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Experimental Photography

Hayley Roberts

Multiple Exposure

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I think this image looks a lot better in monochrome than in colour because I found the bright green from the leaves in the image become distracting and it takes the attention away from the model as well.

I also cropped this image compared to the coloured version because from the shoulders downwards it becomes a waste as the main focus is on the face of the model so cropping it so the focus is kept on the face works really well.

The white background really contrasts with the monochrome image and again this helps the model stand out in this image by having a plain, white background.

Most of the facial features and parts of the hair are missing from the branches in the trees. This makes the image look like a painting instead of actual photography so the image can be interpreted in different ways using this effect. I like how it looks like branches are coming out of the models head as it helps the audience know what image has been overlaid.

I found that at the bottom of the image where the models top is, the leaves started to get really big and I didn’t like this compared to the small delicate leaves at the top of the image as I found these looked better over the model and it starts to lose detail towards the bottom of the image. This could mean, next time I could crop even more off the image so that the head is the only part of the model shown in the image and get rid of the bottom part of the image or it could mean using a different image of trees with more branches coming off it so that it has a constant flow of small branches throughout the image.

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Evaluate: For this image, I really wanted to get the branches coming out of the models head and I wanted areas to become faded and areas missing out of the image due to the leaves on the trees. I feel that this image wasn’t the strongest image out of all of the images I had done, but I got the branches coming out of the models head and I also got areas faded out and missing which is what I wanted to achieve in this image. I feel that the bottom of the image didn’t look how I wanted it to. I found that the leaves on the image I had chosen to overlay got really big and there were less branches and so this made the leaves at the bottom fit in with the outline of the model so it didn’t fade out areas and leave gaps at the bottom of the image. This makes the bottom of the image quite simple compared to the top of the image and next time I should crop out the whole bottom of the image so it’s just the head on the image or I should find a different image to use to overlay the image. I looked at the work of Christoffer Relander who takes images of models and then overlays images of nature over the top and his series of images called ‘We Are Nature Vol.III’ is a series that inspired me to take my images. His main images are of models and his overlay images are mainly of trees. I found that having branches coming out of the models head made it easier for whoever looks at the images to see what images I have used to overlay the model with. His images are all in monochrome which I found worked really well and I think it has more of a powerful effect than colour so that’s why I decided to turn mine into monochrome and it also highlights the shadows in the images and the highlights too. His images have parts missing from them because of the branches and I found this effect really interesting and can also make his work look like paintings as well with parts missing from it and I liked this idea a lot so I tried to achieve this in my images which worked really well. The background that he uses for his images, is an off white colour but for my images I decided to make sure that they were against a white background because with the images being in monochrome it helps the subject stand out a lot more on the page and it has a powerful effect.

Qualities: I feel this image has a unique effect to it and it looks stands out well on the page against the white background and it’s well composed on the page and is well presented. There is nothing in the background to become distracting and this also helps the main subject stand out on the page. The image looks quite dreamy and very surreal and I like how this comes across in the image that I created. I like that the image doesn’t look perfect and has parts missing from it because of the branches and the image that was overlaid and this shows that images don’t need to be all there to look good as this works really well with parts missing. I also like the image in monochrome as it wouldn’t look as effective in colour because there would be too many colours in the image and this would make it look too distracting and hard to understand and these are the strongest points of this image altogether. I think that the weakest points of this image is the bottom of the image and how it doesn’t have white patches because the leaves become really big and so it looks quite simple and not as effective as the top part of the image. I think that this image was completed really well looking at the technical elements. This is because the overlay of the two images blended really well and doesn’t look out of place. Also, getting it in the right place so that the branches come out of the models head worked really well and getting the white patches in the right place so that it didn’t look odd or too patchy worked really well and I think this image was achieved really well and how I wanted it to look. To create this image, I put the image of the model in Photoshop and placed the image of the trees over the top. I then clicked the blending option to ‘Screen’ and this is what created the overlay. I then used the ‘Paint’ tool to get rid of any parts of the trees in the background so it was a clear white background. I then turned the image into monochrome by using the ‘Black & White’ selection in Photoshop and then this image was created after cropping a little of the image off the bottom. I found that the exposure of both images worked really well and they aren’t overexposed images or underexposed and this is one of the stronger elements. I also used the right shutter speed for both images as no camera shake was detected in the images so they are both really sharp and not out of focus. I feel that the weaker parts of the technical qualities were getting the lighting right for the models as the white background turned more into a darker white and so in Photoshop I had to change the brightness of the background so it was turned into white instead of a darker white.

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This is my image compared to Christoffer Relander’s image and it shows how very similar both images are and how the effect has been used in both images.

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I feel that the areas of this image I could improve is by definitely cropping the image and just keeping the head as the main subject without the shoulders and the top of the arms. This is because I found that the leaves at the bottom of the image were really big and this made them blend in with the black of the top and this makes it hard to see where the leaves are and it doesn’t have the same effect as the top of the image with the branches coming off the top of the models head. I could also make parts of the image a little darker so there is a lot more darker tones in my image as the image is quite light and the shadows aren’t shown in the image. The bottom part of the image is really dark compared to the rest of the image so getting rid of this part will balance out the tones in this image a lot more and it won’t be as dark. The outline of the model and the lines from the bottom of the image lead the audiences eyes into the centre of the subject in this image. I think that the experiment glitching could work really well with this effect as the colour from the glitching effect will contrast really well with the monochrome from the multiple exposure effect. It will also create a broken up effect just like the multiple exposure effect does with the white patches missing from the image so both experiments will link really well together and create a really different effect with them both together. It will make it harder to understand what is in the image with the glitching effect over the top so it creates different interpretations to different people looking at the images. I also think using scanography and then using tree images I could overlay them and this will create a completely different effect to these images and they will have less of an elegant effect to them but they will work really well and look quite different and unusual. I think the image works well in monochrome and having no colour in the image makes it easier to look at and easier to understand what is in the image. The curves from the hair and the outline of the model frames the image completely and acts as a border for the image. The white background contrasts with the darker areas from the monochrome effect and it also contrasts with the shadowing in the image. I feel that the image is composed correctly and is in the right place as it’s not in the centre of the page and the model is placed slightly to the right of the page so it’s not directly in the centre and there is the right amount of white around the model and there isn’t too much or too less in the image. The leaves in the image leave a pattern over the model and it leaves detail on the image and this works really well. I feel that this image ticks all the boxes of the brief that was set. I used tree images in this image as my theme I was using was nature so I used trees because this is part of nature and so this image links in with the theme that was set. This image is classed as experimental because it has to be created either using the camera or in Photoshop and this effect has an arty element to it and is classed as Fine Art and all of these are explained in the definition of experimental photography.

Multiple Exposure

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For this image I decided to keep the faded outline of the trees over the models hands. I found this doesn’t look as effective as if I got rid of the darker areas and just left the hands with the overlay of the trees because I find the overlay of the tree really distracting when the attention needs to be on the hands.

I think this image would of worked a lot better in monochrome and not in colour. This is because I think the colours make it a lot harder to define which colour is the hand and which colours are the trees and having it in monochrome would be a lot easier and not having two similar colours and it would just show the highlighted areas from the trees.

For the overlay of the trees, even though I didn’t get rid of the edges, I do think the darker areas from the trees help the hands stand out a lot more on the page as both of these contrast really well. But I do think overall this image would be more effective without the overlay.

I like how you can see more of one arm than the other and it fades away and becomes quite patchy as I think this looks really effective and it makes the image look uneven but in a good way as it shows more of one arm than the other arm.

I think at the top of the image there needs to be a bit more of the branches so that some of the fingers fade out as well as there isn’t much at the top compared to the bottom so I think this would balance out the image a little more.

There is a strong contrast between light and dark in this image as the overlay of the trees are really bright compared to the image of the model’s hand is quite dark and there are a few shadows on the models hands and this contrasts in the image.

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Evaluate:I feel that this image, compared to the first image, doesn’t work as well. I prefer the first image because of how it fits in the outline of the model and for this image that was my intention as I wanted the tree to fit in the hand outline. But the tree ended up going around the hand and it has created a creative and effective effect to the image but it didn’t fulfil the intention of what I wanted the image to look like. I prefer this image in colour as the green from the trees contrast really well with the pale colour of the hands and having the colour outside of the hands help identify what the overlaid image is to the viewer. I did two versions of this image as I turned up the contrast to see what it would look like with the hands a little brighter and more obvious in the image. But after looking at both of the images, I preferred the image where the hands were a lot paler and not as obvious in the image as it didn’t manipulate the colours like it did turning the contrast up and the hands are still the main focus in the image either way so I was happy that the attention was kept on the hands. I feel that this image contrasts really well with the white background as well and with the image being in colour the white background helps it stand out a lot more. I cropped the image before editing it so their was less arm in the image and more hands and this created a lot more space around the image so there was more white background which is what I wanted. Again, for this image I was looking at the work of Christoffer Relander. He used images of portraits and overlaid them over the models hands and also used a tree layer as his series of images were linked to nature. But for mine, I decided not to use images of the faces as I wanted to keep mine purely to nature and I felt that using trees, the branches would help create more of an effect with elements of the arms and fingers missing from the image, just like this image I have created. He changed his images into monochrome and I decided to keep some in colour, especially this image because it helped the hands and the tree overlay stand out on the page and the two different colours of the skin and the leaves helped contrast with each other. He took his images against a plain white background and this is what I decided to do with my images too as this helps the main subjects stand out on the page.

Qualities:This image looks really visually pleasing overall and I feel that it works on the page really well. I didn’t get the end result that I was hoping I would but I felt that this was different from my other images that I had done. I like how the white background helps the image stand out as a whole and they don’t clash as well. I also like how the effect leaves one arm looking longer than the other arm and this makes it slightly less perfect as an image as it isn’t all their and parts are missing but it works really well. I feel that the strongest element of this image is definitely the contrast between the two colours of the leaves from the trees and the pale skin colour of the hands and how they work well together and the leaves that have been overlaid over the hands are slightly lighter and brighter than the ones that are against the background. This makes the attention directly towards the hands as the viewers eyes are drawn towards the brighter parts of an image so it helps the eyes focus on the main focal point of the image. The weaker points of this image is that the tree image was overlaid over the hands and into the background and it didn’t fit in with the hands which is what I was looking for but overall it makes it different to the other images, so even though it’s a weakness to me it may not be to other people. To achieve this image, I did exactly what I did with the first image and brought both images into Photoshop and then chose the blending mode as ‘Screen’ and instead of rubbing out the parts of the tree image that went over the outline of the hands and left it like that and didn’t change the image into monochrome like the first image. I then moved the tree overlay to the position that I wanted it so that I would get the effect I was looking for. Both images were taken with the right shutter speed and the right exposure. I even found that taking the images of the trees using the Aperture Priority setting on the camera made the sky completely white and overexposed but left the tree with all the detail and colour so it saved me changing the sky colour in Photoshop and I feel this was a stronger technical quality for this image. I feel the weaker points of the technical qualities is that the background for the hands was actually a white one but it came through quite dark so I had to bleach out the background in Photoshop so it become white so this was due to camera handling.

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This image definitely matches the brief that we were set as we were set to make experimental pieces of photography and so I decided to do the multiple exposure method to create experimental pieces of work. My theme I chose was nature so I used tree images that relate to nature against an image of hands so I still had nature linked with my images by using an overlay image of trees. I feel this worked really well for the multiple exposure effect as from research I did, many artists had used images of trees because of the effect it leaves and how unique the images look and how well they both fit together and linking man to nature. It gives it more of an arty effect as well with parts of the image missing from the gap between leaves and branches and so this is why it is classed as experimental because they are arty and this kind of photography has to have some post production work done to it to create this effect even when using a camera to create it. For this image, to improve it I could definitely do the image the same as the first image so that the tree overlay stops where the edge of the hands are and so the whole image of the tree isn’t completely overlaid over the hands so it makes it less obvious what the overlay image is so it makes it more open to the viewer to their interpretations of the image. For this image, to develop this, I could maybe change the image into monochrome to see what it looks like in black and white instead of having it in colour to see if it has a better or more effective effect to it. I could also use different subject matter overlaid over the top of the image. For example, I could use images of flowers with a lot of detail within the flower to see what effect it actually leaves and see if it’s more effective than using leaves. To do this effect I would do the exact same method as I did with the overlay of the leaves but instead I would use a flower image. I could try out using the out of focus method with the multiple exposure effect as I feel this would give a completely different mood and tone for the whole image as it involves using an out of focus image against a really sharp image so it would work really well. The composition of the image that I had done is mainly central and I feel that the size of the image works really well and leaves enough white background around the image. I also feel that the curves and lines around the leaves helps frame the image itself as there is no support in the background to frame the image so the overlay does the framing of the image itself. I also think that the overall colours in the image contrast really well and I feel it adds a lot more brightness and more detail to the image than actually taking the image in black and white because it wouldn’t then provide the different colours and the contrasts of the colours too. There isn’t that many shadows in the image either and that’s why I didn’t want to change the image to monochrome because when changing images to monochrome, you need a lot of darker areas and shadows to help bring the shading in the images so that’s why I left this image in colour.

Multiple Exposure

Use this slide to annotate your final image

I should of edited out the darker patches at the side so they were covered up and were the same colour as the background and plain white, it also becomes really distracting and ruins the image a little bit.

I like how the blue from the nail varnish stands out in the image and gives the image some colour and it’s a really soft blue so it doesn’t stand out too much but it contrasts with the white of the skin.

The image looks like an unfinished painting with the white patches in them but I feel that this works really well and I like how it cuts off parts of the arm.

There is a strong contrast between the white from the background and the lighter areas with the darker areas and the shadows where the hand has folded.

The green from the leaves, leave a slight pattern on the skin and I think this works really well as it adds a bit of colour to the image and it’s also not a bright green so it doesn’t overpower the image.

I like how the top of the hands fade out into the background and areas are missing from the fingers, it looks really effective.

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Evaluate:For this image, I wanted to get a totally different result to the second image that I had taken as I wanted to achieve the outcome I was set out to achieve. This time my intention was to make sure that the overlaid image of the trees fit in with the shape of the hands and didn’t fully overlay the image and just sit on top of the image of the hands just like the second image. The final outcome of this image is what I intended on achieving so I was really pleased with the outcome I got. For this image though, there are areas in the background that are slightly darker from the overlaid image of the trees and I should of gone over in Photoshop with the ‘Paint’ tool and gone over the areas that are slightly darker so that they were coloured over with white so it looked like the background and this did ruin the image a little. But overall I feel this image worked a lot better than the second image and again I prefer this image in colour rather than in monochrome because the blue from the nail varnish contrasts well with the green from the leaves and it also links in well with the paleness from the skin. Again, I looked at the photographer Christoffer Relander as he looked at different ways to manipulate certain body features with the use of multiple exposure and his work compared to my work are very similar in the method that he used. But he did take his images in monochrome and used facial features as well as using nature images and I felt that for my project I didn’t want to use facial features on the hands as I wanted my images to have the hands as the main focal point and as my theme was nature, having trees as the overlaying image would be more appropriate so it would set in with the brief more. I wanted my image to have the random patches of the image that was missing and left the white background on just like Christoffer Relander has on his images and this is what I got in my images and this is what I wanted to achieve as I feel it looks a lot more arty and more unique with this method. Qualities:I feel that this image looks a lot better than the second image that I had edited as it is more visually pleasing and I had an end result that I wanted to achieve with this effect. Even though I had forgot to get rid of the darker overlay patches I still think this works a lot better than the first one especially with the pale, natural colours involved and I feel that it works well on the page as a whole and the angling of the models hands works well as well on the page. The weaker elements from an aesthetic point of view is the darker patches on the background and it spoils the image because I wanted the background to be completely white and then from the overlaid image I had darker patches near the bottom of the image which ruins the image a little. It also makes the white patches in between both of the arms look really odd and out of place next to the darker patches in the background. I feel that the stronger elements of this piece of work is the pale colours that have been used and the pastel colours and how they all link together and they don’t look out of place and it also contrasts really well with the darker shadows in the hands as well. I also think that having the top of the hands having parts missing from it, look really nice when it fades into the background and the patchy look that it has on the hands. To achieve this effect again, I did the same method in Photoshop to what I did to the other two images but this time I bleached out the background from the model shots so it wasn’t as dull and this made the overlay easier and it didn’t leave the two images overlaid over the top like the second image and I found that this was a stronger element of the technical aspects of the image and I think that this was done well. I also felt that the composition of the hands in the image was another stronger element of the image. I think that a weaker element of the technical aspect was the exposure of the image of the model and how it was too dull overall and it needed brightening up in Photoshop so next time I would need brighter lights so it isn’t as underexposed.

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I think that to improve my work I would definitely need to get rid of the darker patches on the background as I feel this ruins the image on a whole and I feel this is the only downside to the image so I would go into Photoshop and use the ‘Paint’ tool so I can edit out the darker patches on the background so it is completely white in the background. I think that this would be the only improvement I would make as well as getting the lighting right for the portrait images so I can get a completely white background instead of editing it out in Photoshop as it would be a lot easier and doing it in Photoshop can lose detail in the model as well. To develop my work further with additional work I could next time use the same overlaying effect but I could use different blending modes to see if it makes the images look either better or not as good as the images I have already done. I could also next time use the technique movement while using the multiple exposure effect as this would create a completely different effect as the motion from the movement will make the multiple exposure effect a little different using the overlaying method of a nature image. This would then be really interesting to see and how it would work and the final outcome of using both of these methods as one as it would create different patterns as well with the two different images. I think that for the image I have just created, the composition of the hands work really well and they are both at the right angle that I was looking for as where the fingers curl over, they provide a lot of shadowing and this creates a wider contrast between light and dark and it also helps the hands stand out. I also left quite a bit of the models arms in the image as well as the hands. This was because I wanted less white in the background and wanted more in the image than just the hands compared to the second image that I had done. I think that this image fits in with the brief that was set as we needed to create really experimental images and I feel that this image is definitely experimental. I stuck to my theme as well and it matches the theme I had chosen. I decided to chose the theme nature so the overlaid image of the trees help the image link to nature as if I used a different image to overlay the image of the hands then it wouldn’t have linked in with the theme that I had chosen that’s why I though trees would work really well. From the research I did, it seemed to be the best option to do as you need images with a lot of detail in them so they can leave different lines and patterns over the images. I think that this image works a lot better in colour than monochrome because you can see the different variations between the colours and having the blues and the pastel greens from the leaves make the image more interesting and a lot more appealing and eye catching than just having it in monochrome. This image is definitely experimental as I chose a method that was related to many experimental, Fine Art photographers and from the effect it leaves, it is definitely linked to experimental photography and requires quite a bit of post production if it isn’t done using the option on a camera.