Shoot 4
Artist Influence - Marcelo Monreal
AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
Marcelo Monreal takes portrait photos, distorts them and adds intricate drawings of flowers. Marcelo Monreal uses male and female models in his photos. I like the connotations that adding flowers to males has. I feel like this feminises men and adds a stereotypically female item onto a male portraiture. Each of the photos that he has created are very saturated which is something that I would like to portray within my images. I like the brightly coloured flowers within the images however I feel as though I would like to use neutral coloured backgrounds rather than vibrant colours. This is because using a white or black background would fit better in relation to my own project. I also like the different ways in which the photographer has decided to distort the portrait image and I think that this could have different connotations. I feel as though the image that Marcelo Monreal has reared when the face is split in two parts could represent two personalities that a person could possess. Overall I am very intrigued by the creativity within these photos and the way in which the photographer has used flowers in order to show the importance of nature to humans.
Images that inspire me
Each of these images have inspired me due to the way in which they have incorporated portraiture and still life photography in one composition. I like the way in which the two photos above have used flowers to hide elements of portraiture. I believe this could have connotations of nature having such a large impact on peoples lives. I also like the use of colour within each of these images because I think the colour compliment the tones within the image. I would like to incorporate some slightly more saturated colours within my work however de-sturated colours is something that I think would be interesting to explore in further shoots.
Contact Sheet
I feel as though this shoot was successful because I took a range of photos from many different angles and of many different flowers. I have circled images that I initially feel have been successful in green and then I have circled photos which I feel are slightly less successful in red. I will expand upon this when looking at my best and worst images.
My Best Images
AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
I have chosen a range of images as my best because I have previously thought about the editing of the images and the fact that I want to include a range of images, including photos of individual flowers and bunches of flowers.
F/16 1/100 ISO 200
I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the composition of this image. I like that there is multiple flowers in the frame of the image and also that you can clearly see each of the flowers that are within the photo. I feel as though this is important when thinking about the editing of the images because I would like to physically manipulate the flowers by cutting them out and being able to see the outline of each individual flower will allow me to successfully edit the images.
F/16 I/125 ISO 200
I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the simplicity of the individual flower in the frame. I feel as though capturing a wide range of angles and compositions allows for a wider choice of images to choose from and use within my edits.
F/16 1/125 ISO 200
I have chose this as one of my best images because I feel as though using an aprture of f/16 allowed me to capture fine details on each of the petals. I also like the composition of this image because I like the way that that flowers are arranged. The flowers are laid on the table which gives the illusion that the flowers have been placed on top of each other. This creates a slightly surreal atmosphere to the image because it looks as though they should be in a vase.
F/16 1/125 ISO 200
I have chosen this as one of my best images because I like the unique angle that this photo has been taken from. I like the way the flowers have been captured from a side angle rather than looking directly onto the centre of the flower. I also like that this allows you to see the height of each flower rather than just seeing the outline of the flowers.
F/18 1/125 ISO 200
I have chosen this image as one of my best because it is unique to the other photos that I have taken. This image uses a narrow depth of field which I have not tried to capture in any of my other photos however the reason I feel this works well is because the focal point of the image is specifically the yellow flower. Due to the photo being so centred on one flower and taken at such a close angle I feel as though the narrow depth of field really enhances the intricate detailing within the flower.
F/18 1/125 ISO 200
I have chosen the image above as one of my best because I like the way the flowers I have chosen to photograph all use the same pastel tones within them. I feel as though this makes the flowers compliment each other whilst also complimenting the plain background that I decided to use. I also like the way in which this is a bunch of flowers rather than just one flower. This is because this adds to the range of flowers that I am photographing and it also creates a unique composition.
F/18 1/125 ISO 200
I have chosen the image above as one of my best because I like the angle in which I have photographed the bunch of flowers. I feel as though looking at a flower directly into the centre and then looking at flowers from a side angle makes the flowers look completely different. During this shoot I believe I managed to create many different flowers only using two different bunches of flowers. the photo above in particular is very interesting because you are able to see the shape of each of the flowers and I like the way this focuses on the structure of the flower rather than just the fine details within them.
F/18 1/125 ISO 200
The image above is one of my best due to the unique shape of the sunflower. Sunflowers are a very easily identifiable flower so I have tried to photograph the flower in a way that focused on the shape of the entire flower rather than just the aesthetic of the centre and the petals of the flower. I also like the saturated yellow that immediately draws your attention the centre of the image. I also like the way in which the stalk and the leaves of the flower are a dulled green colour. I feel as though this also makes the yellow in the centre of the image stand out even more.
Images that require improvement
AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
F/8 1/125 ISO 200
This image requires improvement because it is over exposed. The reason this image is over exposed is because is due to the aperture that I used. This photo was taken towards the beginning of my shoot and I was using f/11. Due to the lights being on a powerful setting I found that this aperture needed to be increased to f/16. When taking this photo I captured it multiple times with different apertures because I wanted to get the correct exposure for the image.
F/18 1/125 ISO 200
The image above requires improvement because it is slightly under exposed. Although I was using the correct camera settings, due to not using a tripod I was constantly moving around and taking photos from different angles. This meant that sometimes I was standing in front of the soft box despite trying to not block this area. This is why the image above is under exposed. If I were to take this photo again I would try to position the flower differently which would result in me not having to stand in front of the light.
Camera Settings and Equipment
AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.
During this shoot I decided not to use a tripod because I wanted to be able to capture many different angles and I felt as though using a tripod was not allowing my to take the photos with the angles that I had in mind. When shooting free hand rather than using a tripod I feel as though I had more freedom when shooting and I was able to take photos that I do not feel I could have taken with a tripod. A weakness that I have found when not using a tripod to shoot is that sometimes the image is taken at a slight slant or there is some amount of the flower within the image that has been accidentally cut off due to not being able to compose the photo in a lot of depth. When setting up the studio I wanted to create photos with a soft, diffused light. This is the reason I decided to use a soft box attachment. I used one light which I moved throughout the shoot depending on the photo I was taking.
Whilst shooting I used roughly the same camera settings throughout however I did have to alter the camera settings slightly based on the flower I was shooting and the position at which I was taking the photo. The apertures used throughout the shoot mainly ranged from f/16 to f/18 however during one of the photos that I took I was using f/8 however this resulted in the image being very over exposed. I used an aperture of f/8 because when I measured the camera settings on the light meter, this is the aperture that was displayed. The main apertures that I varied between were f/16 and f/18. I switched between these depending on the flowers that I was photographing. An example of this would be when I was photographing white flowers. Due to the fact that I was shooting on a white background when using a slightly lower aperture the flower looked very washed out and the intricate detailing on the flower was less visible. Due to this I decided to use an aperture of f/18 which made the flowers a lot more detailed and clearer to see. With regards to the shutter speed I used during the shoot, this ranged from 1/100 to 1/125. I did not have to alter the shutter speed very much during this shoot because I did not alter the brightness and intensity of the soft box light attachments. This meant that I was able to keep roughly the same shutter speed throughout. Using shutter speeds of 1/100 and 1/125 I was able to freeze motion rather than capturing any movement within the flowers. I used an ISO of 200 throughout the shoot and this remained consistent. Due to not changing the intensity of the lights I did not have to alter the ISO.
AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.
When gathering inspiration for this shoot I took the main ideas from Marcelo Monreal. He is a collage artist and takes portrait pictures of many different people and then hand draws flowers onto the image. I wanted to re create this using photography. I liked the way in which the photos he created make the portrait look surreal. When capturing the photos of the flowers I was cry inspired by the vibrant colours of the flowers that Marcelo Monreal has used within his images and this is why I used a soft distilled light in order to express the bright colours of the flowers. I have also gathered inspiration from images that I have found on google. The images that I have found inspiration from mainly use roses and I feel like this is because they have strong connotations with love. I have used roses within my shoot because I liked the connotations that were attached to this however this was not the main focus of the shoot. I feel as though as my shoots progress I would like to focus more heavily on roses and the implications that they have. My ideas have also been taken from my artist research of Patty Hatkins. I feel like I have taken some ideas from the way in which she takes her photos in order to focus on the colour within the flowers. This is something that I wanted to make sure was visible in my photos.
Edits
AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.
To edit my photos I printed off two of each portrait image. I then printed off many different photos of flowers that I took during my shoot. I then physically cut out flowers and a part of the portrait. I then arranged the flowers in a way that I felt worked well. Below is a step by step plan of how I created these images.
1. Firstly I cut out the face of the model and then placed it in the position I wanted it to be on the original image.
2. I then carefully cut out all of the flowers that I wanted to use in order to create these edits.
3. Once all of the flowers had been cut out I positioned each of the flowers underneath the cut out face in order for the flowers to look as if they are coming out of the models head.
4. Once all of the flowers were positioned in their desired place I glued them down to create the final images.
My Final Images
AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.
Overall I am happy with the technique that I used in order to create the final images however I am not fully happy with the final result. Due to the fact that I printed off my photos and then scanned them back into the computer the whole photo lost a lot of quality. This is why the images look slightly duller than expected. I think that to solve this problem I would like to use this technique but try to do it on photoshop in order for me to keep the saturation of the flowers and the contrast in the portrait images. I would also like to use a darker background when progressing this technique because I feel as though this would relate to the third shoot that I completed as the images were very dark.
Progression
To progress I would like to incorporate this technique into my work however I would like to focus on a specific area of nature photography rather than going forwards experimenting different ideas. I would like to narrow down my work to eventually create a series of meaningful photos which all link to one another. This is a technique I would like to try and use but in photoshop in order to keep the quality and saturation of the images to a high quality.
Further Experimentation
After completing the edits for this shoot, I believe that the photos lacked a lot of colour and contrast due to having to print the images and then scan them back into the computer. This resulted in the photos losing quality and colour. Due to this happening I decided to further experiment with this idea in photoshop.
I opened up the portrait image that I wanted to use in photoshop. In order to make the editing process easier I also opened up each of the images of flowers that I wanted to use.
Firstly I used the lasso tool to cut out the part of the face that I wanted to duplicate.
I then selected 'edit', 'copy'. I then clicked cmd+V on the keyboard which pasted the selected area.
I then used the move tool to place this copied area in the desired position.
The image above is the final result of the above steps. Throughout the editing process I was able to move this part of the face so the position that it is in does not necessarily have to be the final position.
I then cut out each of the flowers I wanted to use with the quick selection tool. Sometimes this tool is not detailed enough therefore I was required to use the magnetic lasso tool. In order to make the selections as precise as possible I used the icons above which allowed me to add to the selection and take away from the existing selection. Once the entirety of the flower was selected I copied and pasted the flower by clicking 'edit', copy'. I then clicked back onto the original photo and pasted the image of the flower.
Once each of the flowers had been copied and pasted onto the portrait photo I was able to move them around and alter the sizing of each image by clicking 'cmd+T' on my keyboard.
Above is the final image. I am happy with how this image came out because I feel as though by using photoshop I was able to overcome many of the problems that I faced when editing these images the first time. I feel as though after exploring this technique I do not think I will be using this specific technique in my final work because I think that the image looks slightly unnatural and very clearly edited. I do like the idea of using flowers and creatively placing them onto portrait images however I would like to explore a different way of doing this.
