Minor Project
My idea for my minor project is to do a series of abstract portraits, which can be done in studio, and then I will layer multiple images of the same model and create an abstract image. This should push my skillset on Photoshop and Lightroom. The message I want to portray is all to do with how the media manipulates and controls us, and I want to use this message to create trippy and experimental portraits.
Manipulation & Distortion:
A Brief Series
Main Shoot
Overall, I am very satisfied with the whole project. It's a very cohesive set of striking images that are bizarre and ultimately attempt to talk about how our current society is being influenced by the media. I am also very happy with the way I was able to truly enhance my editing skills and use this minor project as a very focused way of using all of the skills I learnt over the past two years in this course.
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My favourite image is the one above, it was the first I shot and edited for this project. After shooting it, I edited the image like I would if it was just a simple portrait, using the curves tool. After that, I began toying with different settings on Photoshop, and discovered the Mosaic tool. It essentially fragments the image into different polygons. I did this on a duplicated layer of the original picture. Then, I lowered the opacity of it, and added a layer filled with red, and used the blending tool of 'Exclusion', and the image ended up looking like it does above. I am very happy with the result, since if it's seen from far away the image looks normal, but once you get closer, one can see all the polygons.
The first thing that strikes viewers about this image are the subject's eyes. For the lighting of this shoot, I used the same basic setup which just included a ring light. The background was white for every image. ​I really liked using a ring light, since it created this weird android-like effect on the eyes of the subject, which is then boosted by the exclusion blending effect. This effect is something I made sure to keep for all of my photographs in this series, since it links to the media manipulation angle I am trying to tackle this series with.
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For the editing of this image, I used the same format as with the last image, except I changed the colour to green, and instead of using the Mosaic effect, I used the Mezzotint effect. This effect created the weird static lines that riddle the image. I was going to at first use a screenshot of a static TV, but after trying out this weird effect and seeing what it did to the image, I decided to keep it. It makes the image feel very alien and uncomfortable, I feel that's the reason why the image works as part of this series.
This image was one of the few that I felt I had done something I had never done. For this one, I used the exact same editing format as before, except I used the tiles feature on Photoshop, to create the squares that distort the image. I really like it because it's quite disorienting. I also really like the colour palette of blues and white, it makes the image feel a lot more distant and interesting.
This was a very intricate image since it was my first time attempting to create a 3D effect on one of my images. I followed the YouTube tutorial below, and above one can see the result. The only thing I changed beyond the tutorial was the blue layer with the saturation blend, I used that to add the green background and green highlights in the image. I am quite happy with the image, since I learnt a new skill, whilst also making an image that evokes the themes I want this series to show.
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My biggest issue with this image is that one can see where I moved the layers, on the far right side of the image, one can see the image being duplicated.
I really like this image because of its colours and the effect I used on her eyes. The editing was pretty similar to the first image I did for this series, and whilst I was experimenting, I came across the Mosaic tool, which pretty much creates the pixelated effect that the image above has. I didn't do much else to the image, since I thought that it was enough and was strong enough without anymore effects.
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My only issue with this image is that my model is smiling, I think the image would have taken much sharper and darker turn if her facial expression was just in neutral.
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Overall, I'm very satisfied with this project and really feel like I have learnt a lot about Photoshop, lighting and shooting over the course, and this brief series was a great way of culminating this 'journey'. Furthermore, all of the images I shot and edited were able to showcase the themes of media manipulation that I wanted to explore.
