Photo-Shoot #5

For this photo-shoot, I used my friend as the model, and had him wear a black cloak with the hood up, black gloves, and a piece of metal finger armour in order to make him look like a dark knight. All of the images in this shoot were taken under low-key lighting at my school's photography studio.

Image #1 (Original Unedited)

I chose this image as the first one to edit because of its resemblance to Dmitrijs Bindemanis' images. To begin with, I wanted to experiment with trying to achieve the look he has in his images.

Image #1

This is my version of Dmitrijs Bindemanis' image of the hooded man holding the sword. As I do not own a medieval sword, or a replica, I did not give my model a prop to replace it, but just used a piece of finger armour I have on one of his fingers. The armour has skulls engraved on it, and looks like that which a dark knight would wear. I used a black robe I have as the costume for my model.

This image was captured under low-key lighting in a studio environment at my school.

In Photoshop, I 'cropped' the image, then increased the 'brightness', then duplicated the 'layer', 'cut out' the left side of the background, flipped it horizontally, then positioned it on the right side of the subject. I also then increased the 'warmth' of the image with a 'photo filter'.

I really like this image as it looks very clean and well-framed. When cropping, I tried to line where the subject's eyes would be with the upper horizontal line of the rule of thirds grid.

Image #2 (Original Unedited)

This image was chosen to be edited due to its similarity - in terms of framing, lighting, and pose of the model - to Bindemanis' work, yet it being more personal due to the model in this image opening his arms out as though to imply that he wants his enemies to "come at him".

Image #2 (First Version)

Similarly to Image #1, I used Photoshop to increase the 'brightness' of this image, then I 'cut out' the left side of the background, flipped it horizontally, then positioned it on the left side of the subject. I did this to achieve a "clean" look again, and the use the lighting on both sides of the model to frame him.

Image #2 (Second Version)

Whilst looking at the first version of this image, I thought that the pose the model is in could also look like that of a sorcerer or mage summoning something like fire. So, I took to Photoshop again and imported one of the images from the photo-shoot of the fire I did previously (Photo-Shoot #3). To make the fire part of the image of the hooded man, I simply set the 'layer mode' to 'screen' and positioned it accordingly.

I like the fantastical look of this image as it bears resemblance to imagery that would be seen in 'Fantasy Medieval' MMORPG and RPG computer games. This image, therefore, might appeal to PC gaming audiences.

Image #3 (Original Unedited)

I chose to edit this image because of the strong stance the model is in, and how it also resembles a mage, or something of the like, character from a 'Fantasy Medieval' computer game.

Image #3 (First Version)

For this first version, I imported, using Photoshop, one of the images from Photo-Shoot #3 and used a 'soft eraser' tool to remove all of the flames except for one chunk which I positioned over the model's hand. I then 'erased' the flame where the fingers of the model are, which gave the look of the model holding said 'flame' in his hand. After this, I increased the 'brightness' of the 'layer' of the hooded man, and decreased the 'saturation'.

Image #3 (Second Version)

I felt that the first version of this image was somewhat bare, so I decided to return to it and import another image from Photo-Shoot #3. I set the 'layer mode' of the newly imported image to 'screen', increased the scale of it, and then lowered the 'opacity' and 'saturation' slightly.

Ultimately, I like this image, and I think that it works well with Image #2 in a 'Fantasy Medieval' set.

Photo-Shoot #4

In this shoot I hoped to capture images which I could combine with future images to give the effects of lightning auras and magic/powers. However, I decided to edit some images from this shoot on their own, purely to see what I could do with them as individual images, in terms of the 'Fantasy' genre.

This shoot was partially inspired by the images by Nejron Photo which I analysed.

Image #1 (Original Unedited)

I chose this image because I like the amount of lines of light, and the zoom of the lens which doesn't make them too big or too small.

Image #1 (First Version)

Here, in this first version, I change the colour of the light by using the 'hue' tool. I changed it to a purple colour, which for some audiences can relate to the 'Star Wars' franchise, as in some of the games, books, et cetera, some characters can shoot purple lightning from their fingertips.

Image #1 (Second Version)

With this version, I used the 'plastic wrap' filter to make the image look like glass or ice. Consequentially, this also made the "lightning" look like cracks in the glass/ice. Creating this version proved to me that I can achieve completely different images by just experimenting with only one tool in an editing program.

Image #2 (Original Unedited)

I decided to edit this image as, again, it has lots of strikes of light, and also because the aperture was larger for this one, thus making it brighter.

Image #2

To create this version, all I did was simply add a 'gradient overlay layer' in Photoshop, and used the default multicolored  'gradient'. The "lightning" being several different colours gives a fantastical look to the image.

Photo-Shoot #3

Initially, I planned to do this shoot in order to capture images I could specifically combine with the skull images from the previous shoot. However, whilst doing this shoot, I realised that the log in my fire place, with the "ash" effect beneath it, resembles a bridge going across a pit of lava that would be seen in a 'Fantasy' tale such as 'The Lord of the Rings'.

I have edited two of the images from this shoot on their own, without combining any other images with them, in order to experiment with the kind of fantastical effects I can create with just these alone.

Image #1

With this image, I hoped to give the impression of magic sorcery by adding a green 'overlay layer', then using a 'soft eraser' tool to remove parts of it, making it look as though the flames are a mixture of red and green ones.

I chose to edit this image as I liked the logs being in the shot, but the depth-of-field being shallow enough to make them out-of-focus -- this put the focus on the flames, which is what I wanted.

In terms of how others may view this image, I think that they will interpret the "sorcery" theme, for the most part, as green flames like this can be seen in several famous films, including the Disney classic, 'Sleeping Beauty' (the sorceress, Maleficent).

Overall, I really like the effect I have achieved with this image, and I am now excited to see what the scenes I can create when combining these images with others.

Image #2

I really like this image because of how dynamic it looks.

First of all, I chose to edit this one due to the strong saturation of the light on the bottom of the log; it creates a nice highlight which implies that a pit of fire/lava is beneath it. The flames in the background, out-of-focus due to the shallow depth-of-field putting focus on the log, make one feel trapped when looking at the log as it is "surrounded" by flames, and has a fiery pit below it. On top of this, I added the effect of sparks gliding through the air to furthermore create the implication of "heat". I created the "sparks" effect by using the regular marquee tool to select the particles underneath the log, then selected the 'layer via copy' option. I then 'duplicated' the 'layer' several times, positioned them accordingly, used the 'replace colour' tool to change the background colours to black, then changed the layers to 'screen'.

Photo-Shoot #2

I did this photo-shoot in my house, and used the fake skull, which I mentioned previously on my blog, as the subject. I captured these images with the intent of combining them with ones from a future shoot in order to create a fantastical piece.

As I am planning on combining these images with ones of fire, I used the amber-tones of my living room lights as the lighting, as it would make the lighting reflecting off of the skull similar to the colour of light fire emits.

I tried capturing some out-of-focus images in-case I wanted to put the focus on the flames instead of the skull when combining the images.

Image #1 (Original Unedited)

I used the black rug in my living room as the background for this image so that it would be easier to "cut out" the skull in Photoshop. This is the only image I used from the shoot of the skull as I decided against having the focus on the flames due to the way the shots of the fire turned out, and also because I could not think of a reason for doing focussing on them instead of the skull.

Images of Fire Used (Original Unedited)

I chose these images from the shoot of the fire because they both feature large quantities of flames.

Image #1 (First Version)

For this first version, I wanted to create a naturalistic look to the fire engulfing the skull. In Photoshop, I used the 'quick select' tool to select and delete the background from around the skull, then imported it into the image of the fire, and created a black background 'layer' and placed it underneath the other 'layers'. After this, I simply set the 'layer mode' of the fire to 'screen' and put that layer on top of the one of the skull, thus creating the impression that the fire is surrounding the skull.

Image #1 (Second Version)

In this version, I experimented with the 'unsharp mask' tool inan attempt to create a well-defined, high-contrast, neon glow effect for the image. The fire now has some blue and pink tones in it, which makes it seem hotter, and the skull is more defined and "stands out" more. Whilst I liked this version, I was not completely satisfied with it due to how bold and sharp it is; it can be a little hard to look at.

Image #1 (Third Version)

I then, with this version, continued my experimentation with the 'unsharp mask' tool and tried decreasing it slightly. I ended up reaching the look that is seen in this image, which I like a lot. The flames have retained the blue and pink tones, but they are not as vibrant -- I like this because it makes the whole image blend together better, and look more "realistic", but still fantastical. I removed the 'unsharp mask' from the skull entirely, and left it untouched to see how the natural colour of it looked with the fire. Overall, I like this version, but still was not satisfied completely.

Image #1 (Fourth Version)

Finally, I reached this final version. The only difference between this and the third version is that I added the same amount of the 'unsharp mask' as used on the fire to the skull as well. It made the skull less obvious, and seem as though it is actually apart of the flames. The colours blend well together, and the whole image overall looks like an abstract/'Fantasy' interpretation of the iconic 'Terminator' scene (shown in my post about my inspiration for this shoot), yet still different and unique. I would image this image being used as large-print wall art for people's house interiors, such as on a feature wall in a living room or bedroom.

In terms of meaning and implications, this image could easily relate to Mankind's development and evolution, and its future. The half-Human, half-machine skull could be a representation of what Humans are becoming, and the fire could represent the perhaps somewhat inevitable outcome of Mankind's machine-dominated path.