evaluation

the more we see a person the more we recognise what defines them and how they portray that, it becomes a focal point to their being while all else fades into a single being: grandmother, mother, me, a word to a face that changes between all. the theme I hope to portray within this work is family and what they are to us, what defines them as an individual.

to represent this I have used inspiration from various artists, especially that of Rashed Haq

process

photography

to create a series of blurred and focused images I set camera to AV mode using both the higher and lower values to create a series of blurred and focused images that I later used photoshop to merge together this allows some of the facial features to be more visible than the others to give the appearance of defining traits such as the mouth and eyes, when taking the photos I had the subjects stand against a light coloured wall and illuminated them with a lamp in a dark room, this allowed a lot of contrast between light and dark areas to make the image more clear as well as to highlight the facial features so that they stand out even when  overlaid with similar images.  the greatest challenge of photography was to ensure that neither the light nor dark took over the image in addition to the background not merging in with the images, to overcome these I had to time the photos at night time since the areas would be overpowered with natural light if taken at any other time, and I used white walls to take the photos against.

photoshop

this method of editing is used to simulate the style of Rashed Haq who uses a 20 minute exposure time to create a single blurred image of a portrait.  in previous works I discover that using too many images to overlay one another can cause all the images to blur without leaving any defining traits, in addition to merging the image into the background, as a result of this it became apparent that fewer images would have to be used to make the final composition, in addition to increasing the contrast and making the image lighter to compensate for my home photoshop making an image lighter on screen than in print or on other devices. with this in mind I constructed five outcomes to reflect my theme, to create these I used not more than three images a piece with varying levels of opacity, the areas to convert to greyscale were then selected and changed using the hue and saturation tool, the colour areas were then selected and adjusted to make them brighter using the same tool, then different tools such as the colour replacement and eraser (soft, low opacity) were used to neaten up edges. the most challenging aspect within photoshop would be ensuring that the colours are brighter but do not take over the final image.

surrounding and organisation

to make the outcome more personal than coloured pictures on a wall I have organised them in order of relation in a style that replicates a family photo and surrounded them with the objects or those of similar colour to the image, to show that these belong with the individual. I have also used threat from inspiration from Jean Francois LePage and the marks he makes on images, this represents family ties in a very literal sense.

plans

an essential part to any assignment is the preparation that must be made to ensure all resources are being allocated to the right places. after researching artist styles I had decided what my theme is and who I wanted to use, however there are many potential ways to present and portray potential ideas without expending a lot of time and money.

pen lines

this style was inspired by Jean Francois lepage who uses bold lines over an image, however he uses high key lighting for his original. for these I have used harmonious coloured of red, blue and purple to represent the changes throughout individuals within a family, however I do not believe this technique works for a piece with much lower lighting as well as in grey scale, in addition to this the colours would either have to be sewn on or painted and this may be too sharp against the softer grayscale.

coloured items assortment

instead of adding to the existing composition it was suggested that instead of adding to the composition, I should edit part of the composition to make the images more natural. to achieve this I have selected an element of the image and left the colour on that white the rest of the image is left in greyscale, this will draw attention to the gradual change as a family tree grows and branches through the use of colour mixing. the issue with this is that some aspects may take attention away from other images within the final composition if some aspects stand out too much.

coloured items head

to prevent any aspect from taking over the entirety of the composition I have placed all of the coloured elements around the head area of the subjects, white using similar colour schemes. the issue with this however is that the elements are too similar removing the personal aspect, therefore I doubt this will be used within the final piece.

 experiments

running ink

as the lines in their own seemed too harsh I decided to try a technique that would blend the lines with the overall structure, this would allow colour to be a defining aspect. this would have been a technique to consider however the only colours that worked were the ones from a biro and as a result only blue, red, green and black can be used, this is a major issue as the colours are not related and therefore not useable for a final piece.

thread

instead of using pen as the focal point

pen swirl

pen highlights

pen lines

white pen

to create this I have used the images taken and edited in photoshop and drawn over them in white pen. for the more abstract photos within my work this process does work very well since it allows me to create focal points and new representations through the use of positive and negative space, in addition to this the white stands out a lot drawing more attention to this piece challenging the viewer to find the representation and make it their own. however the pieces that I intend to use are far less abstract than those used in this experiment, in addition to this the white may draw attention away from the farcical features and cover them. as a result of this it may not be In my best interest to use this process for my final outcome.

As part of a workshop to expand mediums used I printed some of the second photoshoot images onto acetate, that allowed the images to be desplayed in a transparent medium. The overall effect was not as appealing as it could have been as the photos used did not have as much variation in time therfore the acetate copies were even less visible. The outcome of this experiment would have been better have I had used images with greater variation in tone. Another issue with this method is that acetate is sat more costly than layering images within photoshop.

Layering acetate
One of the most useful materials within art is acetate, this is because it can be layered over other  other work to create a new composition, I'm addition to this it can also be used to sample a process over several peices. The image here was created by layering sheets of acetate with images from shoot 2 over each other, resulting in an outcome that is similar to what could be created using photoshop or other editing software.

Final photoshoots
after formulating an outcome plan I decided on a colour scheme to use for this project, these being a harmonious range between red and blue, these colours have the strongest connotation to emotion and personality, in which items will else be used to help guide the viewer to my intended conclusion. The representation I hope to create will be one that best reflects the subject used, this ideal is the challenge within this project as the colours need to fit with both the individual and the colour scheme.

presentation plan

Presentation plans

The basis of my theme is that it represents the nearest and dearest, such as members of family and close friends. so the way the images are presented must be relevant to this.

Décor

Since my space is quite large and enclosed I will have to take extra care to display my work in a way that it does not become lost in that space. Since my theme is nearest and dearest my intentions are to make my area as homely as possible without overpowering the final outcome. To achieve this it may be worth using covers for the table and chairs and cushions from home, in addition to this it may be worth investing is some curtains to prevent the wall from looking as if it’s just family photos. In addition to this I intend to utilise the decorations I have already put in place, for example placing the ornaments around and writing more family relevant information of the board such as house chores and meal times.

Overlapping

 Simple may not take up a good amount of space

My first idea is to use the overlapping puzzle style photo frames to display my work, this is because there will most likely be several similar pieces that are different but made up of the same elements, as a result of this I assume that it may be quite easy to be distracted from them if not presented carefully. As a result of this I have selected this because of its simplicity and connotations to family as these usually consist of overlapping plain black frames. This will allow the images to be displayed alone and will make it easier to compare them since they will be closer together, however considering the amount of space in my area this may cause some issues because I have quite a large space as well as other aspects in different parts of my space that may distract from the final outcome.

Thread web

Allows images to be more spared out without leaving blank spaces. May give wrong representation, as thread is often used in crime scenes

In response to the issues of the first idea, to spread the images out it may be worth using a thread along with overlapping so that I can spread images out while still allowing them to be connected. For this plan my intentions will be to use loose black thread or other twine with small decorations of similar colour attached to them, this will allow it to look far more contemporary and potentially allow the entire space to be used. In addition to this it will allow separation of particular groups of images, for example some my feature my direct family and others for friends which is useful since some of the outcomes may look very similar because of the processes used. The main issue with this method however would be the negative connotations associated with thread and other twine, especially with the dark colours used within my images my start to represent negative emotions and entrapment rather than family likeness and bonds.

Tree

Far more relevant, may take attention away from the images as they are blurred

Without wanting to stray too far from the string idea I decided to put some research into ideas for presenting family photos, the most common one being the use of a family tree painted on to the wall and having framed photos of family members within this tree.

The main issue with this is that the decoration may take the attention away from the final outcomes as the photos themselves are quite blurred so have no definite lines unlike the tree unless additional lines were added, however in that case then the level of detail will take attention away. To resolve this it may be worth using grey as the chosen colour and organising the photos into small clusters with some ,ore spread out than others while using a larger image at the base of the tree.

Fabrics and frames

Makes it far more personal, can link pieces together, may overwhelm pieces

After discussing my ideas with the teacher we came to the conclusion of using elements of the individual within the piece sot that it isn’t simply photos of faces, rather photos of individuals. This will consists of items associated with the person being photographed, such as an item of clothing or jewellery, or even something related to their interests. These will be laid out over a single wall in which the frames will be organised in an overlapping manner to represent a family portrait organising them into vague rows.
I will have to be cautious with this this method as it can easily become cluttered or take attention away from the photographs.

Diary

More personal however take up much less space

This was one of the first considerations however it is the least practical considering the amount of space available. This plan may still be of use though as there are observational drawings from gallery visits that will be worth presenting in a more tactile format as my progressive work will be displayed on blogger.

photoshoot 1 after editing photos (unfinished)

photoshoot 1 after editing

mostly used brightness and contrast effects, could not use colour based effects.

did not require the use of blurring effects

may use continuous line within my art also, the use of more high key lighting may also be experimented with.

the second and third pieces not as successful

photoshoot 2&3

what how why result
plan backdrop
three sides front and sides

following my previous shoot
grandma
should have taken closer pictures

granddad
kept laughing

Photoshoot 1 light and reflections

Photoshoot 1 light and reflections

My aim for this is to minimise the use of after editing by controlling the surroundings and camera settings, however editing will still be required to create a merged layered effect, in addition to this it will allow me to experiment with different conditions and effects that cannot be achieved using a camera, such as inverse and colour replacement. To link into my theme I have used my mum as the first subject since she is the closest person to me.

To achieve this in addition to reflect the artist style I have set the colours to black and white in addition to brightening the image, to blur the image I shook the camera and asked mum to shake her head, this allowed me to create a blurred image of movement. The surroundings were equally as important in this situation as they would great impact the final image with the factors being the time of day, the room and the lighting. I chose to use the dining room as the shooting room, this is because the walls are coved in glitter wallpaper with an additional layer of glitter glued on, and on a black and white image this will hopefully create a gain effect when photos are taken with a spotlight point of focus, because the dining room does get a lot of natural light I did have to wait until night so that the spotlight would not be overridden by natural light.

The main focus within this shoot was the use of light from different angles and how that effects the blurred image, to achieve this I purchased a flexible cone lamp from Wilkinson’s   and used folded tracing paper to prevent the light from hurting anyone’s eyes or being too intense without blocking the light completely, I then placed the light in different locations and took several photos. After taking several photos I found that lower lighting works best with the other elements such as the black and white colours of the image.

In addition to this also found that using the dining room mirror as the main focus creates a very eerie effect, fragmenting the subjects face when photographed at specific angles

It would have been better to be able to adjust the level of light however it would be difficult to bring family members into college

Should have used more rooms to compare against, different angles, super close ups, maybe take photos of the animals as well

theme, nearest and dearest (unfinished)

Nearest and dearest

Every person is a reflection of each other, made up of fragments of different size, shape colour- however this is just the surface. My theme for this photography project is friends and family, specifically how they impact on another in both negative and positive ways, such as the genetic lottery or habits picked up from close friends, my goal is to represent this through photography. I have chosen this as my theme because it is a massively personal part of my life, with many of those closest to me preparing and leaving for university it has become more of a focus to spend time with those close to me.

This theme overall with represent how the people we care about are never truly apart from us, even if that conflicts with who we are.


Using nearest and dearest seemed the most appropriate for the ‘twisted and intertwined’ as it would allow me to explore one of my weaker areas of photography and experiment with several exposure based effects, then allow me to use Photoshop to create more in depth compositions of several photos. I hope to achieve this through the use of distortion in which I will aim to use a variety of edited and photographic effects, specifically I aim to achieve this though the appropriate use of shutter speed and aperture to create a blurred image that will allow for a greater ease of layering, hopefully resulting in several portraits made up of many different portraits.

After a discussion with a tutor it was suggested that different points of focus be used by shining light from different angles and at different intensities, in addition to this use different camera angles and distances- rather than mimic the style of Rashed Haq and taking portrait photos from a single distance, at the generally same angle, however I do still intend to use black and white images.

editing 
point of interest 
balance