Has the media shaped our vision of women through photographic portrayal and is their true purpose and identity betrayed as a result?
Amy Byron Photography
SHOOT 3 - INSPIRED BY PINTEREST TESSELLATION PHOTOGRAPHY
MY PHOTOS
This shoot is based on tessellation photography, with a specific focus on portraiture. I found many images on pinterest that experiment with different shapes applied to a portrait, which is fairly similar to my last shoot. Therefore, I decided to use this shoot as a development from the last, keeping the same portraiture idea, but adding more adventurous shapes to achieve different outcomes.
This shoot continues the idea of how mothers and daughters or even sisters idenitify with one another, leaving the viewer to make assumptions for themselves as to whether this may be a positive or negative relationship, as this is something that is of great significance to a family of any gender, but allows me to explore how this significancy is dismissed in the media and instead appearances rather than purpose or meaning is portrayed.
To create this shoot I used photoshop to create my own shapes. I also experiemented with the app 'Fragment' which is an app that applies different effects such as a range of shapes and colours to your image.
I feel this is my most successful image from this shoot, I applied my own shapes changing the transformation of each shape to creating a unique one. What also works well about this image is the composition, I like the 4x4 cropping and also the fact that the subjects are more to the right of the image than centralised, it adds more depth to the image and makes the vignette more evident. The editing of this image worked particularly well as I applied a vintage style that I learned from a previous shoot. I think this edit style compliments the existing colours in the image such as the hair and the colours within the clothing. The lighting looks as though there is an element of background lighting, making the childs face stand out the most as the main focal point. To create the shape I used the circular marque tool and selected around the face, I copied and pasted this over the face and changed the transformation to 90 degrees clockwise. I then used the marque tool again but this time selected within the new rotated layer, I then continued with the sam process turning each layer in an opposite direction until the circles got smaller and smaller. I used the rectangle tool to select a rectangle from each of the circles and layered this on top, creating even more of a surreal look at he facial features are exposed through the shapes.
Iwanted each of these images to have a unique style. I found this idea on pinterest, it involves using the pencil tool with a very fine line and scribbling over the faces. Firstly I chose to make the imge black and white, however I chose the infrared black and white style, which made the highlights and midtones brighter and the lowlights of a strong contrast. I then selected the colour white and used the pencil tool to scrobble over the face, creating unique patterns. Once majority of the face was covered I used a lower number to faintly scribble around the edges of the face so that it didnt look so neat. I found a crumpled paper overlay and applied it to the image, changing the blending mode to lighten, I found this suited the image and made it more interesting.
This image is also one of my favourites, it experiements with the pixelate option, blurring the face. The colours in this image work well, these colours were created by using an overlay. I also enhanced the colour of the models hair by selecting it using the quick selection tool and increasing the saturation. To pixelate the face I selected the desired area with a lasso tool and chose the mosaic option and set the intensity to 38, this also changes the size of the pixels, for this image I wanted them medium sized.
This image is fairly different to the others that make up the rest of the shoot, although I wanted to do a double exposure as this is a type of photo-manipulation that links to my shoot. firstly i edited the background layer by adjusting the lighting. I then opened an image from the same shoot that I wanted to incorporate within the background of the image, I feel this image works well as it i very scenic, unlike the background image, therefore they fit will together. I edited this image in black and white and then pasted it on to the background layer, I changed the blending mode to find which fit best, I chose screen, which kept it subtle but blended with the background and when overlapped onto the model. Similarly, I applied another layer, which was an overlay of a forest, I chose this type of image to continue the scenic theme, I also changed the blending mode of this to screen and reduced the opcaity, then positioned it where fit best, showing enough of the face and positioning the light beam over the body. I felt the models hair would look good with the light beam when enhanced in colour so I increased the saturation.
This image explores the relationship between sisters as well as mothers ot create a variation between the images but also to explore and demonstrate how typically sisters have a close bond or even reject one another, the tessellation however allows the viewer to form their own opinion due to the ambiguity of the facial expressions. I edited this image in photoshop, applying an overlay mimicing a film strip which already had an outer glow effect to it which gave an overall colour and theme to the image, the bright colour instantly connotes happiness, suggesting a positive relationship. I changed the blending mode to screen and changed the opacity so that it fit with the background layer. I then saved this image as a JPEG which I opened in the fragment app, selecting the area of the image I wanted to become tessellated. When I found the type of tessellation that I liked I adjusted the positioning of the image so that it came through the shape. Once I was happy with this arrangement I saved the image as a JPEG, and opened it in photoshop, combining the previous layer with the new tessellated layer, making sure they fit exactly with one another to form one image.
Similarly to the last image this image takes the same approach. However, this image clearly signifies a disconnection with the pair. The fact that the models are sitting in a way that suggests a family photo implies they're sibligs, however their clothing represents their strong differences, as one is rather formal, and perhaps has a more mature personality, as her face is showing, than the other model, who is dressed very casual and her facial expressions are disguised. I found showing personality within the images is the best way to provide a message. Similarly, the lack of bright colours as opposed to the other images implies a more serious atmosphere, which is what I wished to achieve.
Again with this image I applied a sense of personality. This image portrays the medaling involved in a sibling relationship, as it clearly shows the model being teased by having her hair pulled. The facial expression of the first model suggests it is typical of their relationship as she doesn't appear to be too annoyed. However, the fact that the model on the rights face is tessellated leaves the recieved message open for interpretation. However, the warm colours takes away any harshness within the image keeping a positive representation.