shoot 4

Shoot 4

For this shoot, I am going to create images in the style of tomas maly. to do this I am going to take photos of different objects and the shadows of other objects that relate in some way to the object being held. This could be something like a banana or someone making the shape of a gun with their fingers, against the shadow of an actual gun. I am then going to superimpose them into the same image and position them in a way that makes the viewer believe that the shadow is of the object in the foreground.

Research influence

For this shoot, my research influence will be Tomas Maly.  unfortunately, I was unable to find much information on this photographer apart from, he belongs to a website called getty images, which is a website for royalty free images. I found the image through a website showing different forms of shadow photography, and his piece is one that stood out.

Here is an example of his work

In this photo, there is the chess piece of a knight in the foreground, with the shadow of a rearing horse with wings behind it. This photo could reflect what the chess piece represents in the game and how it is supposed to defend the king. When a horse is on its hind legs, it usually means it is attacking or scaring off an enemy. In this image, this shadow could be used to represent the loyalty of the piece and how it is supposed to be used as a line of defence against the opposing players pieces. I like this image because it uses a shadow to represent a deeper meaning behind the pieces in a chess game and how they are used to defend each players king.

 contact sheets

images that require improvement 

I chose this photo because it is incredibly blurred, and you can see the area behind the white card I used as a background. This was because the room I was shooting in was completely dark apart from the torch I was using as a light source. I also struggled to keep my arm still, which meant the movement was visible in the shot. If I were to take this photo again, I would focus more on the framing and keeping my arm still to reduce the motion blur. I would also try to press the shutter lightly or ask for assistance from a family picture to take the picture and hold the torch.

I chose this photo because it was also one of the most blurred and out of focus from the shoot. Although I do like the photo, for the purpose of the shoot, I was unable to use it, as I needed a clear image I could select and superimpose into another. The reason this shot was so blurred, was because the room was completely dark, apart from the lighter flame which meant the photo had a high chance of being blurred with the slightest bit of movement. To correct this, the photos taken after this in the shoot were lit with the torch, because it was faint enough to still show the flame from the lighter. I didn’t use a particularly high ISO, because I wanted to avoid the photos being grainy and be as sharp as possible.

best images

I chose these photos because they were the sharpest ones from the shoot, and were the most suitable for use when editing, as I needed a sharp outline so that I could select them in Photoshop neatly.

refining my work

When editing these photos, the biggest struggle was trying to superimpose one image into another file, because Photoshop wouldn’t allow me to use copy and paste. After trying different methods, I finally managed to do it by dragging the selected part of the image onto the tab of the other file. This then allowed me to drop the photo onto the background and manipulate it so that it fit the proportions of the other image.

To create the images, I started my using the magnetic lasso tool to select the area of the shadow, and then dragged it using the move tool, and dropped it into a new file I had created as a background to superimpose the shadow and other object into. I then used Ctrl T to move the images and adjust the orientation of each so that the shadow looked like it belonged to the object in front. I then created a black and white layer before flattening the image so that I could edit it as one image. Lastly, I used the dodge, burn, gradient and paintbrush tools to blend the images together and make them look like they belong in the same photo.

Final outcomes

This shows a hand making a gun sign wit the shadow of a pistol. This was the original concept I wanted to explore and the most effective one from the shoot.

Evaluation

Overall, I believe this shoot went well. I like the way that the images worked and the concept behind each one. The most effective one from the shoot was the finger gun image. I think this was because it was edited more simply than the other images. The simplicity meant the photo was clearer and easier to understand. The concept behind the image was also the one I liked most because it reminds me of when people make shadow puppets with their hands. I feel as though the other images were not as effective because the idea behind them wasn’t as meaningful and relevant to my theme. Reflecting on them now, I believe the editing could’ve been simpler and also been more effective. As a whole though, I enjoyed this shoot and would like to attempt it again but this time focus on making shadow puppets with hands, possibly more in the style of Russ and Reyn.

Progression

For my next shoot, id like to look at a more early form of photography and experiment more with portraits. The style of photography id like to try is Noir photography. This style of photography uses shadows to hide different parts of a photo or obscure people faces to show mystery and intrigue the viewer. This style began after WW2 and reflects the uncertainty and tension the people of America felt during that time.