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[lightriderstudios]

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[harry-mortlock]

[harry-mortlock]

Photographer - Jeff Wall

These two images from Jeff Walls work have been whats given me inspiration for our group project. I really like the use of the reflection in the top image as it gives you a view of what you can’t normally see from a camera. More specifically what/ who is behind the camera. Then for the second image, I find it to be very controversial which is what I really like about the image. Since it almost creates multiple scenarios of what is actually going on in the picture depending on who looks at the image. 

[harry-mortlock]

Final edited image:

I am very happy with the way our image had turned out in the end after having a rough start with struggling with the first idea and now ending up with this image. I think the whole picture is very interesting and there was not a whole load of editing that needed to be done to the image. Some of the main things that we had done were decreasing the strength of the red glow coming through the door since we felt it was too harsh at first and was distracting, straightening the image so it is from a more natural viewpoint, decreasing some points of a shadow on the back right-hand side wall to bring back a little more detail and the finally correcting the colour of Miro since part of his back was slightly affected by the red hue coming into the bathroom.

[harry-mortlock]

Photoshop tutorial:

For our tutorial, we were taught how to use a variety of tools such as the lasso tool and the mask tool in order to combine multiple images. As this is very useful when shooting on a tripod as you can select different areas from each of your images and easily combine them. You could even use this technique to add something new to your images to make it stand out more. For our task, we had to pick three portraits of each other that were taken at the start of the year and then use all the different tool on photoshop to combine them to create a single person. I decided to use myself as the base of the image, then I chose to use Miro for the top half of my face and then taking the mouth from Gabby to replace mine. 

After this, I then went through to colour balance all three layers to make the skin colour as even as possible. I did not do a perfect job but definitely, at a first quick glance, it looks okay. Obviously, if I were to do this properly I would spend more time on it.

Overall I found the session to be quite useful and it was a lot of fun to do which I believe helped people to engage and really learn how to use the tools as they were enjoying what they were doing.

[harry-mortlock]

Group Project: Final shoot...hopefully 

This contact sheet shows some of the best images that we had taken during our shoot. I definitely feel that this idea has worked a lot better than our previous attempts since this image holds a lot more detail. Luckily we had no problems with lighting this time since we had actually used a collection of speed lights that Denise brought with her. These were very easy to set up and could even be mount onto the light stands that we had brought with us which was brilliant as it enabled us to position the light exactly where we wanted it and from there we were able to make small adjustments as the shoot progressed. 

Roles:

During the shoot, we had assigned each other different roles. Of course, both Miro and Lauren were acting in the image, Denise was in charge of the lighting - taking opinions from the rest of the group and I was in control of the camera whilst also taking everyone's suggestions to create an image that we were all happy with. I felt that this was a good dynamic especially for having Denise in charge of lighting since she has a lot of experience, meaning that any of the problems or worries concerning the light were all worked out in a short period of time. Both Miro and Lauren did a great job of making the image feel real and believable through their facial expressions. Miro definitely committed to his role and I thought the clothes he wore really suited the style of the image. 

The enlarged image which you see is one of my favourites from the contact sheet as I feel that the positioning of both subjects was just perfect and I really liked how much of Miro’s reflection was visible as to me it almost makes the room seem large and giving it depth which is what really adds to this image. The red light around Lauren I think is a tad too harsh but this is not a big deal since we can just reduce this in the post-production process when we sit down and choose the exact image we would all want to use as a group. Another aspect that I really. like about this image is the pair of heels that Miro had positioned on the toilet since one shoe is engulfed by a shadow. I think this could represent that although his character is very comfortable in dressing up as a woman when no one is around since he feels safe in the privacy of his home, part of him is still hidden away since he is afraid of what people might think of him once his secret gets out.

Overall I am very happy with how our shoot went and feel that the end result was even better than what I had originally expected and shall just have to see how the final edit comes out.

[harry-mortlock]

Group Project: changes are being made

Sadly our group project was not working out the way we all hoped it would. Because of this, we have decided to do a complete re-design for our idea, we still wanted to include a mirror as we all thought that the reflection had given more to the image and gave it more depth. Before we had even discussed a new location we spent time thinking of a brand new and exciting concept. It was after a while that I suggested that we could create a narrative of which we have a husband/wife walking in on their partner doing something out of the ordinary and doing it in secret but getting caught. Taking some time to talk about what the partner would be doing we agreed on having the husband being caught in the bathroom by his wife whilst dressing up as a woman. 

This I feel has a great story to it as you don't know what will happen next. We shall also be using Miro's bathroom as the design of it is truly stunning and will increase the quality of our image drastically, on top of this there is also a very large mirror that runs along the wall which we shall use to show the husband (Miro) applying his makeup.

I am really looking forward to seeing how our next shoot goes since I definitely think that everyone feels a lot more positive about the new idea.  

[harry-mortlock]

Group Project: Second shoot

Completed our second shoot for the group project and sadly I don't think it went as well as our original shoot. First of all, I would like to add that not all is bad since we did get to have our actual actress within the image which is a good representation of how we want her to look. However, as I said I am not too keen on what we had produced. As a group, we decided to shoot the image in one of the studios at the university since we would then have all the ProPhoto kit at our disposal. Because of this, we had a black background rather than the previous white wall we had in the last image. Although it did add the pipes positioned on the right-hand side of the image, which gave an interesting touch.  We were unable to actually hang the mirror on the wall, as you can see we used string to tie it up onto the wall, this was not ideal as it left the string exposed but of course, this can be edited out in the post-production. once again the image that I have enlarged is still in its raw form but I still think that when it comes to the positioning of the subject this is the most successful. This is because the gaze of both characters crosses which creates a real sense of tension in the scene.

I definitely think that the last location worked a lot better since there was more going on in the background within the reflection of the mirror and again with the last shoot the mirror does not fit the location and will have to be changed.

Hopefully, we can get together again soon to talk as a group on how we can improve the image further.