Research Influences:
My inspiration for this shoot is French photographer Sophie Calle, Known for her documentary photographs involving emotive individuals. I will be using her candid style of photography in my images to create an almost documentary atmosphere as this was effective in my shoot inspired by her.
Plans for shoot:
My plans for this shoot were to investigate different colour tones that are natural to do this I will be using different types of makeup as these are designed to match people's skins tones. I used a Macro Lens, tripod and remote release so there was minimal camera shake. I used either a makeup brush or the lipstick/ lip gloss it self and applied it directly to a sheet of white photographic paper as this ensured that the makeup would spread out so as to disperse the tones and highlights within the images.
Contact Sheets:
Images than need improvement:
There is a small shadow being cast in this image as I was using a normal light bulb for the lighting, the shadow is being cast by the tripod. This means that I would be unable to remove this from the image as it is an integral part of the camera setup. To fix this issue I stood in front of the camera as I was shooting so that my shadow would block that of the tripod. There was also a small cat hair that was on the sheet of white card which detracted from the image. I noticed these issues when I was shooting and so remove the hair, blocked the shadow and also moved the tripod closer to the subject as to better frame the image. Once I had made these changes I shot again.
Here is the next image in the shoot. As I was using my shadow to cover the shadow of a tripod leg the shutter speed was decreased to 1 second rather than 1.3 of a second as the camera had less values to map out. This also meant that the shot was slightly darker than the last however, as I had changed the composition from the last shot the eye shadows are more in focus. I was using an F-stop of F/13 as this created a large enough focus so that all of the colours were highlighted. Another issue with this image is that it is too warm, especially considering the cool tones it depicts. To fix this I will open the RAW file in Photoshop and adjust the warmth using the sliders.
DS7_7763.JPG:
As I was using photographic paper to display the different tones of the colours and allow for them to gradually get thinner the more the lip gloss tapers off. The only issue with this is that the light bulb was creating glare on the shot which detracts from the colours. I also using an F-stop of 2.8 which creates a large amount of focus on the last two colours and blurs the first two. To fix this issue I then changed the F-stop to 4 as this would widen the depth of field and bring the first two glosses into focus.
Here is the improved image. I believe that the first two glosses are more in focus than before, despite these physical improvement I made during the shoot the images are dark due to the aperture and having to shoot in my own shadow. To improve upon the darkness in these shots I will open the RAW files in Photoshop and use the exposure slider to brighten the cameras original exposure of 1/50 of a second.
DS7_7770.JPG:
To resolve this issue I re-shot the image while once again blocking the glare from the light bulb and changing the framing of the image so that the streaks were straight.
Best Images:
The gradual breaking of the different colours suggests an aggression that isn't specific to an item or variable. This conveys to the viewer a third presence : the photographer, the viewer and the destroyer. The destroyer is unseen in the images and only the photographer can attest to the event that caused this destruction. This leaves the viewer engaged with this photo-sequence as they are expecting more information and are only greeted with more rubble.
As I have used several GIFs in the past I would like to attempt to make a GIF from the first six images however, in order to break the make up I had to move the eye shadow pallet and this the composition. If I were going to create a GIF this would mean that the pallet would move slightly from frame to frame, some may feel that this would detract from the effect of the GIF. I feel as though a little movement is more interesting in a GIF anyway as it is meant to be a frame animation.
The image above has an atmosphere of chaos. These are the remnants of the eye shadow pallet tipped out to better see the destruction and cause more chaos. The effect of this on the viewer is that they are forced to consider the extent of the damage that has occurred. The manner in which the colours has fallen suggests the ruins of a house or some other structure, this leaves the viewer attempting to piece together how large this wreckage is as there is no reference point.
The different shades of red within this shot suggests uniqueness and character between the colours despite all of them originating from the colour red. The 'paste' has also thinned towards the edges of each individual colour and the effect of this draw the viewers attention closer into the shot to further inspect the strange textured within each colours boundaries.
In this shoot I was aiming to take a series of images featuring different skin tones so that I could investigate the similarities and differences between the shades. When comparing this to the straight images it is difficult to differentiate between the different skin tones as the lighting was challenging.
Despite the skin tones being similar, the eye shadows are easily distinguishable due to their differences in pigments. For this shoot I was conscious of investigating the different angles that I found while investigating Calle. I believe I have achieved the candid style that Sophie Calle uses in her work, which emphasises the chaotic nature of the other images.
For this shoot I used a Nikon D7200 camera body with a 60 mm lens and remote release with a tripod to reduce camera shake. I was mindful of the different composition that Calle has created and the intimate atmosphere that this creates in her images; I utilised this knowledge and changed the camera angle from a birds- eye- view to one that was closer to the ground. The effect of this change moves the viewer from a spectator to a witness - they become more involved and invested in the images due to the close proximity.
During this shoot I had a large amount of difficulty in regards to the lighting as it caused glare or shadows, this meant that I had to change the camera settings to compensate. For example, while I was shooting the eye shadow pallet I began with an aperture of f/13 which I then had to reduce to f/8 because of the closer composition thus changing the exposure from 1.3 of a second to 1 second.
Computer Experiments:
To improve my images I will use Photoshop and create a GIF of the eye shadows being destroyed. I will also create a GIF of the lip sticks as they cycles through the different colours.
To begin I opened all of the images into Photoshop using the RAW files as they allow for more subtle adjustments before being opened.
I then selected OPEN IMAGES and began editing each image individually. To create a black and white 'base' for the GIF I used the black and white layer .
I then used the QUICK SELECTION TOOL to choose one square of colour
Once selected I used the DELETE button on the keyboard and removed a small area of the black and white layer to reveal the colour underneath.
I then saved this image as a JPG, it will become part of the GIF once I have edited all of the images.
Once all other images have been edited I then used COPY (CTRL+C) and PASTE (CTRL+V) to move them all into the 'first' document in the GIF sequence.
I chose to use the selective colour highlight the next colour that as going to be smashed. I did this by using the same image for every other layer with more and more of the black & white layer removed.
Once I had completed all of these steps, I then went and clicked on FILE,then EXPORT, then SAVE FOR THE WEB.
This brought up the next window I needed to save the GIF.
I ensured that the Looping option was on forever and that it was set to 128 dithered. I then chose the location I wanted to save the GIF to.
I used these same techniques to create my other final images.
Final Images:
Evaluation:
I feel that this shoot was successful in responding to the exam paper as I have created different pieces that supply different connotations. For example, the Lip Stick GIF has connotations of someone deliberating over which one to wear that evening. My preparatory shoots were invaluable as they allowed me to investigate different perspectives that I wouldn't have noticed. The main influence on this shoot was Sophie Calle as she has a unique way of working, and often shoots intriguing subjects - such as belongings left in hotel rooms.
In the first stages of this project I was considering selected colour as the photographer being meticulous in their subject matter and the colours involved. At this current time I believe that the post-shoot process is just as, if not, more important than the subject in the shoot as I have learnt how to isolate the colours and also how to make a GIF that sweep through the different tones or subjects within a shot.
If I were to improve this shoot I would have ensured that the eye shadow pallet remained in place with some kind of fixative so that it wouldn't change position from frame to frame and the GIF would be less choppy. However, I feel this shoot is an appropriate response to the theme of selected, but it has also helped me to broaden my range of ideas when approaching as shoot.
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