Final photos in the studio

After changing my ideas and testing what I wanted my final pieces to look like I took my final photos. Here are the ones I took in the light studio but ended up changing to the dark studio so that I could get a stormy look and be able to control the lighting in the photos.

I firstly started by making thunder storms on A3 pieces of card and then cutting them out and connecting them to string. I then once they were connected to the string put them onto a bamboo stick using tape and made sure they were all spaced out and at different heights. I then connected the bamboo stick to a camera pole that was in the studio using tape and positioned it over the set where I was taking my photos. Then to create a cloud I bought 5 bags of teddy bear stuffing and spread out on the studio floor under the clouds that were hanging. I then used yellow face paint to paint my model so that it looked like he’d been shaded.

Here are some photos of me setting the studio up:

I got him to wear fashionable clothing and to look like something that someone would inspire to be like. I wanted the feeling of the photo to be as if it was taken in the clouds and that my model is asleep up there and meanwhile there is a thunderstorm happening above. This is why he has yellow on his body so that it looks like the yellow from the lightning has caused reflections of yellow onto his skin.

Here are the four photos I chose and edited:

I feel the top two photos are my strongest out of the four I have taken for my final piece as they are from a flattering side angel. I also like the placement of the clouds over him as they bring your eyes down but don’t take full concentration away from the model. I do like the bottom two as well though as they show a different perspective of the cloud world I created and could tell a different story to views. I like the clouds in the last photo as they are placed differently compared to the other photos which shows that I’m experimenting and not just sticking to the same plan. I took them all in portrait as a magazine would need them to fit on the front cover. I feel that they worked really well and when I went out and tested it by talking to people within the age specification about what they thought about the photos, I got positive feedback.

Here are some of the things people said about these photos:
“the cloud images are very imaginative and you have shot them very effectively”

“I like the clouds as it’s a unique idea especially with the face paint”

“The cloud ones are cool and well thought out – tells a story behind the images”

“I like the fluffy cloud photos, incredibly unique”

About the artists I looked at

Maria Slough:

Slough’s photos are taken to tell stories and for them to have meanings. I feel this links to  my piece of work perfectly as this is the point of the photos I need to take. Her work is mostly with water which interests me due to my liking to water in my photos too. Her photos also have a surreal feeling to them which is the theme for most of my photos so I feel I could take some tips from her photographs.

 

Jacob Sutton:

Sutton’s work contains a lot of movement from clothes or the models half way through moving. This gives a really nice effect and this inspires me to have some movement in my photos to make them more lifelike and maybe to show distress. Also in some of his photos a girl is under water and there are air bubbles which I would like to capture in my photos as it makes it more real.

 

Lydia Lingenfeld:

Lingenfeld isn’t a famous photographer and only has one of her photos on the internet but that does stop that photo being really inspiring. Looking at her photo you can tell a lot about the person and give them a story. Lingenfeld also includes water in her photos which gives me more possibilities for my photos.

Final piece #3

Here are the third lot of photos for my final piece. I took them of my dad in the ford in my village. I took the photos with him wearing a suit whilst sat in the water with balloons surrounding him. I wanted him to look like nothing was happening but slightly sad. I took the photos with my Canon 5D and used a reflector to bounce the light back onto the balloons and the water. I got him to sit down in the water as it wasn’t deep enough for what I wanted, which is for the water to come up to his waist with him stood up. This meant I had to change my plan so the water would reach his waist still. This meant I had his legs out in front of him instead so it’s as if he’s given up as well. I got the balloons specially for this and got weights put on them so they would stay in the water. I also took the photos when it was raining which can be seen in the water giving a more sad feel to the photos. I got my inspiration for these photos from the photographer Jacob Sutton. I really liked his photos and how they were taken of odd and creative things. I wanted to follow this sort of style also, which gave me the inspiration to do these photos like I did.

Meaning of the photos:

The meaning of these photos was to show that my dad has so many problems holding him down which stops him from escaping his worries. The balloons and suit symbolise his hope and dreams and the water and the weights show that he can’t escape them and he’s being held back by them. The ripples of the rain in the water is like pathetic fallacy as he’s sad and rain is seen as a bad thing.

Portrait:

For the photos I got my dad to sit in the water and look like nothing was happening and it’s not meant to be literal, it’s meant to be what the feeling of having loads of worries feels like. I took many photos some portrait and some landscape. I made sure I included foliage in front of my dad too as this brought green into the whole photo sort of like a frame. I really like the reflections of the balloons in the water and that you can just see the blue of the weights in the water. I prefer the landscape photo more as it can fit the balloons in better and the colours are deeper and the capacity of the photos is higher than the landscape photo which included more of the background which isn’t necessary.

Object:

At first I wanted the object photo to be of balloons falling into the water to show that his problems are always getting worse. This was done by chucking the balloons into the water and taking the photo as they hit the water. I really liked how the photos turned out but after putting the object photo with the portrait I felt that having balloons in both photos was too much and didn’t look great.

So then I took a photo of some of my Dads secateurs which I’d hoped were red to go with the colour of the balloons but sadly they were green but I felt this linked in with the greenery in the background of the portrait photo. I took the photo of the secateurs in some grass so that the main colour in the photograph is green and so the silver on them stood out more. I took the photo at this angle to show how different you can make something look at a certain angle.

Diptych:

After taking all the photos and picking the ones I felt went the best together I made the final diptych. I edited them both in photoshop to make them similar in colours and sharpness. I feel they go really well together and compliment each other. These photos really explain who my dad is and what his life is. The combination really makes you realise that my dad has a lot of problems in his life which are holding him down from being better than he is now and that he is a gardener and loves the outside. If I was to change one thing I would have got some red secateurs instead so that the red would have been in both photos.

Final Piece #2

Here are the second lot of photos for my final piece. I took them of my mum in a woodland area down a quiet lane in the countryside. For these photos I started by using a bottle strapped to my mums back by her dress strap. The bottle had a bendy straw coming out of it which was connected to her ear using an elastic band. After I looked at the photos I noticed the water couldn’t be seen so after trying many things for it to be visible I decided to ditch the water idea. The photos were taken with my Canon 5D but the photos had to be edited after as the colours came out too dull from my camera. In the photos I wanted my mum to look floaty and fairy like so I put her in a long lose dress and put glitter all over her face but sadly none of it showed up in the photos. I got inspirations for these photos from Maria Lough’s photograph of a lady playing in a water fountain as she has a floaty look and she also looks surreal. I also really liked how vibrant her photos were which you can she coming out in my photos.

Meaning of the photos:

The meaning of these photos at first was about how my mum has a lot of information to remember for her job and sometimes she forgets things. I wanted her to look like a fairy because she’s always trying to please everyone but she can’t always remember what it is that people have said to her. The photo is trying to show what she would love to do which is get rid of unneeded information for the more important things. Once the water bottle idea had failed I changed the meaning to be that my mum is a happy go lucky person who can make anything a pleasant experience which is shown by how happy she is kicking water.

Portrait photos:

The photo above is the photo using the water bottle to create water pouring from her ear. I took it on a hill of bluebells (Endymion non-scripta) in the sun for a fairy tale look. She has her arms out so she looks floaty and weightless. I used a reflector on the white side to light up the parts of her body which weren’t being hit by the sun. As you can see the water stream really its visible and it’s like this in all the photos. I like how the photo looks but sadly the water idea didn’t quiet work for me meaning I went on to try something different.

 

For this photo I sat my mum on a wall that was cover in bluebells and had a small trough under which was slightly clear. I positioned her to be crossed legged and to be admiring a flower and not showing her face. This shows her love of all things beautiful but also her shyness. This was taken in the shade so a reflector was used to make the light equal and brighter. The water represents that she could easily be in danger but she is safe on the wall supporting herself just like things she’s going through in life. I really like this photo and the position that she’s in as its very elegant and it’s very flattering. I still didn’t feel like it showed enough about her and that there wasn’t anything special about it.

 

Finally, the photo above is the last photo I took of my mum and the one I like the most as I feel it describes my mum well and it’s a very interesting and pretty photo. The colours are very vibrant and combined with the lighting makes the area seem very fairy-like and too good to be true. I let my mum do what she wanted without her knowing I was going to take photos still which meant I captured a true playful picture of her. Here I’ve captured her kicking the water around and smiling about it. I feel this explains my mum well as it shows that she still has dangers but she can make positives of them and overcome them. I want people to see that my mum is a happy go lucky person who can make a positive about anything.

 

Object:

For the object about my mum I chose to take an un up close photo of a bluebell as this is my mums favourite flower due to when she was a child her granddad used to take her to the wood for walks and it was always this certain bluebell wood. This means that a bluebell has very fond memories for her and they are a happy thing for her.

 

Diptych:

Here is the diptych I made from these photos. I feel that the photos go really well together due to the blue of the flowers in both of them being so similar. I really like the outcome of the photos together and I feel it describes the happy go lucky life of my mum really well whilst creating a simple but pretty diptych. If I was to change anything about it I would try and make the flower photo less eye catching then the photo of my mum so that all the focus is on her.

 

Final Piece Photos #1

Here are the first lot of photos for my final piece. I took them of my sister in our hot tub but sadly for her it had been off for winter meaning that it was freezing cold. For the photos we had an A3 sheet of acrylic instead of glass for safety reasons which was placed over her face whilst she was completely submerged under the hot tub’s water. The acrylic was to press her face against and to capture bubbles under. The photos were taken on my Canon 5D on manual focus as it wouldn’t focus quick enough when I was following her around the water. We first took the photos in day and used a reflector to bounce the light back onto her face and the acrylic but then we took some photos at night with the red light on in the hot and a light shining from next to the camera. At first my sister held the acrylic on her own but she couldn’t stop herself from moving around and floating so then we tried someone else holding it for her so she could hold herself still under the water, meaning she could push herself against the glass better too. I got my inspiration for these photos from a photo I found by Lydia Lingenfeld which is the same sort of thing with a girl against a piece of wet glass with her hands against it to give a feeling of being trapped. I took the idea of the glass against the face and to include water from Lingenfeld. I then put my own twist on it by making her completely underwater and also without her hands being on the glass.

Meaning of the photos:

The meaning of these photos is to show anxiety and the trapped feeling and how it makes you feel like you don’t have control which is like drowning. Anxiety is something that my sister suffers from meaning the photos hopefully explain how she feels. In the dark photos the acrylic is being held by someone else meaning it creates small details which if spotted are eerie as it means someone is holding her under the water and she doesn’t have control.

Day:

Here are two of the day photos which I feel worked well and explained the feeling of anxiety through photo form as I interpret it. These photos were taken using ambient light with the hot tub red light in the water behind for the look of blood and also to light the water. I used a reflector to get the sun rays onto the acrylic as the sun was in the wrong direction. The acrylic is being held by my sister meaning she couldn’t stay under the water long as she floated to the top quickly and moved around a lot. Taking the photos was difficult and my sister could only be under the water for a little amount of time as the water kept going up her nose. This meant that I only had small chances to take photos meaning that it was a long process. I really like how these two photographs above turned out as they show that she is holding the acrylic and her hair in the water has become very vibrant. I also like how the bubbles have been captured under the acrylic as it shows she releasing air. The landscape photo to me shows the anxiety she feels the most was its more focused and you can see more of her. The only thing I would change if I was going to is for the red light to show more and for her face to be against the glass more.

Night:

After taking the day photos I decided I’d try taking the photos at night instead and have someone else hold the acrylic for her so she could hold herself still and against the glass better. This meant that in the photos she is against the glass more and her hands aren’t in the photo, someone else’s are which is unsettling. As it was dark, the red light in the water became very strong becoming more like blood and filling the whole water. Due to it now being dark my sisters face stopped showing up so a light had to be brought down the garden to be held next to the camera. This wasn’t a strong light as we didn’t want the light to bounce off the acrylic too much and bleach the photos out. The photos came out blurry as my camera would only take the photos on slow shutter speed due to it being dark but i feel this makes the photos more real as it gives the feeling of movement and possibly that she’s struggling. The bubbles have showed up on her face very well and even cover her eyes giving her a fish looking eye. I really like these photos as they are more dark and sinister than the light ones and I also feel that they give a better feeling of how horrible anxiety is for people that suffer from it. If I could do these again I would try and capture a photograph where her eyes are open and looking at the camera.

Object Photo:

For the object to go with the portrait I decided I would use my sisters finger as they’re part of her and they say a lot about her. The first thing is that they’re wrinkly from the water meaning this links to the other photo and it also shows her finger prints which are a very important thing about a person as they’re even used for phone passwords now. I took some against a dark background and some against a white background so that if I picked either the light or the dark portrait photo this one would match it well. For the dark photo I took it so that the hand looks like its flopped over and could give the illusion of being dead. Also from the photos you can see that she’s got bitten nails which could be from being stressed and not knowing that she’s doing it.

I really like how they turned out and how only the fingers are in focus meaning that you only look at them. I also feel that the photos link well to the portraits and also tell the view something about my sister too. If I was to do them again I would make the photo more focused only on the finger tips and possibly take the photos in the water too so that they are in the same location as the portraits.

Diptychs:

Here are three different diptychs which I’ve created from the photos I took. I’ve tried putting light photos together and dark photos together but I did try putting opposites together as well.

The diptych above I feel works really well and also shows a light and clear view of what anxiety looks like. I feel the photos go feel together as they are both light and connected by the subject of water.

For this diptych I put a light and dark photo together to see how it would look but I don’t like the outcome as I feel they don’t go together smoothly and the eye gets confused about which one to look at.

For the last diptych I put the dark photos together and I’m really pleased about how it turned out. I feel a more dark and gloomy theme to these and it definitely shows how bad anxiety can be. I feel that the movement in the photo below really goes well with the dead look of the hand above it.

 

 

Ideas for Final piece

Since I’ve enjoyed taking photographs, the love for water has always interested me too. So for this term I’m excited to try and put the two together. There are many photos including water but I would like to try and create my own unusual photo. I think I’m going to carry on the subject of surrealism as I love the creativity that goes with it. I have a few ideas which I would like to use for my final piece which I’ll adapt as I get closer to the end of the term to make them better. 

First idea: Person in a lake with it up to their waist. They are surrounded by things in the water but the person is acting like nothing is happening that is weird. I would like for it to be a bright day with clear blue sky. This is unusual and gives a unreal setting. I could manipulate the colours to make them more florescent than they actually are giving a fake feeling. The other photo could be of their finger print. This could say that the person wants to drift away like balloons but they are being held down by things in life.

Second idea: Person in a lovely floaty dress on a windy day and they are leaning sideways and there’s water pouring from their ear. I would like this to be in a woods with studio lighting but I don’t see how I would get a power source out there to power them. Prefreably I would like natural lighting to be sun rays streaming through the trees where the person is. The other image could be of her ring or necklace. This could say something about the person having too much to think about it becomes too much and it starts to leak out their ears as water.

Third idea: Photo taken from the top over water of a person underwater with a piece of glass on the top of the water. The person under the water is pressed against the glass with their face sideways and releasing air bubbles so that they can be captured in the photo. The person would preferably be a girl as the rest of the photograph would be filled with hair in the water from the person. I feel this could be taken on a light day using reflectors to bounce the light onto the glass and water nicely. I could take it in my hot tub so that it’s nicer for the person as it’d be warm and also I could turn the lights on so that the water could be red. I would take them at night so that the lights change the water colour a lot. The other photo could be of their eyes. This could show that person feels trapped and that they might have anxiety. 

 

Final Piece write up:

How I did it:

I used a little lamp at the end of my bed and used drawing pins to hold things up e.g. clothing, braid and duvet. I projected shadows onto the wall behind the bed by putting hands in front of the lamp. I took them at night time so it was dark everywhere other than where the lamp was projecting. I took it on a bed as it needed to be about sleeping so i used my bed as it is a loft bed meaning it is lifted off the floor. This meant good angles could be used for the photos but this also meant that ladders had to be used to reach onto the bed. Two people stood at the end of the bed under the lamp on a step ladder and projected hands onto the wall over the bed. One person had to hold the thing that was pinned up so it looked like they were being held up whilst the other person made hands that creeped in over top. I had it so I was the girl that was asleep in the bed as I knew what I wanted it to look like. I had another person taking the photos with my instructions. I wore white clothes as I want this to show I’m pure and the dark shadows are evil. I Photoshopped them by getting rid of any blemishes, things on the walls and bed, making it black and white with a tiny amount of colour as this is what would be seen if it was dark as you can only see a tiny amounts of colour in the dark. I also made the photos loads darker and brought the darkness around the subject so that it makes this the only thing you look at.

How I feel they turned out:

I really like the outcome of the photos and how they make people feel when they look at them. When showing the photos people said they felt uneasy looking at them and that they didn’t like them. They said they were amazing photos but they made them worry about it when they never had before. The photos took around 3 hours to set up, to take and then photoshop. Just the photoshopping took up around an hour of those three as lots had to be changed. The shadows were taken in the same shot as the girl asleep in the bed and the things being lifted. Nothing was added after, the only thing that was done was me taking things away like stickers on my bed. I really like how the photos turned out and how they make people feel and how dark and evil they feel. If I was to do this again I would possibly make sure that the person sleeping is more in the photo and that the white of the top doesn’t blend in with the wall as much. Also maybe have really long nail extensions on the people making the shadow hands to make it seem more evil.

My inspiration:

The Shadows in Notsferato:

I feel like my photos were inspired by how the shadows in Notsferato create fear without actually showing something scary. They show that Dracula is approaching without you actually see him. This also lets you think what you want as you can’t actually see all details of what it is so your brain can decide and if you’re scared then it might be worse than it actually is. In my photos the fear is brought on by the looming hands but they are shadows meaning this lets your mind wonder and make it worse than it actually is.

Final Piece Photos:

Test run of my chosen final piece

Here are the test shots of idea 2 which I chose as my final peice. I took these so I could see how I could make my idea better and if it worked. Also this is useful so that I know what else I can do to improve it further.

The photo above is my improved photo next to my first test run I did of it.

What I’ve changed:

>Made the photo darker but kept my face light up. I did this so the hands look sinster whilst I look pure.

>Took away the print on my top so it doesn’t distract the eye from the subject of the photo with is the hands.

>Added highlights and definition to my face so it wasn’t flat and uninteresting.

>Had the hands coming in from a lower height to see if it made the photo have a different feel to it.

How I feel it turned out:

Over all I feel the darkness improves the evil in the photo and the light that’s still on the face shows the pureness of the girl (me). This way the photo can be dark with the important details being noticable still. The photo is improved a lot by the distraction of the print on the top gone as people were getting distracted by it when I was getting feedback about my first test run of it. I changed the level of the shadow hands but I don’t feel it helped and if anything I prefer the height of the first ones as they aren’t as noticable on the walls on the side. Overall I feel I will defiantly use some of the alternations and maybe even add more things like wearing completly white clothes instead so then I can show pureness and evil with the colours black and white.

Comparing my final piece ideas

 

Idea One:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Idea Two:

Idea 1 includes equality, as it is about race and body types and surrealism, as it’s about creating a person out of many peoples body parts. It doesn’t include issues of concern but I’m okay with only having two subjects. It will use more than 2o photos as you need a selection of people to pick from. When I came up with the idea I thought it was unusual but after drawing it up and showing my tutor I realised it had been done many times before and was a done project. Also it would be expensive to print all the photos to the standard and size of A4 and take a long time to put them into a binder book. It is really interesting to look at too and people would look at it longer than normal photos as it’s interactive meaning that even kids of young ages could find it entertaining and maybe even learn something from it. I think it’s a good idea but I don’t love the idea as much as I should for a final piece. It’s not something I would go to an exhibition to go see but I would think it was a good idea.

Idea 2 includes surrealism, people are being controlled by shadows and they aren’t being woken by it and issues of concern as I’m concerned that whilst I’m asleep things happen that I’m not aware of. It doesn’t include anything to do with equality but I don’t know how I would include it and I’m super happy with the idea how it is. It will have three or four photos and when I present them I would like to hang them by see through string and then have lights projecting hands so it looks like shadows are holding the photos. I feel even though I have seen surrealism done with shadows I have seen hardly anything like what I have thought of. The only photo I have found that is similar I have included in my inspiration page. It should cost much to make as there isn’t much to print and the actual process of creating the photo just includes things from around the house. The photos are really interesting to look at as they are dark meaning you don’t see all of the photo all in one go. You see more and more of the photo as you inspect it. Also you can most likely see your own fears as they include many things.

Overall I think I’m going to do the second idea as it includes more things that I’m interesting in, is perfect for the subjects it includes and people won’t have seen something like it before and might even wonder how it was done. I feel it has much more chance of creating pieces of work that people will be inspired by and that will stay with them.