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Experimental Photography

Hayley Roberts

Multiple Exposure

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I like in this image how there are different patches from the overlaid image in the background so it’s less white and plain.

I did this image in colour and in monochrome and I prefer it in colour. I think that with the different patterns on the models dress and the mixture of different colours, it works really well and it makes the image colourful and eye catching.

The tree overlay isn’t as obvious so it makes it more open to the viewer as to what the actual image is and how it’s been done.

There is a strong contrast in this image between man and nature and there is also a strong contrast between the green of the dress with the white in the background and the partially white background helps the model stand out.

I don’t like how some of the overlay has covered the models eye as the eye is one of the main focal points of the subject and it isn’t as bold or as bright and attention grabbing with parts of the tree over the top of the models eye.

I also think that the shadowing in the image isn’t as bold or as powering and this isn’t what I wanted and I do think that in monochrome they stand out a lot better.

4

Evaluate:From my last set of images, I decided to try out a different experiment to see how it would work and see if it would make my images look a little different to the first set I had done. I didn’t have any expectations for these sets of images but I did want to keep the images slightly similar and not have a dramatic change as I really liked my first set of images and the effect it left using the blending option I had done. I feel that this image went really well and it worked really well with the patchy areas and also having some of the tree image overlaid onto the background. This helps the audience know what the images are and it makes it a little more obvious to the viewer. I did two different styles to these images as I did one in colour and then the second one I did was in monochrome. I felt that the image in colour worked a little better than the monochrome as there is a lot of different colours and tones in the image and there are also different patterns and these weren’t as vibrant or as bold when they were changed into monochrome. I wanted to keep the image quite eye catching and really bold against the white background and I felt that the light green from the leaves contrasted well with the darker green on the models dress. For this image, I decided to look at the photographer Simone Primo as I felt that his work was very similar to what I had created. He takes some of his images in colour using different bright colours and greens and that’s what I wanted to get across in my images. He uses the same method to what I created but he doesn’t have darker patches on the background like I have in this image but he makes it obvious what his subject matters are and he puts that across in his work.

Qualities:I think that this photograph is very aesthetically pleasing overall and it all works well together. I like how the model image comes across more powerful and is more obvious to the viewer but then the patches of trees on the background help the viewer see what the other image overlaid is. I think that there is a strong contrast between dark and light and the darkness in the background helps the model stand out on the page. I feel that if the image was in monochrome though, it would help the shadows on the models body stand out a little bit better as having images in monochrome helps this stand out. There are loads of different patterns within the image because of the models dress and they all contain different colours and different shades and this is the main focal point within the image and this is what catches the viewers attention. I feel that this is a strong element to the piece of work and another strong point is the amount of patchiness over the model and how there is a lot but there is the right amount so it’s not too overpowering or hard to see the model because of it and the colour from the trees and the model don’t clash either they work well together. I think that a weakness to this image aesthetically is part of the leaves from the tree are over the top of the models eyes and this doesn’t make the eyes as flattering as it should be and not as bright and really hard to see what is actually going on. I did a very similar method to create this image as I did for the last images but I did the same by dragging both images into Photoshop on the same document and made sure that the sky was completely white and so was the background for the model. I then changed the blending mode to ‘Lighten’ instead of ‘Screen’ like last time and this is the effect it created. I also tried to keep the images in colour instead of changing them just to monochrome so I had a wider variety of options and different experiments and I felt that colour worked a lot better with this blending mode. I think that the image was done really well on a whole and the blending option worked really well but it was very similar to the first set of images I had done and that is quite a weakness but it does have some different elements to it. I think that the camera handling worked well and there was no issues with any of the shutter speed options or the camera setting that it was actually on. I felt that a strong technical aspect to this image was definitely having the lighting a bit brighter in the studio so it was a lot brighter and this made the background a lot whiter so I didn’t have to edit it as much in Photoshop to make it white and this helped a lot compared to the last set of images I had done. I also feel that the composition and the slightly off centre angle the image was taken on works really well and the model actually helps frame the image even with the patches on it.

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I feel that this image is just as successful as the first set of images that I had done but I did use a very similar technique to the first one. I think that I could of used a completely different blending option in Photoshop and been really adventurous with the way I created this image instead of wanting to have the same effect to the first time. I kept my image in colour and I didn’t want to use the monochrome version of it purely because there is that many different colours in this image that it would be a waste of an image changing it into monochrome. But I think to develop this image further I could change the tones of the colours and mess around with the contrast and brightness of the image and bring out certain colours to make them stand out more in the image. I could also have taken another image where the model has her hand over the other side of her face and then turn the opacity down and then layer the images up to make them have a different mood to the image and more mysterious as well as keeping the overlay of the trees to make it quite patchy and harder to understand for the viewer. I could make these images completely different as well and co-operate mixed media in with the image by making it 3D and making less elegant and more spontaneous. This could make it more of an illusion than an image and I think that it would have a totally different feel to the image overall and I feel that this would work really well. My theme that I had chosen was nature, so I decided to take images of trees and before I had taken images of trees as well as flowers but I felt that flowers didn’t work as well as trees for multiple exposure. This time I only had taken images of trees because I didn’t want to waste my time taking images of flowers when I know that it doesn’t work as well and I hadn’t taken many images of trees last time so I made the most of taking images of trees. The images I had taken of trees links to the theme I had chosen really well as it’s a main factor of nature and as I had taken portrait images, I needed something that linked to nature and so trees was the subject matter that linked well. I have produced a variety of experimental images and this is what was asked for in the brief so I feel that I fulfilled the brief that was set and I have produced experimental images. I know that the images are experimental because they are arty images and more linked to Fine Art which is what experimental photography is all about. The composition and angle of the image works really well because it’s not directly in the centre and is slightly off centre and I think this makes the image less formal. There are a range of patterns on the dress and there are loads of bright and subtle colours in the dress which stand out a lot against the paleness of the models skin and it also brightens up the whole image. I think that the curves and lines around the model frame the actual image and there is a little glow around the model and this helps frame the model in the image as well.

Multiple Exposure

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I did this image in colour and also in monochrome and I felt that this image worked a lot better in colour than in monochrome. With all the bright colours and the interesting patterns in this image it needs the colour in it because without the colour it becomes quite dull and simple and not as interesting.

The lighter green from the leaves on the trees contrast really well with the darker green of the dress and it works really well against each other.

The background of this image is completely white with no patches of images in the background like the first image. I feel that this works better for this image because I feel that it would have been too distracting having patches in the background as the image has a lot of detail within.

The white patches over the image makes it look like a painting of some sort as the colours and the model look really soft and like pastels.

I feel that the composition of this image works well and is composed and put in the right place. If there was more white background, the model would have become really lost on the page and it wouldn’t be as powerful as it is now.

I think that the top of the overlay image should have been moved a little so that there was more of the face shown or the image should have been flipped upside down. This would of put more of the face in the image and not as patchy.

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Evaluate:The first image that I had created is very similar to this image and this image is very similar to the first set of images I had created as I didn’t want to do a dramatically different effect as I really liked the first set of images I had done. I also wanted to keep the images in colour rather than changing it into monochrome like I did with the first set of images. This is because I wanted the colours to be the main focal point of the image as it would help the image stand out more against a white background. There are also some really interesting colours that wouldn’t be as effective if they were in monochrome and so keeping it colour helps it stand out. My intention for this image was to create similar images to the first set of images that I had done but I wanted them to be more bold and more eye catching as the first set I had done had more of a white frosting over the top of them and were a little more faded than this set of images and that’s why I wanted to change the blending mode for this image to see what it would do to both images. The different patterns on the models dress stand out in the image and the different colours all work really well but parts of the tree leaves that have been overlaid, do become quite distracting and they don’t work as the first image I had done and they clash a little more with the models hair. The colours on the model do look more soft and like pastels and with the white patches over the image it makes it look like an unfinished painting and this creates a totally different feeling to the image than just two images merged together to create the effect, it makes it look more experimental. I do feel that the overlaid image of the tree over the top of the models face could have been moved a little more to the top of to the right a little more because it takes out a lot more of the face than I expected and the white patches cover most of the models face. But with the model having her hands over her eyes and covering most of the face it can also be an advantage as it can have a deeper meaning to the image as well as the models face is being covered up by herself and then with the white patches so it could mean there is more behind what is seen. I looked at the photographer Simone Primo for this image as his images are very similar to what I have done. He uses a plain white background and for some of his images he uses colour with really bright and bold elements to them so they stand out on the page. He also uses nature and overlays the image over a portrait photograph which is what I have done in this project.

Qualities:This image is not one of the most successful that I have done overall in the project, but I felt that it does work well as an image and the effect does work as well. I decided to keep a plain white background as I didn’t want patches of the overlaid image on the white background and I think that it works better without the patches as the plain white helps the model stand out on the page. I think that the weaker elements to the image aesthetically is that I should of moved the top layer of the trees so that there was a little more of the face showing as it would of given a more powerful effect than what it actually does now. I also feel that the green from the leaves of the trees clash with the colour of the models hair and there is a lot more of the lighter green than in the first image and I think it clashes a lot more than it did in the first image and I feel that this is again a weakness. I feel that a stronger element of the image is definitely the colour of the image itself and I definitely prefer the coloured version to the monochrome version. I think that the softness of the image with the boldness and sharpness of all the different colours in the image work really well together and it makes the image a lot more brighter and eye catching all together. I also feel that with having a completely white background with no patches of image on the background helps the colour stand out a lot more and keeps the attention on the colour. I feel that this image has worked well for me technically and the weakness of the image is that the background in the studio wasn’t bright enough and the exposure on the camera wasn’t high enough so it made the background quite dull and so I had to change it in Photoshop. The strengths of this image though is that the camera handling was done really well because the shutter speed for both images were achieved really well and they were set at the right shutter speed as both images are really sharp and in focus and the detail in both images can be seen. For this image I did the same steps in Photoshop to the first image I had done for this set.

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I feel that this image out of all of them isn’t the strongest image and isn’t the most engaging and I feel that I have done better than this image. I feel that there could be a few improvements to this image to make it a little better than it is now. I think that the image of the trees that has been blended to the image of the portrait should have been moved so it wasn’t completely over the models face as it covers too much of the face and it doesn’t connect the image up and so it doesn’t work as a whole as there is too much of the face missing and that’s where all the detail is and that was the main focal point of the subject. I also feel that the colour of the leaves clash with the models hair and it becomes really confusing for the viewer but it if I had changed the image into monochrome, it wouldn’t have a big impact as an image because the colours and patterns from the models dress wouldn’t have been as powerful and bold. For this image, I think that to develop it further, I could change only one layer of the image to monochrome (the layer with the trees on) as this would make the colour of the leaves won’t clash too much with the model and I think that this would work really well. I also think that next time, I should use the ‘Burn’ tool in Photoshop to help the shadows stand out a lot more in the image and create a strong contrast between shadows and highlights as there isn’t that many contrasts in the image. I could maybe use the glitching method for this photograph as well as the double exposure method as it would create some really different and unique effects and it will also give that mysterious side to the image and it will also give quite a scary effect to the image with it having glitches. The outline of the tree at the top of the image and the model itself frames the image with the lines and the curves in the image. The dress contains strong colours and patterns and they both work really well together and they compliment the image on a whole and they really help the image stand out on the page against the plain, white background. There isn’t that many contrasts within the image, especially between shadows and highlights because the image of the tree that was overlaid, takes the attention off the shadows and if the image was in monochrome, the shadows would have stood out a lot more because there wouldn’t be as many colours taking the attention away. The composition of my image is set at a decent size on the page and there is just enough white in the background around the model without drowning her out. I really like how the arms of the model are not all in the image and they slightly run off the page, I think that it fills the page up a little more and it spreads the image out a lot more. This image matches to the theme that I had set myself as I have used an image of nature (trees) and that was the theme I had chosen. I think that this image is experimental as it links very closely to the other images and the method I had used was more linked to Fine Art and that’s what most experimental photographers go for.

Multiple Exposure

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I decided to try a different way of creating the method multiple exposure by layering up different images of the same subject. I feel that this worked really well and it shows the different positions of the hands really clearly and it will make the viewer think a lot more and concentrate a lot more on this image to get the whole idea of the actual image.

I did a version where all the hands were in colour and then in the other version of the image I changed one image of the hands into monochrome. I feel this one worked better out of both the images I had done because it shows a bigger contrast between monochrome and colour and it just separates the image up a little.

The pale background helps the paleness of the skin stand out. It also helps the hands stand out because I had to change the opacity of the hands which makes it a lot paler so the white background helps them stand out.

The blue ring that the model has on her finger becomes really distracting and for me it doesn’t work because it stands out too much in the image.

It is quite hard to see, but I should of also brightened out the backgrounds of the hands before I layered them all together. This is because there is a slight grey line where some of the images come further down than the others.

The overlapping of all the arms and the hands work really well and create different patterns and shapes out of all the different twists in the arms.

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Evaluate: I decided that for this image, I wanted to create something completely different to what I had been created and I wanted to try out a different way of representing multiple exposure. I think that the image on a whole works really well and it’s a very effective image that makes the viewer of the image look really closely to the image so they can figure out what is in the image. I did 2 versions of this image (one in colour and the second one having one image in monochrome) and I decided that the image with some monochrome tones to it worked better and looked a lot more effective. This is because the one element of the image that is monochrome helps stand out what the subject matter is as it is the main focal point of the image and it also creates a real contrast between monochrome and colour. I feel that this image reached my intentions as I wanted to create an image that involved using layers and I wanted it to look really mysterious and faded and the positions of all the hands all fit together and don’t look out of place and they all link together by keeping the same subject matter throughout the image. The hands and arms create different patterns within the image and different shapes and having the pale background, helps the colours and the monochrome stand out and keeps the attention on them and this is what I wanted to happen in the image. For this image, I looked at the photographer Nir Arieli who takes images of dancers in different positions and then layers the images over the top of each other, just like I had done in this image. For his work, he uses a lot more photographs that he overlaps whereas I only had used 3 for this image. He uses all of his images in colour and doesn’t changes them to monochrome but he keeps a plain background in his images so that the main focus is on the dancers as they are the main focal point of the images he takes. His images are very similar to the image I have created and the method he uses is exactly the same as mine.

Qualities:This image looks faded and washed out and I like that feel to the image, that’s also the kind of look I was looking for in all my images in the sets I have done and I like this effect it leaves. I like how all the hands link together and don’t look out of place or don’t fit with each other because it makes the image come together on a whole and makes the image work. I also like how the monochrome image helps the colour images stand out as well, especially because I used quite a light background it needs something in the image to help it stand out so it doesn’t get washed in with the background and I feel I achieved this really well. I think that the stronger elements of this image is how all the hands link together but they are easy to see and it’s also easy to spot the different positions that the hands are in and the image doesn’t look confusing and too busy. The weaker element of this image is the blue ring on the models hand, becomes really distracting as it stands out a lot more on the page than what I wanted it to and I don’t think it looks right with the image so I would get rid of the ring next time so it doesn’t become too distracting. To create this image, I dragged all 3 images of the hands into Photoshop (one over the top of the other), I then changed the opacity of the images so that all images could be seen and I made sure that the opacity was all the same so one image didn’t stand out more than another so it kept all of them equal. I feel that a technical weakness is that I should of bleached out the backgrounds in Photoshop as there are a few grey lines where some of the images start and even though it’s hard to see it makes it less professional so having them all white backgrounds it wouldn’t show the lines. A stronger technical element in this image is how all the shutter speeds and exposures were set correctly and none of the images were out of focus and all the detail remained on the images and they had the right sets of lighting so it wasn’t overexposed or underexposed.

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For this image, there are a few improvements that could be made but I feel this image was very successful and everything worked really well so I was very pleased with the outcome. The ring on the model could have been taken off for these photo shoots so it doesn’t become as distracting in the image because there isn’t that many different colours presented in the image, so having the blue ring on stands out a lot more in the image and doesn’t look right to me. I also think that the backgrounds should have been changed to white so that the outline images isn’t shown as there is different shades of greys in the images and this is seen by the different lines. So by changing the backgrounds all to white, the outlines of the images won’t be seen as they will all be the same colour. This image could be developed by adding different images of different subject matters or even adding more images of hands to make a more complex image. For example, I could of added images of the models face (front and back) so that it would give a more general overview of the model from different angles and perspectives so it will make the image have more of a hidden depth to it with different images of the model. Or I could have different images of different peoples hands from a wider age range so it keeps the image linked to hands and shows different ages of hands and how they change over time. I feel that for this image, I wouldn’t want to add any other experiments to it as I feel that it would ruin the image and I think it would make it too busy and complex and I really like how the image is now without any other experiments being added to it. There is a strong contrast between monochrome and colour in the image as there is an uneven balance of it so it creates a strong contrast between them. I also think that the outline of the hands frame themselves and the image as a whole but because the lines are quite toned out and more faded, it makes it more harder to have a pure outline to the image that helps it stand out. But without a distracting background and having it one tone of colour helps the main subjects stand out because there isn’t anything to overpower it. The different angles of the hands make a perfect composition of the image and all the hands are around the same size so they all aren’t out of place and they all work well together. The different positions of the hands create different patterns and shapes within the image because they all link around each other and the gaps between the hands create different patterns and also with the fingers overlapping and linking, they create different shapes and patterns. Although this image works really well, it doesn’t actually link with the theme I set myself because there is no elements of traces of nature within the image so next time I would have to link my images of natures within the image so that it links to my theme. This image is definitely experimental photography because it uses a lot of post-production and it also is a very arty image and the actual photographer I was inspired by for this artwork specialises in experimental photography.