Photo-shoot Title:
"My Empire Of Dirt"

Photo-Shoot Concept & Aim:

This photography is going to be draw inspiration from Federico Bebber. The aim of this photoshoot is to further expand on my skills of dispersion trying a new effect. This photoshoot will look at how the mind can be clustered and chaotic.

Date & Timing:
This photo-shoot will take place on the 14th April 2017.This will be taken at 12 o'clock midday this is because the natural light can make my image clear and bright in quality. This then allows me to make clearer refinements with digital manipulation so I don't ruin the quality of the subject and lose expressions.

Location:

This photograph will take place in East Herrington in Sunderland this is because it is a quite and accessible location for me to get to that has the facility with staple backdrops to capture my desired shots.

Props:

The props I will need for this shoot is a hoodie for the subject to wear this allows the hoodie cover and hide the persons face creating the idea of depression and isolation through capturing pain into the photograph.

Models:
I myself will be in the shot. This will be a self portrait photograph influenced from styles of Laura Hospes. I have chosen myself as a model as it captures the audience I want to attract of males showing their stuggle with mental health. As 1 in 8 men are diagnosed with a common mental disorder such as depression and anxiety. As the rate of depression has increased by 70% in teenagers aged 16-19

Team:

I will be developing self-portraiture as I will be the subject of my own work as well as the editor. The camera will be on a stand with a timer set to take the photograph.

Equipment and Preparation:

The camera I have used for this photoshoot is a Fujifilm Finepix S9600 Camera with a Integrated 28-300mm lens. The batteries were fully charged before shoot. I believe I will use a shutter speed of 1/700 seconds with an aperture and F-stop of f/4.2 while the ISO remains ISO-200. These settings will hopefully create the desired shot I am hoping for.

Desired Shots:

The shot I am hoping for is a shot of a subject looking upset and lifeless in a empty room. This through the digital manipulation stage and using a dispersion effect that resembles splattered paint effect. I will try to create physical manipulation by printing the images off and splattering paint off the photograph. I will use photoshop elements 14 to create these effect for post production work. I will be taking the images I take and distort them

using dispersion effects I have been experimenting with and adapting. I will t them through a process to make them appear like my desired shot needed them to be. More refinements will be created as I experiment with my existing shoot taking another set of photographs to improve on thoughts ideas and fixing previous weaknesses of my previous shoot.

Reference Images:

Photo-Shoot Five

Record

Photo-Shoot

Production:

Refinement One

Refinement Two

Aperture: f/3.6

Shutter Speed: 1/500

ISO: ISO-200

The production of the first version of this photoshoot has went well. The Camera Controls used are the ISO set to ISO-200. The shutter Speed was 1/500 seconds and the F-Stop was at F/3.6. The light used was all natural light that came from day light to show a realistic glow on the subject. The narrative of the photograph told through the paint splatter. The paint splatter represents mess, mayhem and confusion. These is what the mind of a mentally disabled person. Someone who suffers paranoia will have this confused and chaotic mindset and so i have tried to portray it in the style of paint. The outfit of a black hoodie was used for intertextualitiy towards Banksy who is linked with paint and art.

The Visual Elements which i use within this photograph are patterns. Patterns have been used in the splattered effect as they have been placed around in a pattern formation. Space has been used with the position of the subject in the frame as he has aloud of space to the left and right of him however it gets filled up by the paint splatter effect. The paint effect layers over the subject covering him within it having him beneath the surface. This image of the paint over him gives the photograph texture of the paint and splatter over the subject and around his frame. Colour was used in the backdrop of White to Grey to Black allowing for a less empty and bland image. The hoodie is also black these dark colours reflect dark times the skin colour contrast all the park and allow some colour to be shown with the splatter. Tone is used with the dark black edges and the softer grey circles in the backdrop.Form is shown with the three dimensional quality of the subject and photograph as a whole. The subject himself creates form with his posture the hood and his arms positioned over and around his face or having them in front of the body holding the hoodie out. The photograph as a whole creates form by adding paint over the subject allowing for layers and dimensions in the two dimensional photograph. Shape is created by the characters posture allowing him to create shapes with his body and positions such as triangles rectangles. Finally lines have been created and used through most noticeably the strings on the hoodie and also the lines and space between the fingers.

Compositions for this photograph were considered and used to create this image. as vantage points use a front view. Non-direct mode of address as the subject is looking to the side. We are however eye level with the subject. The framing was used to give the subject a large amount of space this helps add the dispersion effect but also this then makes the subject look week and alone as he stands surrounded by space. The rules of thirds were applied by having the subject in the centre with his eyes on the top line. Rules of even and odd were not applied as the subject is alone making it an odd number however this doesn't have a happier feeling towards it and rather the opposite. Rules of triangles are used with the pockets of the subjects hoodie as well as the actual hood from the hoodie. His arms were also bent to add a triangle like shape towards it. Rules of space is used as mentioned earlier the subject is placed in the middle with large amount of space on the outside of him. Repetition is used with the splodges of paint used in the dispersion effect over the subject. Simplification is used within the photograph by having a black and grey gradient map over the background signalling the subject out from anything else.

This first refinement adds a gradient towards the dispersion effect. The colours are Purple and Orange which contrast one another as they are at the opposite end of the colour wheel to one another. I used these two colours as Purple represents peace and creativity while orange connotates happiness and success. These are used for the dispersion effect as it shows the splashes of these aspects of the subject been left out or removed from who he is alot like what depression can do to people.

This time i have covered the entire photograph with the gradient effect of purple and orange, however the saturation of the orange is down to make a more skin like colour. I like this effect as the purple makes the photograph look quite mysterious.

I like the feel of this refinement as the colour blue is quite icy and so gives the photograph the cold feel as the colour of the skin resembles what colour it turns when very cold. the rest of the light from the blue allows for the cold ice texture of the image to come through surrounding the subject in this frost while the rest of the surrounding is untouched.

This refinement gives the subject a sinister look with the dispersion effect cut around the edges giving a uneven edge of the circle around. This leaves it dark black which connotates fear and representing the unknown. The dark red and orange then gives the sinister look towards the photograph and the subject himself as its bright where he is allowing him to stand out but the colours are dark.

In the style of Edward Honaker i refined the original photoshoot by adding this black and white gradient over the photograph. This removed all the colour. Black and white represents the mind set of someone with depression as things are either black or white with no inbetween. The colour and so life has been removed so this connotates depression with the lack of colour and look.

Adding to my sinister refinement i added the black and white gradient around the photograph and then put the level of contrast high. This contrast faded out any texture on the skin of the subject which doesn't quite help the narrative of the photograph. But the contrast helps the eyes look very evil and so helps the photograph remain sinister with the lack of colours by making the subject very dark and having small visibility.

Evaluation:

I wanted to create the ideas of Mental Health capturing the idea of a clustered and chaotic mind by visually distorting my image with digital manipulation using dispersion effects and other techniques to constructing emotion and feeling in my photograph with a story behind my photograph.

I believed that i have achieved this with connotations of what's shown on the screen enforced by the visual elements I have shown. The dispersion effect has worked very well however i feel the outfit was wrong as the black just faded into the background and so the skin parts of the effect look strange when compared to the black spots.I believe the gradients and contrast levels have helped create a dynamic photograph and help to tell the story. I liked how this photograph was able to work with the change of background from the usual white i use. So i was pleased with that. I feel i have grown my skills as this is something new and will be evidence in my final outcome.

I could improve my work with a change of outfit this is so the dispersion effect picks up the colours more and it clearly is shown what is been placed so it doesn't blend in with the image. Another way i would like to improve it is by trying and using actual paint to splash onto the photograph having a physical presence onto the photograph.