Concept
I will further explore my theme using a combination of physical and digital manipulation. I willtake multiple photos and attempt to layer them together to have a similar effect to my first photo shoot, however, I will use physical methods of manipulation to create the masked effect on the subject's face.
In this image I will attempt to illustrate the internal struggle of these unfortunate people and the daily torment that they endure. I will title the final image "Perserverence".
Timings
The timings are of lesser importance in this shoot as it will be set in a bedroom. I will likely shoot at night or late afternoon as, obviously, most people use their bedroom when they are about to go to sleep, or are sleeping.
I intend to use a messy room filled with clutter strewn accross the floor to emphasise the manic state that mental illnesses like depression can cause. Bringing frustration, anger and sorrow into lives that may have otherwise been rather ordinary.
Details
I will ask a family member to act as my model. This will likely be my sister as she is easily available, she is also a photographer and would be able to give me advice on how to improve my shots.
i will stage the image in a dim and messy room with objects scattered about to portray a frantic theme to express the fear inducing nature of a battle with mental illness.
This is the extent of my team, I will take the photos myself and do all the subsequent editing myself. I will take multiple shot in the same area in different poses so as to have a plethora of images to use in my work.
Equiptment
Again , 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.
However, I will simply use photoshop to refine the image and will edit it physically later.
Ideas
I will capture the model's full body in the shot and try to experiment with another method. I want to create a sense of torment and frustration. I want to visualise the sort of psychosis and fear that different mental illnesses can create. I wish to use my skills on photoshop to layer two images together to create a sort of 'doppleganger' of the subject, but will distort the duplicate to make it evident that it is disturbing the model in the scenario.
The image to the right is to be a large source of inspiration. However, I will likely not use a hospital bed but utilise a bedroom setting. Rather than using an actual monster, I will use the clone of the model to create the same unsettling effect by warping the face or blurring the image in some way.
Results
6
5
4
3
2
1
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In this photo shoot, all images were taken with an iso of 100 and an aperture of 6. My shutter speed was a constant 0.5, apart from image 4 which was set to 1 to give a slight blurred effect.
I used a dimly lit, messy room with items strewn throughout to give an impression of irrational behaviour and instability.
I wanted to experiment with poses so as to have a large bank at my disposal. This will help me when editing them together on photoshop. What I aim to do is to layer photographs on top of eachother to give the appearence of two of the same person in the image due to the same reasoning as before (the illness is inside themselves).
I will likely not be using image 6 as i made sure to take the images at similar angles as to easily edit them together without massivley having to edit the background.
I think I managed to express sadness more clearly in this shoot, which was a major setback of my last one. I think my most successful images in this area from the shoot area photo 3 and photo 2.
I will edit photo 3 and 4 together. The blurred effect on photo four could add the idea that it is a distrubing , unnatural experience that takes many well out of their comfort zone. The copy of herself will look almost like it is taunting her, as a representation of the illness.
I took images that were not portraits this time to experiment with weather the results were better than my previous shoot. I would like to attempt to physically manipulate the images this time, however, I suspect that It wil be less effective as the image is not focussing on the face.
I did manage to capture a wide variety of poses and so in that respect I have achieved my goal somewhat, however, especially the first two images may be hard to edit together, as the lighting in the images changed (to which I am still unaware of the cause as the images used the same settings). I believe I will use photos 3 and 4 as photo 3 best portrayed the sadness that the sufferer is supposed to feel in these images, and the motion of photo 4 gives a slightly unnatural effect, making it a suitable candidate for the role of the manifestation of the illness in my image.
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 have aquired a tripod and so can keep my camera steady and easily compile images over eachother in photoshop with less editing reuired. i will use my 50-80 lense as it is only a bedroom and does not require a far reaching zoom.
Digital maniuplation
I chose these images to layer over eachother. I felt they could portray a strong sense of torment.
I first edited out the left side of the image to have only the part I wish to layer. I used the eraser and carefully went around the outline of the left side of the model. I then used the blur tool to smoothen any rough edges.
Though the images were slightly out of line, the difference was so minute that they layered together well. I kept the slight blurred effect as I feel it will capture the motion well as well as the preturbed nature of what I intend to make a manifestation of insanity/ mental instability.
I then tried to lower the opacity of the figure on the left to emphasise the fact that the illness is mental, not something physically tangible.
I felt that although this image is visually interesting and well eidted, it did not fit my theme and so I will not be physically manipulating my image. This is as it would not be as effective at creating a focus on the destruction of identity that mental illness brings with it. I have decided to dedicate more time towards experminenting with methods of physical manipulation before I attempt to use it on a new photo shoot.
I decided then to digitally manipulate this image further, utilising the liquify filter to mask and disturb the face, in an attempt to make it look more unsettling.
This I feel was a good addition to the image as it gives a clear reason as to why the girl to the left looks forelorn. The torment is made somewhat more clear via the implementation of something clearly unnatural. The masking of the face is something that I heavily debated in my mind, as I was unsure on what effect to use. Attempts at using a smoke images and layering it over the doppleganger were something I considered, but it was too hard to edit the smoke in a realistic way, so instead I tried the liquification tool, which was not only what I believe to be a superior result, but a much easier one to execute.
I then decided to use the gaussian blur filter on the background layer. To ensure that the rest of the image wasnt blurred I had to copy both the models and place them on top of the background so that they were unchanged. I also had to copy some of the areaa around the doppleganger that I had not previously seperated so that there was no disparity in the backgroudn blur. I did this so as to maintain the clear focus on the characters in the photograph.
