Concept
I have decided to carry on with my theme of mental illness in further work as it is a darker theme that I have a great interest in. I will title my photo shoot 'Skin Deep'.
This shoot will be to explore the best ways to visually portray the plight of those stuggling with mental illnesses. I will focus mainly on the way I can uilise photo manipulation on my images, to develop a better understanding of how to use these techniques.I wish to capture the feeling of isolation ,and the lack of understanding the world shows these people. I wish to have a heavy focus on the individual as it will be their struggle that I am trying to portray.
Timings
I intend to follow the style of Seung Hwan Oh and so will try to use pale backgrounds, keeping the focus on the individual. This photoshoot should be taken on a day with an overcast sky, or even rain. It could also be taken at night as these darker settings would help portray the fear and emptiness that these aflictions cause.
I also intend to take my photo in a large open area with little clutter or movement in the background, so as to maintain focus on the individual. There is an abandoned trainyard I wish to use as a backdrop to my image, that I may require persmission to enter. However,I feel that the derelict and abandoned scenery will lend its self well to the mood I am trying to portray. However, I will have to balance the prominence of background details with the heavy focus I wish to play on the model.
Details
I will be using my friend Josh as a model. I have chosen him as he is also a photographer and understands the need for specifics when modeling and will likely listen to me more careful. He is also someone I can easily get in contact with as he is a close friend.
He will not have to wear a costume as it is representing the average person, not some specific character. I will likely have him sat with his head in his hands to show despair, or simply have him standing upright facing the camera to have the focus on his face.
As Josh is a photographer he can assist me with determining which camera settings would be best for my image and desired mood, or what pose he personally feels would look better in the image.
Other than him I have no team, it will simply be him and myself.
Equiptment
I will make sure that my camera is fully charged, on top of this I will have to ensure I have enough memory on my video cards. I do not have a tripod so I will have to either use a fast shutter speed or find a surface to place the camera on.
I will also use photoshop to trial methods of digital manipulaton after taking my images
Visual References
I wish to take a darker image to express the feeling of loneliness. I wish to implement a use of dull colours. I will try to achieve this with darker lighting and heavy shadows. I will experiment with the camera settings like aperture and ISO to find my ideal settings.
Ideas
I will have the focus on the model, and experiment with using a full body shot or perhaps just one of the upper half. I intend to portray a sense of being alone and cold, and later, through digital manipulation, the fear this causes 'beneath the surface'. I could use the shadow direction from the left, leaving only half the face visible, or I could try to create heavy shadows around the eyes, veiling them to emphasise the effect that people see little of who these people truly are, as to many the vulnerable seem insignificant. I will try to capture the emotions of the model clearly, but while trying to avoid making them overly obvious , subtlety will be crucial to this.
Photo shoot results
 1) I felt the full body shot combined with the bright lighting were not appropriate for my intended photograph. |  2) This shot I felt was closer to my ideal lighting, though all subsequent shots I tweaked the settings slightly. |
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 3) I decided to get a closer shot of my model's face as I preferred the effect it gave of portraying the solemn look of the subject. |  4) This shot came out too blurred but was my initial take of shot 3 |
 5) A head on perspective, the dark haze covering his face and shrouding a lot of his features gives an eerie effect. |  6) I felt this pose (looking up and to the left) portrayed the feeling of isolation the best. It also reveals the most of the model's face without losing the effect of the shadows. |
The following are the results of my photo-shoot in newcastle. Image 1 used an ISO of 1600 and an aperture of 22. 4) was taken with an aperture of 10(however it came out unfocussed. I then used an ISO of 200 and an aperure of 4.5 in the remaining images as I felt it was the best lighting to fit my desired mood.
I wanted to experiment with camera settings to capture a darker image which I could manipulate later on, to use as a sort of prototype for later images.
I achieved this as I managed to capture darker images with use of hard light shadows masking alot of the model.I feel that images 4 and 5 are my most successful images, capturing the heavy shadows without obsucring the images.
However, I failed to clearly implement the subtle facial emotions to portray sadness in all images other than 5, as I felt 5 portrayed a sense of longing and whistlefullness, as if they wish to no longer be alone, and that they are alone.
I also failed to use costume or props to create a full image, although these images are intended for simply experimenting with which camera settings best portrayed my desired sense, the context is unclear, such as any possible explanation as to why the model is sad. I believe that this is my main aspect for improvement as I managed to capture my ideal lighting and camera settings.
I will digitally manipulate photograph 6 by layering it over the darker photo 5, as this will allow me to stress my theme of mental illness, as many describe it as if there is someone standing over your shoulder, keeping you from being happy.
Digital manipulation
I decided that I would attempt to recreate Seung-Hwan-Oh's style of covering the subjects face, however with my own unique take. I attempted to portray depression by personifying it, using a physical manifestation to show a mental illness.
I felt that the best way to create my desired effect was by taking a photo of my and layering another photo of the same model beneath it.
I had to achieve this by going on photoshop and creating two layer with each photo in. I then carefully deleted the background around the subject in the second layer and turned the layer black and white as I felt this added emphasis that the 'person over the shoulder' was draining the model's enjoyment.
I had to make a third layer with just the model from the first photo, with no background, to layer over the black and white image.
I have displayed the layers (the box is small so I have shown it twice with it scrolled down the second time).
I then decided to blur the face of the monochrome model, as I was attempting to imitate Seung-Hwan-Oh's manipulation of photos digitally rather than physically.
I felt that using the model but distorting them as the manifestation of the illness would stress the idea that it prevents YOU from feeling good about YOURSELF. Although sufferers have no controll over it, many of the effects of the illness are self inflicted, such as poor self image. However, blurring it showed that it is not something you are controlling, and that it is unnerving for those who suffer it.
Although my blurring does not completely hide the identity as Oh's does, this is intentional, as I want it to be obvious that the figure lurking behind the model is supposed to be himself. I also did not use the bright colours of his 'impermanence series' , making it more reminiscent of his early 'ruins of pleasure' works, with the black and white images with darker moods.
I then decided to take my image and use it in a software called Paint.Net. This software had many effects and features that photoshop does not, but is not as useful for generally editing photos. I decided to use a radial blur effect on the image as it gives an sense of fear and nausia as the camera appears to be spinning. The only criticism was that I failed to find a way to use this and preserve the effect of masking the figure's face in the style of Oh. I believe that this effectively communicates my idea, perhapse even more than the one more similar to Oh, however, it did not match his style. So although I will keep this image as it is effective at communicating my theme, it is not my desired result, unfortunately.
I decided to make a third version of my image, by enlarging the background image and using a gaussian blur and then using a motion blur to create the sinister effect on the background silhouette. I then blurred the backgroun layer to place the main focus on the model. This was to emphasise the fear depression can create, aswell as portraying the isolation it creates by having the model as the only part of the photo in focus.
Final Result
