#block1

From all the work we have to complete in block 1, this has probably been my favourite. When the brief was first introduced I was really keen due to the fact that I love portraiture and especially self portraits. However, as time went on I was not happy with my work and could not find any motivation to try and get creative. After weeks and weeks of feeling so uninspired and motivated I finally set aside time to shoot as much as I could and see what I could come up with. 

To begin, I always mainly wanted my idea to be focused around femininity as it is a big part of my life. Accepting who I am has been a very lengthy journey in my life, femininity was something that I was often picked on for and something that I wanted to hide. Despite this, I am so so glad that I've managed to accept that being feminine isn't a fault at all, it has became a huge part of who I am!

On the left is my object shot. I chose to shoot a polaroid of a friend that I really care about cause a huge part of my personality is my friends and family. I have hundreds and hundreds of polaroids but this one is my favourite because of the focus and the story behind it. I placed the polaroid on my bedside table using natural light to shoot the image. I used my side light as well to help better expose the picture. When setting up, I accidentely brushed one of the flowers in the vase and the petals fell around the polaroid which I believe really helps to add to the feel of the photo. I added the green leaves for extra effect. 

My self portrait is the shot that I was most paranoid about. I really wanted the image to capture who I am with no filters of me hiding. Firstly, I chose to shoot with a flower in my hand as flowers are known for being very ‘feminine’. I love flowers and are heavily inspired them so I decided I wanted to incorporate them into my shot. Secondly, I decided to shoot through the ivy as I have many house plants in my room that I grow and look after. As well as this, I wanted pink, green and white to flow through the series which the ivy helps with. I placed the ivy on a shelf and kneeled under it to get the shot. I connected my phone to my camera which allowed me to compose the shot correctly. Finally, I decided that I wanted to show rawness in my self portrait so I decided to show my upper body. I chose to do this as I am quite broad along my chest and shoulders which is typically assigned as being ‘masculine’. The aim of doing this was to cross the gap of feminine and masculine which is who I am.

Lastly, on the right is my location shot. I chose to shoot my bed and the corner of my room. I chose this because this is where I spend most of my time hanging out with friends, eating, sleeping and studying. I also shot this as I have never really had my own room before so I am so grateful that I know have my own space. To help make the shot more interesting I placed the flowers and plant on my bedside unit. As well as this, I placed my film camera in-front of the plant to give more of a personality to the image which I have achieved. I put up a black blanket against my windows and moved it around to play with the light. I ended up creating a nice pool of light which really helps to strengthen the image. 

For next time I would try not be too hard on myself and shoot a lot more, I am positive if that I started a bit earlier I would have thought of so so many creative ideas. However, I am so pleased with my final three images! x

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Camera stats:

Object - 1/60s, f3.5, ISO100

Self portrait - 1/60s, f2.0, ISO 100

The ‘cheap’ project given to the class has probably been the most difficult and tinme consuming off all the briefs so far. At the beginning I found it really difficult to come up with any ideas that I liked or that were in my limits. Before shooting, we were tasked to go and buy an objet for £1. I ended up picking out three glass bowls. To begin with, I decided that I was going to stack the bowls and make them appear as if they were floating. To do this, I had to create a hanging basked for the bowls to sit in. The basket ended up not being that steady and collapsed, breaing the bowl. My second idea was to shoot the glass bowl with different coloursed gels to make it appear as a flower. I tought that this was a good idea as the broken parts of the bowl would be used as the petals and one of the other bowls would be the centre of the flower. As well as this, I also liked this idea as the sharpness of broken glass contrast with the softness of flowers - something I thought was very fitting to the brief. However, I ended up shooting a lot for this idea was not getting anywhere. I also tried testing out the idea in photoshop but since I have little experience working with the program it proved too difficult. From this, I went back to trying to think of new ideas and ended up dropping another bowl and smashing it. i decided that I was going to place all the broken glass on a plastic sheet and ahoot through that. Firstly, I shot using a soft box but I was not liking the highlights reflecting from the glass. i ended up shooting from below the plastic sheet to light the glass. I attached a red gel to this light (spill kill attachement). This created the embre effect that I really like in the shot. I loved this kind of feel to the image as it makes the shot look more sinister and creepy. As well as this, I really liked the colours that the red created. After this, I used a second light with anoter spill kill and attached a blue gel. I done this because I wanted a contrast between red and blue. I moved around the blue light until I liked how the highlights from thel light relfected on the glass. Finally, I added a polyboard to the right of my set up so that the lights from other set ups were not leaking onto mines. 

 If I were to reshoot this brief I would try and chose another object. Maybe something with differnt textures to glass as the glass bowls were really difficult to bounce nice light off of. As well as this. I would also try using different colours to create a different feel from the image that I created.

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Camera stats:

Shutter Speed - 1/125

Aperture - f8.0

Self portrait:

For my self portrait, I plan to incorporate flowers into my final image. I am trying to capture my feminine personality which I have had a love/hate relationship with. Throughout my images I am going to try and keep a bright and saturated feel. This style will add to the images as it will help to show off my personality and give a real essence to my work. Below are some inspiration images for my self portrait. 

- Images taken from https://www.pinterest.co.uk

Object:

For my object Image I am going to take images of my favourite book. I am choosing to take photos of ‘note to self’ by Connor Franta as I really identify with his writing and his struggles to accept who he is. His book is very emotional and deep and clearly distinguishes his style. For my final image, I am going to try to set up the shot in a relaxing environment, like the book has just been picked up and been read. My inspiration comes from the author himself. On his Instagram, Connor likes to feature people that have read his book thanking them for reading it. 

Location:

Lastly, for my location shot I am going to take an Image of my bedroom. I am choosing to do this as I had never had my own room up until around a few years ago. So, after my house had been converted I was given the biggest rom in the house. I have spent a while trying to get a feel for my room but I am now really happy with where it is at. As well as this, I have chosen to shoot images in my room as it is where I spend most of my time and where I have created amazing memories with my friends. For my shot, I am going to try and shoot my room with nice sunlight. This will help make my work stand out and created a beautiful image due to soft light. For this, I will wait till golden hour and shoot my location image for optimal lighting conditions.

Above, we took this image and learned about selecting masks to change the colour of the wheel and adding patterns. Below is my image that I created experimenting with the selecting masks 

Firstly, I selected the magic tool mask to highlight the outside white circle of the wheel. From this, I then selected the option ‘select and mask with new layer’ which added a new layer. Then, I played about with the HSL slider to get a colour that I wanted the wheel to be. From this, I added a pattern onto to the image. I googled circular patterns and clipped it to the white circle. To this I pressed alt in between the 2 layers. Additionally, I chose different options and changed the opacity to make the wheel look a little more realistic.