Light and Shadow
This brainstorm consists of all the ideas that came to mind when thinking about my theme which is light and shadow. I chose this theme as it is very open and gives you a lot of room for ideas which can link with one another. It gives you freedom yet there will always be some sort of connection within them. It also allows me to contrast as Light and Shadow are complete opposites , which is a good foundation for future ideas.
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My first idea sheet was inspired by the photographer Rosie Hardy as I like her work with shadows. The first thing I thought when looking through her photographs was phobias and fears and an idea then developed in my mind. I want to portray phobias through the beauty of shadow with possibly a model in it sometimes however, I am not going to make it look comic and dress the model up to make it extremely obvious as to what the shadow really is so that the photograph has a sense of mystery which ties in to the theme of shadows and their eeriness.. The shadows will manipulate the photographs itself and hopefully make them self explanatory.
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My second idea sheet was inspired by the many photographers in the shadow photography websites shown below , as well as my own imagination and similar concepts to the first ideas. My second idea is to use a stalker theme but use mystery so that the stalker is never shown but it is suggested through the use of shadow. I think this will be effective as shadows do not always reveal everything , but they can add mystery to the photograph and match the theme of shadows. I will have a victim who is being manipulated but it will not be obvious , if the shadow is constructed correctly.
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After doing a lot of thorough research on various photography websites specialising in shadow and light , as shown below , I have been inspired for this particular idea which is to make arrangements of objects and then arrange the light accordingly to construct an image unrelated to the objects it is made from. With 3 variables , the lighting , the object positions , and the Camera position , I can experiment with an unlimited amount of possibilities.
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Rosie Hardy
Rosie Hardy is a photographer who is based in Manchester. Her photographs are very distinctive and unique as she photographs her models in an unusual and unexpected way. The environment and background has a major impact to photographs and you perceive that Hardy has carefully thought through where her photographs will be held and how each photograph will be taken. Each photograph differs and fits with what she is attempting to portray to her audience. They are distinctive and tells a story of its own. They are also quite obvious yet at the same time, it could have a totally different meaning to what people think. I like the fact that besides the obvious aspects of what the photograph is, it gives you a little freedom to give your opinion on what you think it is and what it represents. All her photographs have a connection and link together very well. She manipulates her photographs using Photoshop however, it doesn't look over the top, it's looks almost so realistic that it's unreal.
I personally believe that her work is very fantasy like. The main reason I chose Rosie Hardy is because I believe that she related to my theme the most. My theme being light and shadow, this is because there is a real contrast of lighting and an emphasis on shadows in her work. She did a shadow only photo-shoot and it also relates to a concept in my theme, this being phobias. I think that she was trying to represent phobias or fears of some sort and she is successful in doing so. Her ability to turn a phobia in to a definitive photograph is striking. One major aspect in photography is not only lighting and technique, everything within the photograph matters and so the costume and make-up of the body can completely change meaning therefore, this is a necessity too.
I personally believe that her work is very fantasy like. The main reason I chose Rosie Hardy is because I believe that she related to my theme the most. My theme being light and shadow, this is because there is a real contrast of lighting and an emphasis on shadows in her work. She did a shadow only photo-shoot and it also relates to a concept in my theme, this being phobias. I think that she was trying to represent phobias or fears of some sort and she is successful in doing so. Her ability to turn a phobia in to a definitive photograph is striking. One major aspect in photography is not only lighting and technique, everything within the photograph matters and so the costume and make-up of the body can completely change meaning therefore, this is a necessity too.
_The photographs that struck me most is the ones with the shadow in the background and the model on the side curled in giving the impression that she is scared. This photograph uses rule of thirds and consists the model dressed as a clown with hands of shadows reaching for her. The hands are deformed and manipulated through the way the lighting is positioned, it can change the proportions and shapes of the shadows. These shadows create an illusion of fear and make them look more sinister and deep. I believe that Rosie Hardy has some input of her interpretations on various phobias and has presented it in different ways. In this photograph , instead of showing the phobia through the shadows , the less dominant feature , that is the woman , presents the phobia by wearing the clown costume. This idea is obvious in the photograph , but can also be perceived in other ways.
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This photograph is effective because it uses shadow to express inner emotion , as the woman on the outside looks depressed but inside she's screaming out possibly for help or she could be insane , and the shadows represent her split personality. This concept is good as the shadows do not reveal all , and lets you decide your own perception of the photograph. Also the shadow of the woman is the main feature of the photograph as it has been manipulated by the light so the shadow is bigger than the woman , as if the other personality dominates the woman. The backdrop of the photo is also very effective as it keeps with the theme of shadows and creates a forest setting using shadows of branches which sets the mood for the Photograph. The photograph also has some fairly bright areas , so light is also included in the theme , contrasting light and shadow which Is a similar concept to which I wish to achieve.
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Photographs in the style of my photographer
Re-creating photographs in the style of Rosie Hardy was extremely difficult as she composes them in certain environments which is not practical for me therefore, I decided to take the photographs that had environments or backgrounds which I could imitate with slight variation. These photographs look very simple however, it is not apparent as to how complex it really is. Taking a glance at the photographs with shadows and a model against a off white background, you may assume that it wouldn't be hard to imitate however, this simplicity requires complexity first.
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As I attempted to imitate such fine work, I found it very difficult and so I analyzed the photograph and planned everything accordingly. I figured out where the light source was place and whether she deliberately used one of the six rules. As I came about taking my own photographs, the difficulty of accuracy was apparent which led me to experimenting with the forms of shadows. My photographs of shadows were very dark and sinister and they appeared to look more like silhouettes rather than the faint shadow look Rosie Hardy has tackled.
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Experimenting
One.
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My first photo shoot on shadows was taken in the green room. I used a white backdrop and 2 main lights which were on either side of the model. The reason for this is because the light was reflecting on the camera making the photograph come out amateur. This first photo-shoot was not my best work at all however, it helped me open my mind and think outside the box as to how I was going to go about with shadows. I made the model stand behind the backdrop which created a shadow like silhouette; unfortunately, this didn't look appealing and it didn't turn out as I'd thought it would.
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Two.
This second photo shoot was still an experiment to see whether using a white wall would look better than the backdrop of the green room. The shadows were successful however, I was experimenting with the f-stop and aperture to see what looks best to bring out the shadow more and make it bolder. The reason for why I don't like this photograph is because even though the shadow came out well and looks bold, the lighting is not very good. The concept of the photograph is in-depth however, the photograph is not self explanatory.
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Three.
My third photo shoot with shadows was a success. I had figured out the correct lighting and how to manipulate shadows. This is done by holding the lights in different positions, it can make a shadow bigger, smaller and even disproportional to how the actual object is. There are many different variables that can be changed to create different shadow effects such as changing the strength of the light , the angle of the light , the position of the light , as well as the angle and position of the object and the camera.
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One.
This photograph consists of two models portrayed through shadows, the shadows looks like silhouettes as it is extremely dark. It is moving more towards a nightmare scenario however it shows phobias. I used rule of thirds as I felt that this technique would look effective. I do not like this photograph very much as I feel that it looks very flat and plain. There is no depth within it.
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Two.
The angle of lighting can change the shape of a shadow, it can distort it from being extremely small and short to big and long. I abused the freedom of making distort shadows and made the model on top look extremely big making the other model look vulnerable and scared. Even though, you can't see the models face and see any expressions, you can tell that she is afraid through the body language.
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Three.
I also used rule of thirds for this image but it is much more zoomed in and I also took it through the centre. I like this photograph more than the first one however, I still feel as if there is something missing. The photographs look very simple and I believe that this might look more effective if I show the models faces and add shadows in the background.
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Experimenting with models
I did this photo-shoot as I wanted to incorporate models within my work with shadows rather than just the simplistic shadow work. I believe that this photo-shoot was successful however, the make up on the model is not as realistic as I wanted it to be. I wanted to achieve a doll like look on my model and make it look as if she's a plastic doll however, it is not as successful as I assumed it would be. The inspiration for this photograph partly came from the photographer Rosie Hardy as she uses models with her shadow work. I didn't want to duplicate her work so I took inspiration from it and I used elements within it but manipulated it so that my photographs are unique. The concept behind this photo-shoot was to express nightmares in a way that would never come to mind instantly. I changed and tweaked the idea of a doll being a nightmare and used the concept of actually having the doll being scared of the shadow. Overall, I think that the photo-shoot was a success in terms of making the photographs represent the concept directly. I created the shadows through the use of hands and the reason for this is that you can change the shape and form of which the hand is in so it was practical.
The first that thing that I did was change the brightness and the contrast of the photograph to enhance it, I then used the patch tool to remove the lines under her eyes as I felt that it didn't look good. I then used the dodge tool to accentuate the features on her face. After this, I used the liquify tool to manipulate her face to make it look more doll like. In this setting, there are various different tools, I used the bloat tool which allows sections to get bigger. I changed the brush size and click on her eye, I made it looks subtle and realistic but exaggerated the size of her eyes. This made her look fake and more doll like. I then used the patch tool to remove the lines on her lips on either side so that her lips look small. After this, I used the quick selection tool and highlighted the shadow of the hand, I then changed the brightness and contrast of this and made it darker so that it stands out more. This made the photograph look more effective overall.
I photo-shopped this photograph to make it look more realistic in the sense that it looks like an a fake doll. The concept behind this was to make it look as if the doll is scared of the shadow which changes the fear of dolls usually being the one that is feared of. I used rule of thirds as I felt this best fit the mood. On photo shop, I used the liquify tool to make her eyes bigger as if they're doll like. I then got rid the eyeliner under her eye as I felt it looked fake, I used the patch tool to do this. I then used brightness and contrast tool to make the contrast higher and it made it look more flawless therefore, allowing it to look more doll life. I also used the patch tool to remove the lines on her lips so that it looks like the small red lips as the foundation didn't cover the line very well.
I used photo-shop to enhance this photograph as I felt there was not much depth to it. I used brightness and contrast so that the model stands out more and then used the same tools previously like the patch tool. I removed the lines beneath her eyes and lips to make it look more doll like. I positioned my model in the center and made it look quite surreal in the sense that the model looks as if she is being picked up but in actual fact, its the shadow and it makes you look twice.
This photograph was meant to look quite sinister however, I believe that the makeup made it look fake. I used Photoshop enhance this photograph, I used the burn tool to makes her eyes completely black, I believe that this photograph is effective and the shadows are very harsh. I then used the dodge tool to make her face stand out moer against the black background.