'Unit 4' Evaluation

Although I don’t consider the work I have produced during this ‘Unit’ to be the best I have ever done, I am really pleased with how much I have learned during the course of it. In comparison with other the previous ‘Units’, I feel like I have learned far more in this one. For example, I have now learned how to make a ‘gif’ file, which I had never even tried to do before, and I have experimented with miniatures for the first time. In regards to the miniatures, having had some experience with those will not only help me with still photography in the future, but also for things like visual effects and filmmaking.

The genre, ‘Fantasy’, allowed me to be really creative and experimental, as I had a lot of freedom in terms of what can be considered ‘Fantasy’. Throughout this ‘Unit’, I have experimented with ‘Medieval Fantasy’, and ‘Sci-Fi Fantasy’. I have furthermore developed my ability with the photo-montage technique, and have gained inspiration from several different artists and professional works in the field of ‘Fantasy’.

In conclusion, I am very pleased with the way this ‘Unit’ has gone, and I am grateful for doing it as I feel as though I now know more about photography and how deep it can go in terms of techniques and styles. I do feel as though I have developed my photographic ability and style by doing this ‘Unit’.

Exam Period

During this fifteen-hour long exam period, I will be constructing my final piece by combining images from several of the photo-shoots I have done throughout this 'Unit'. I will be trying to create the look of a strong man with fantastical and supernatural powers, and I will be combining video footage as well.

To begin making my final piece, I took to Photoshop and imported all of the selected images. First of all, I 'cut' my model from the white background using the 'quick select' tool, then I used the 'liquify' tool to increase the size of my model's body, then used a 'soft brush' tool (with the 'layer mode' set to 'soft light') to add shading and shadows where appropriate to create the effect of him having really large muscles. After this, I used a 'soft eraser' tool to remove the edges from the "light drawing" images, then re-scaled the ball of light, 'duplicated' it, then positioned one over both of my model's  hands. Likewise, I re-scaled the lines of light, and positioned them in a way that looks like they are being generated by him. I then increase the scale of the background image and positioned it so that the waterfall is to the left of the frame, and the man. Following this, I decreased the 'saturation' of my model, and altered the 'hue' slightly to make him have somewhat of a green tint; I then did this for the background. Finally, I coloured over his eyes with a 'hard brush' tool to make them look rolled back (this makes him seem more demonic), and used a green 'overlay layer' to create a glow for the light on the man.

Once in After Effects, I imported the footage of the fire and the smoke, then used the 'time stretch' tool to decrease their speeds to 250%, making them seem more like fluctuating energy. Then, I "colour corrected" the fire to give it a green tint, as opposed to an orange one, and then rendered the footage as a 'jpeg sequence'.

To create the 'gif'', I rendered the frames as 'jpeg' images, in After Effects, then imported them all as "layers" into a Photoshop document. From there, I changed the size of the image to 342x500 pixels so that it wouldn't be too big for the web. I then made all of the "layers" into frames in Photoshop's 'animation' window, then 'reversed' the frames to put them into the right order. As there were duplicate frames, I deleted them all to make the animation play more smoothly. I then simply clicked 'save for web and devices' and saved the document as a 'gif'.

Final Piece

This is my final piece. I do quite like it. It is my first time ever creating a 'gif', but I do still think there is much room for improvement.

I like combination of the fire and smoke as it almost creates a 3-D effect, as though the smoke is wrapped around the man. The 'colour correction' makes it all blend well together, and I like the balls of light used as energy balls. Also, the green flames link with the 'Fantasy' genre, as I have explained previously on this blog. The framing of the image puts the man's head in the middle of the upper-centre box of the rule of thirds grid, and his hands and energy balls are in the outer-middle boxes, and his body is going down the middle column of the grid. In terms of it's fantastical look, I think I succeeded in achieving that. However, I think that the image would look much better if the waterfall was moving, and if the energy balls were getting bigger and smaller.

Photo-Shoot #12

I did this photo-shoot in my living room with no source of light other than the green light which was the subject of this shoot.

To capture these "light drawings", I set my camera to 'bulb' mode.

The effects I was trying to achieve with the lights were those of energy balls and auras. I will be selecting some of the images from this shoot to use during my exam period, in which I will be constructing my final piece by combining several images from various photo-shoots together.

Overall, I am pleased with this shoot and am confident that I will be able to use some of these images to create the effect I want for my final piece.

Photo-Shoot #11

I did this shoot under high-key lighting in my school's photography studio. For this shoot, we sprayed my model's hair black, using a temporary hair-dye spray, in order to make the area around his head dark so that it would contrast with the white rolled-back effect of the eyes (once edited).

One of the images from this shoot will be used for my final piece, along with images it will be combined with from the next shoot, and previous ones. Together, I hope for them to create the look of a strong man with supernatural powers, surrounded by a fantastical environment.

As these images were captured to use during my exam period, I will display my final piece there.

Broly ('Dragonball Z') Research and Final Piece Planning

The auras used in 'Dragonball Z' have always struck me as fantastical. In particular, the character, Broly, has some really elegant and majestic poses, which I think would work well in a 'Fantasy' photo-shoot.

For my final piece, I want to create a fantastical image which utilises inspiration from photographer I have researched, yet allows me to incorporate aspects of photography I enjoy the most. For me, "light drawings" are very fun and creative, as are photo-montages. Therefore, I am considering combining a Broly-like pose with the smoky effect of Stokkete, and the shrouded effect of Dmitrijs Bindemanis. Overall, I intend for it to look vaguely similar to Nejron Photo's work, but containing elements of my other artistic influences, and my own personal tastes.

Photo-Shoot #10

The main inspiration for this shoot was the work of Stokkete that I researched. The use of smoke in his images to build specific atmospheres is something I have been wanting to experiment with, so I made a fire in my back garden in a can in-front of black towels which I draped over a fence, then put a lid over the fire. Doing this allowed me to record the smoke protruding from the can without flames getting in the way. I feel that the footage of the smoke I recorded resembles the smoke seen in Stokkete's work at times, but also looks much different at times, too. This is good as it means that I can experiment with his look, and my own.

As for the footage and shots of the fire, I wanted to revisit the work I produced for Photo-Shoot #3. For that shoot, I captured images of my fireplace, which were digital flames. However, I thought that capturing footage and images of real flames would be better for achieving more "realistic" looks.

I recorded all of the footage in 60FPS in order to get really detailed images of the smoke and flames flowing in the air. 30FPS would have given me more "jumpy" footage, albeit the difference would not have been very great. The smoke and flames were moving very quickly, so 60FPS was the best choice to record the most accurate and detailed footage I could with my Canon EOS 7D DSLR.

Image #1 (Original Unedited)

I chose this image because of the natural form the flames took which resembles that of a creature, such as a dragon. The smoke surrounding it also looks like the "dragon" is breathing it out. The depth-of-field is wide, which will allow me to use the "dragon" as the subject.

Image #1 (First Version)

For this version, I increased the 'saturation' to the point of the flames becoming a reddish colour, which I consider to be more appropriate due to red being associated with death and danger. On top of that, I "cropped" the image to make the "dragon" cover the left side and the top, leaving the bottom-right corner empty for looking room. Not being able to see the background that was to the left of the "dragon" also helps to prevent people from looking at it like a regular burst of flames, instead of looking at the flames and seeing them for a dragon.

I really, really like this image, and the original. Taking this shot when I did was very lucky, which relates to Michael Yamashita's words, 'I'm paid to be in the right place at the right time' -- this is him saying that his job, for which he his paid, as a photographer requires him to be lucky with his shot timings.

Image #1 (Second Version)

Although I was satisfied with the first version, I wanted to experiment with the image some more because I like it so much. So, I used a 'soft eraser' tool, and the 'colour range' tool to remove the background entirely to increase the contrast between it and the flames. I decided then to decrease the 'saturation' of the flames slightly in order to make the image easier to look at.

In my opinion, this version ended up looking more like a dinosaur skeleton than a fire-breathing dragon. When I look at this image, I think of the 'Jurassic Park' logo, as I'm sure many others would, too. This could be a good thing as audiences might feel more comfortable with the image as it might seem familiar to them.

Photo-Shoot #9

For this shoot, I used some old models of 'Yu-Gi-Oh' characters as miniatures, with the intent of adding them into scenes from previous shoots. I captured some of the images with shallow depths-of-fields with the miniatures being out-of-focus to account for the focus on the part of the scene I plan to put them.

I will be using images from Photo-Shoot #7 and Photo-Shoot #3 as the scenes for these miniatures.

Image #1 (Original Unedited)

During this shoot, I decided to use this image (left) from Photo-Shoot #7 to be a scene in this 'Fantasy Medieval' experimentation because the fallen trees made good spots for a character to stand, the greenery looks conventionally fantastical, and the wider depth-of-field puts suitable focus on the fallen trees. I captured the image on the right with the intention of combining it specifically with the image on the left. I had the left image on my computer screen in-front of me as I captured the image of the miniature to help get the right angle.

Image #1

To create this 'Fantasy Medieval' scene, I "cut out" the miniature from its image, then imported it to the document of the landscape image, in Photoshop. Once imported, I decreased the 'saturation' of both 'layers', increased the 'contrast' of both, and positioned the miniature onto the tree. I then used a 'soft brush' tool with a lowered 'opacity' to create the look of shadows coming from the miniature, to make it look more "realistic" and like an actual part of the scene.

I really like the colours in this image as they have a very mellow and calm feel to them. The image looks rather peaceful and gentle to look at, as opposed to if it were made of reds and oranges, which would imply "danger".

Image #2 (Original Unedited Images)

I chose to use the first image (top-left), from Photo-Shoot #3, because it looks like what one would expect a 'Fantasy Medieval' battle scene with a dragon to look like. There is a bridge (the log) which the heroes must cross, with a dragon preventing them from passing. They can't go around because there is lava beneath them and fire surrounding them. They have no choice but to fight the dragon. This is what I thought of when looking at the Photo-Shoot #3 image, so, I proceeded to use miniatures to bring my idea to life.

I also chose to use the Photo-Shoot #10 image of the fire swirling in the can as it looks very well-defined and like it is moving quickly. It does a good job of creating the look of fire swirling around the characters.

Image #2

On the one hand, I like the overall look of this image. The colours look very intense and "dangerous". However, on the other hand, I am somewhat dissatisfied with the miniatures. I do not feel as though they blend with the scene very well, particularly the dragon.

I enjoy making these intricate scenes, but I do not think I will develop this idea any further due to how time-consuming it is to make just one of them, and the inconsistency of quality.

Image #3 (Original Unedited)

Again, I chose the image on the left, from Photo-Shoot #7, because of the colours and greenery which make it seem lush and fantastical. I also chose it because of the framing of the waterfall and the cliff as putting a character at the top of it would give him/her looking room, making for a dramatic shot.

Image #3 (First Version)

In this first version, I put the miniature into the image of the waterfall, placed it at the top of the waterfall, used a 'soft brush' tool to add shadows on the character and around him, then lowered the 'saturation' and increased the 'contrast' of the character. I also decreased the 'saturation' of the waterfall image, and increased the 'contrast'.

I like this version, but, to me, the miniature did not look right with the background; it looked too "fake".

Image #3 (Second Version)

For this second version, I added a low 'opacity' green 'colour overlay' to the miniature in an attempt to make it blend with the background more. However, I still was not satisfied with the way it looked.

Image #3 (Third Version)

Finally, I reached a look that satisfies me. From the second version, the only change I made to achieve this look was adding an 'unsharp mask' to the miniature.

I do like this image as the green colours make the waterfall "stand out" quite well. The miniature stands tall and powerful at the top, as though embarking on an epic journey.