Best photos

Masculinity:

Qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of men or boys. Masculinity involves displaying attitudes and behaviours that signify and validate maleness, and involves being recognised in particular ways by other men and women.

What is healthy masculinity?

What Is Healthy Masculinity? Healthy or positive masculinity is the idea that men can be emotionally expressive, have female friends or mentors, and express their emotions without feeling emasculated.

What does toxic masculinity mean?

Toxic masculinity refers to the notion that some people’s idea of “manliness” perpetuates domination, homophobia, and aggression. Toxic masculinity involves cultural pressures for men to behave in a certain way. And it’s likely this affects all boys and men in some fashion.

What is gentle masculinity?

Gentle masculinity is supportive, caring, loving, gentle and kind. There is banter, yes, but it’s gentle banter. It’s supportive banter compared to that of “sour masculinity,” which is marked by aggressive behavior, harsh sexualized language, abusive and cold banter about women, and constant put-downs between boys.

FEMININITY:

Qualities or attributes regarded as characteristic of women or girls. It is both a means of ‘getting ahead’ as much as it can be a form of distraction. Being in the feminine means taking time as it comes and feeling into situations. It’s about trusting intuition and allowing time and space for life to unfold.

There are seven feminine archetypes that prevail in contemporary western society—the mother, the maiden, the queen, the huntress, the sage, the mystic, and the lover. The presence of these archetypes in our psyches accounts for the major differences among women.

What is very feminine behavior?

This may include being passive, naive, sexually inexperienced, soft, flirtatious, graceful, nurturing, and accepting.

What are the three types of femininity?

Type 1: Careerist Femininity. Type 2: Individualised Femininity. Type 3: Vocational Femininity.

Binary opposition

Binary opposition originated in Saussurean structuralist theory in Linquistics (scientific study of language) According to Ferdinand de Saussure, binary opposition is the system by which, in language and thought, two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another. Using binary opposites can often be very helpful in generating ideas for a photographic project as it provides a framework – a set of boundaries to work within.

A binary opposition is very easy to identify as its the basics of opposites for example:

Henry Mullins Dimond Cameo

The diamond cameo is something Henry Mullins created using 4 photos of the same person but the person is facing different angles in each photo.

our separate portraits of the same subject are printed on a carte-de-visite. These are then printed onto each of the oval shapes of only their headshots and not their body.

Photos I’m using:

The final piece:

How I created it:

I added whatever photo I wanted to start with and then used the elliptical marquee tool to created the oval shape around the individual. I did this 4 times. I then ordered my photos into the front facing at the top, both side facing on the sides and then another random one at the bottom.

I think something I could have improved would be by adding a boarder around the white backgrounded photo.

Double/Multi-Exposure

Double/multi-exposure photos are an illusion created by layering images. This is usually done digitally by taking multiple images and then editing on apps such a photoshop. you can edit the level of opacity of the photos to make it more transparent to see the images that are layered underneath. There is also a way to create this effect without digital editing.

Here’s how your camera captures a double exposure in film cameras:

1. 1. Take your first photo. The camera shutter opens to expose the film to one image, then closes. The first image is generally a subject, often a portrait.
2. 2. Rewind the film and take your second photo. The camera shutter opens again to expose the film to a second image, then closes, shooting over the same frame again. The second image is generally a background, often a landscape or cityscape.
3. 3. Develop both images in one photo. The final image combines the two exposures into a single image where they’re both visible on top of one another.

My own digital attempt:

I copied the same image onto photoshop 4 time and layered the, on top of each other. I then adjusted the positioning of them by using size or just moving them slightly. From here, I edited the opacity and lowered it to create the transparent look. I did this one each photo except the background to keep a solid photo as the base.

JUXTAPOSITION:

Juxtaposition is a photography technique that consists of a contrast of separate photos. This can be created using a contrast of colour, people, places etc. Some juxtaposition techniques have also been used to create stories behind an image but contrasting it with the usual image against teh deeper meaning of the image.
Elliott Erwitt is a master when it comes to juxtaposition.

This edit was a fairly easy process. I began by deciding what I was going to juxtapose using the images and found 2 similar takes with different light colours used. I did not use photoshop for this edit, instead I edited them separately on Lightroom and then just transferred them onto a PowerPoint where I was able to align them next to each other for them to be able to go onto my blog as a single photo.

Henry Mullins was a photographer who was founded in the first few years of photography being originated. Photography came about in the year 1839, Henry Mullins started working at 230 Regent Street in London in the 1840s. He then moved to Jersey due to tax reasons in 1848 and carried on his career of photography. He set up his own photography studio known as the Royal Saloon, at 7 Royal Square. in the beginning, he was known to have worked with a Mr Millward but a year on from that he worked alone for the next 26 years in the same studio.

There was short period in the 1860s where Mullins worked in London but there is a large amount of photographs, which are held by the  La Société Jersiaise, that suggest there were plenty of people on the island willing to pay a good amount of money to have their photograph taken by Mullins.

Cartes de visite

Henry Mullins has a speciality called ‘Cartes de visite’ and the photographic archive of La Société has a big collection of these, which are produced in albumen, which was a thin paper photograph mounted on a thicker paper card. The size of a carte de visite is 54.0 × 89 mm normally mounted on a card sized 64 × 100 mm. On the online version of the archive there is 9600 images. this was usually done by a number of 16 photographs taken in one sitting.

Some of Henry Mullins’ photographs

Diamond Cameo

A Diamond Cameo is a process in which four separate portraits of the same subject are printed on a carte-de-visite. the four photos are usually taken from different angles of the subject. These are then printed onto each of the oval shapes of only their headshots and not their body.

1. Soft and Hard lighting

Hard lighting is a type of lighting in photography which is harsh and creates the effects of strong shadows in the image. It usually comes from a single, bright light which is smaller than the subject. When photographing objects, the dark lighting will also help to show the 3D-Appearance and will also further define the textures and details an object might have.

Soft lighting is a type of lighting in photography which is more diffused and creates softer shadows. Hard light has more contrast and is usually brighter than soft light, while soft light is usually more even. Soft light tends to wrap around the subject to create its subtle shadows . The use of soft lighting also increases the size of the photo as as the light rays travel in all directions as they move toward the subject. Soft lighting can also make colours pear richer and more realistic when it comes to the usual photography or cinematography.

My two favourite photos that demonstrate thus technique

Framing: Headshots

In photography, framing is often used to direct the viewer’s eye towards the subject of an image. 
for example, the technique of Rule Of Thirds is used to frame the subjects in your photo to make the image more visually captivating. The Rule of Thirds is the process of dividing an image into thirds, using two horizontal and two vertical lines

What can the rule of thirds be used to do?:

• Use composition techniques that are in line with what’s naturally pleasing to the eye
• Creatively use negative space
• Create conversation between the subject and background

in my attempt, my headshot is focussed on the right on the image and the 3 squares on the right are kept completely blank to draw attention only to the aspects in the middle and the right.

Focusing on the eyes

When focussing on the eyes in photography, photographers tend to do this is many different ways. Such as:

• Capturing the image up close
• Having the subject pose
• Adjusting the aperture 
• Lighting  

• The proximity of the photo allows the photographer to get an image up close to the subjects face. This will cause the subject to look directly at the camera with their eyes to create the interstellar stare. This will create a sharp quality within the eyes and most likely make them the main focus of the image.

• Posing with the eyes would be directed by the photographer for where they want the subject to be looking. By doing this is could enhance the lighting on the eyes when, for example, the subject is looking upwards rather then to the left.hands can also be used to focus the attention onto the eyes even when they are not looking directly at the camera

As an example, this photo shows the use of the hands posting upwards that lead the viewers gaze towards the eyes.

• By adjusting the aperture on your camera, it is another way of adjusting the detail of specific aspects. If you were to focus on the yes, you would adjust the aperture which would then slighting blur out the background of the image other than the eyes. This can be a very accurate and frustrating process as one slight movement could move the focus on the nose or the hair so to lower the chances of this happening to Paul d be smart to use a tripod if possible.

• Direct focus on the yes using lighting can easily brighten them and create the main focus. This can also be used by sunlight and not just artificial lighting. The lighting can cause shadows all over the image but the eyes will be well lit. This is a proven technique to create engaging portraits.

Expression

Pose

used the link below to find these ideas:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_conflict