This brief was about exploring surrealism and creating a brand new object, using the same lighting and perspective, It was an exercise in photo manipulation and for me, this was a lot of new things to learn and lots of hours of research.
I found this brief really enjoyable, This was mostly because of the ability to be meticulous, spend time planning my manipulation, and come up with a plan around an object that won't exist until I create it. This also meant that when it came down to optimizing my images I was able to do whatever I felt was best to achieve my idea. A new technique that I had to learn throughout this process was using ‘select and mask’, and then creating a new layer and mask, so creating this image before now would have been impossible for me. This also meant that the research I did into layer masks, selection tools, and how they all work, was incredibly valuable to me. I would like to develop my skills in blending images together and using the selection tools to do so, I think this will be valuable throughout my photography, so I am able to bring in aspects of different images to make my final photo.
For my research, I looked into the works of Christopher McKenny, Martin Roller, and Benjamin Henon, Each for very different reasons, and some of them are very close to what the brief asked for and some are similar photo manipulation techniques in more abstract forms. What I took from each was about their different approaches to lighting, the perspective, what they are showing or not showing in each image, for the viewer to understand. Something that stood out and was always in each of their images, was that the shadows and highlights were always consistent, the objects were either similar shapes or would normally interact with each other in a specific way, and each selection was of an object that had a clear line for them to select, they didn't pick anything that was opened ended like hair or clouds.
The most successful part of my image, thanks to this research was my image blending and bringing both images together, there were shape edges and both were rounded at the top, I was also able to use a reflector to make sure there was light hitting both the edge of the cup and the edge of the can, which made blending the images much easier, due to them having very similar highlights. I think this made my new Can/Mug object much more realistic. The biggest problem I had within this project was my background, I had taken my final images using a colored background which in the end I felt wasn't bold enough so I had to experiment with different colours of what I thought might look good. Another learning curve I went through was trying to keep my lighting consistent between taking photos of the different objects as they were different heights, but also in the final image the ‘Can’ would have to be placed slightly lower into the mug. To get over this I used a reflector to bring out highlands in both objects and I think overall this meant that I had made a much better image than if I had not used one. To also combat my lighting I was continuously checking my images on a computer to see what I might want to change if I felt it wasn't working. If I was to redo this brief I would pick less reflective Objects, I would use a more neutral background, and I would have used a reflector from the start of taking my images. The biggest technical issue I had with this was me accidentally peaking white in my highlights due to the can being so reflective, followed by just having to take my time while optimising my images, as I found it frustrating that I didn't just already know what I was doing.
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