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
FLORA BORSI INSPIRED
Flora Borsi is a young fine art photographer from Hungary. She uses exquisite photo manipulation to create surreal images that are thematically focused on identity, relationships, emotions and dreams. Her immaculate technique and subtle conceptualideas create beautiful evocations of universal emotions, from lust and desire to despair and loss. Flora captures the complex strength and fragility of the human psyche, and often features the female body, playing with hiding and revealing the eyes or face to leave only the feminine form, exploring questions of female representation and the relationship between body and self. This is specifically why I chose to use Flora Borsi as inspiration, I feel her work demonstrates...
In this series called "IRÉEL", she mixed photographic elements with painting techniques. A hyperrealist painter aims to achieve a result which looks like a real photographic picture. A pictorialist photographer's desired result is visually equivalent to a painting. The photographs are real, however Borsi just applied some color/toning, adjusted the contrast and a few skin retouch for a sophisticated painterly effect.
My take on Borsi's work has a similar concept, but a very different style. I wanted my images to be bright and vibrant, rather than soft and neutral, therefore within this shoot I experimented with the light gels and the took mid shots rather than close ups.
MY PHOTOS
This image is one of my favourite photographs as I feel it was most successful due to the many elements it involves. I started by enhancing the colours of the background layer which were bright turquoise, I then duplicated this layer and made it black and white. I used the polygonal tool to select around the shape of the plastic the model was holding, which I then deleted to reveal through the colour from the underneath layer, creating a sharp contrast between the two layers. I further developed this by experimenting with the liquify tool, creating different swirl like shapes in corporation with the hand prints, adding more detail to the image.
I kept this image very similar to how it was first shot, barely making any changes or enhancments as I like the way that the brightness involved in the different colours bode together. I think the wya in which this image was captured was successful as it signifies a loss of identity through the blurring of the facial features, it almost suggests the model is hiding behind a mask, creating ambiguity. To add slightly more detail I used the liquify tool within the areas of paint creating small shapes and lines which I further enhanced using the smart sharpen tool.
These images involve using layer masks to reveal colour from the background layer, against a black and white layer applied on top. I applied gradients to add a variation of colour, changed the blending modes, then used a black soft paint brush to rub away the top layer, revealing the colour. Again the way the image is shot implies a lack of identity or self understanding, the fact that all the models are female reinforces that a females identity in the media is often lost.
These images take a more sophisticated approach, using subtle black and white to show off the highlights and shadows within the image as well as the many marks that are created through the paint on the plastic bored. I used the dodge and burn tool to enhance the contrasts, which also creates a focal point within the image as there so many marks and patterns to look at. To add to this effect I thought applying two images, one mid shot and one close up together, creating a double exposure would give the image a huge amount of texture.