Will Patton
Question:
(03) Study appropriate sources and produce your own work inspired by Concealment.
Mood Board
Mind Map
Artist Research 1
Weegee
Arthur Fellig (Weegee), was a photographer and photojournalist, known for his black and white street photography in New York. He was born on the 12th of June in 1899 in Zolochiv, Ukraine. His photographs engage the audience into a strong emotional link between the viewer and the people in his photographs, as well as from Weegee's skill at selecting the most important moments of the events he photographed was what made him successful. Most of his photos photographed people who covered their faces as they had committed crimes or were being sentenced. This is what I want to achieve in my shoots. However I might try to modernise his photos.
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Initial Intentions
•For photoshoot 1 I will take portrait photos of two subjects who are covering their face. This meets the aims of concealment without editing on any software. However I will edit the photo to make it look black and white to match the photographer’s photo. I will do this on photoshop.
•I intend to take photos of two subjects who are covering there faces with modern clothing. This will be a modern take of weegee’s newspaper photos however they will still be in black and white. It will be in houses and sub urban areas.
•I intend to take photos of two subjects who are covering there faces with modern clothing. This will be a modern take of weegee’s newspaper photos however they will still be in black and white. It will be in houses and sub urban areas.
Best Selections
Evaluation: Why these are the best.
I think these photos are the best because each one of them has followed the theme of concealment as nobody's face (eyes and above) can be seen. I also think the lighting of the images is perfect as in the final edit you will be able to define the contrast between the black and white parts of the image easily. The composition of the photos also follows the theme of a quick documented photo as it slightly rotated however the subjects are still in the centre of the image. The leading lines of the bannister also help emphasise the subjects of image.
Worst selections
Evaluation: Why are these the worst.
I think these are the worst selections because in two of them the ISO was high meaning the photo took about 5 seconds worth of light in making it a very loud image with lots of light and it didn’t follow the artists images. Some of the photos are out of focus or blurry on in some parts of the image. Faces are shown in some of the photos which also doesn’t follow the idea of concealment and the lighting in some of the photos isn’t very good for a black and white edit as it is mostly dark in the raw photo. However I do think the composition is good on these photos except the photo where you can see the camera and flash I was using.
Image analysis of own photograph
Evaluation of Shoot 1
I thought my shoot went and worked really well. In this shoot the setting of where I had my shoot really worked well as it allowed me take photos that followed the theme of concealment as well as my artist. I think I could improve my shoot by takin more photos of my subject allowing more opportunity for my edits. In my next shoot I will take forward the idea of covering faces and In my next shoot i will change how I cover the face of my subject. I will use photoshop to conceal instead of making the subject conceal their faces in the actual photo. This photo shoot links to my artist as they're are black and white images that are noisy and grainy. The positioning of the subjects is also similar to my artists photo and the point of using clothing to cover faces links to Weegee’s photos as well.
Edits
Before and After:
Artist Research 2
Tommy Flanagan is a photographer based in los Angeles born on march the 8th march 1997. He is a portrait photographer who takes photos of mostly himself as well as others and digitally edits the photos on photoshop. He started his photography career In high school and has continued to make a business out of his edited photos and projects
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Plan for Photoshoot 2 and intentions
•For photoshoot 2 I will take self portrait photos of me who standing front or face on. This matches the type of photos Tommy Flanagan took of himself the aims of concealment will be achieved by editing on software. I will edit the photo by using the liquify tool to allow me to cover my eyes creating the idea of concealment and match the photo, this will then match the artist research.
•I intend to take photos of myself in different stances and clothing. This will be a my own take of Tommy Flanagan's self portraits however I will have to edit the background as the lighting wont be great. It will be in my room against a white wall which can change the colour of If I wanted to in the edit.
•I intend to take photos of myself in different stances and clothing. This will be a my own take of Tommy Flanagan's self portraits however I will have to edit the background as the lighting wont be great. It will be in my room against a white wall which can change the colour of If I wanted to in the edit.
Shoot 2 thumbnails
Best Selections
Why these are the best
I think these photos are the best because each one of them has good composition and the focus is always in one third. I also think the lighting of the images is perfect as in the final edit you will be able to edit shadows and increase the contrast. The composition of the photos also follows the theme of a documented portrait photo as it is taking.
Worst Selections
Why these are the worst
I think these are the worst selections because in all of them, the photos are out of focus or blurry. The lighting in some of the photos isn’t very good for the edit as all the image needs to be light because of the liquify feature in photoshop. The composition in 3 of the photos aren’t good as the subject is too big or to one side instead of the centre, however I do think some of the photos have good composition as well as lighting its just the fact the subject is out of focus or it’s a blurry image.
Image analysis of my own image
The photography is staged The subject/focus point of the image is the in the middle third of the photo. It has a very short depth of field and high aperture. The atmosphere of the photo is very calm as nothing much is happening in the photo meaning the photo is actually quite quiet. The colour scheme of the photo is very bland and is made up of about 10 shades compared to my last shoot which was about 50 shades in one photo.
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Shoot 2 evaluation
Not much worked well in this shoot, is was very hard to by myself but having the tripod worked well with the shoot. Next time I will improve the shoots by making them in focus and have even better composition. The ideas that I will take from this is the liquifying tool as I really enjoy using it and I think it adds a really edgy, creative aspect to any sort of image. Next time I will change the lighting by making it a lot lighter because it makes the atmosphere of the photo more positive. This photoshoot links back to my artist because the positioning of the subject which is used with the liquify tool is a very specific style that Tommy Flanagan has used.
Edits from Shoot 2
Before and after:
Edit explanations:
Why I have edited it this way / Relating back to Artist
I edited the photos this way so it would match the style of Tommy Flanagan’s image. His photos of himself were edited with the liquify tool on photoshop, so I too made it edited the photos with the liquify feature. I added a small amount of contrast and sharpness to make the photos look more focused than they actually were and to also match the editing style of Tommy’s photos.
Manual editing techniques:
Collage:
Cyanotype
Why I experimented with these techniques...I tried these technique as I thought they would work well with the grain effect of my photos as well as the noise incorporated in the photos. However I don’t think the final product of the manual edits were very good except the collage, I think that turned out really well. I found it very hard to produce to a high quality standard with the rest of the techniques.
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Artist research 3 - @Rayscorruptedmind
•Rayscorruptedmind is a photographer best known for his work with Travis Scott, photographing his tours, clothing and filming parts of his documentary. He also shoots for covers of magazines like berlin-based fashion & arts bible. He shoots close and friendly portraits of high profiled characters and artists.
•His work is very street based. His photos consist of contrasting lightings and film filters as well as grain and noise effects. I like his work because its very aesthetic and incorporates pop culture.
•His work is very street based. His photos consist of contrasting lightings and film filters as well as grain and noise effects. I like his work because its very aesthetic and incorporates pop culture.
Final Photoshoot Plan
In my photo shoot, I plan to use a disposable camera which has film to take intimate pictures of people with their faces covered and concealed in different ways whilst making it look like pop culture (wearing different brands that are well known and basic ‘fashion’).
I will then get them developed, bring them into school and scan them and if I need to I will edit them on photoshop.
I will then get them developed, bring them into school and scan them and if I need to I will edit them on photoshop.
Final Shoot outcomes
Final Piece idea
For my final piece I will use the grain and noise technique for my photos. I will do this my using a disposable camera for my shoot instead of a DSLR. Therefore I will get the grain effect. I didn’t really like the liquify technique as it was hard to do in photoshop and the photoshoot was also very difficult to do.