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Evaluation

Me and My Shadow
In the style of Rosie Hardy

Record

Production

Photo-shoot Title:
"Me And My Shadow"


Photo-Shoot Concept & Aim:

The aim of this photo-shoot is to create a visual representation of someone who suffers from Social Anxiety. The Shadows will represent social pressures, society and people picking on or bullying the subject. 

Date & Timing:
This photo-shoot will take place on the 10th September 2017 at 7pm. This time allows the sun to be nearly gone and allow the room to be dark. This will help create the shadow effect i would like for my photograph.

Location:

This will take place in East Herrington with in a bed room. I will need no permission. This location will be seen from a medium shot on the subject as i must include their body and head. The camera will be positioned eye level with the subject yet far enough back to allow them to be seen with the majority of their body.

Props:
Props that i have decided to use is A chair for the subject the stand on. Possible costume choices such as clown hair ( or a wig ) to represent abnormality.

Models:
To keep within the theme and style of Self Portrait photography I will be my own model this also goes with the audience in which i wish to attract showing males can have mental disorders.

Team:

There is no team needed as i will be working alone for this shoot. I have a tripod to stand the camera on and I shall set a timer for the camera to capture the photographs. Everything before will be set up my me and post production work will continue to be done by me, of course because this is my personal project.

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. Additional lighting was used with a studio light facing the model or pointing away to create dark shadows. The ISO settings will be set to  ISO-200 while the shutter Shutter Speed will be set on 1/500seconds and an Aperture of  f/4.5.

Desired Shots:

My desired shot is the subject to be standing alone against a while wall looking as tormented and broken as physically possible with a black bubble above his head to show the mouths of him and others which will represent the symptoms of this Disorder. The photograph will be converted into black and white with sections altered with different contrast levels to make the photograph dramatic. 

 

Reference Images: 

Photographs

Product

Refinement

Photo-shoot Two

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Shadow 1
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Social Anxiety
Social Anxiety Disorder

The genre of this photograph is Digital Manipulation. The Shutter speed i selected for this work was 1/500 seconds. The aperture was F/4.5 while the ISO was set to ISO-200. This was to help me get the best possible photograph for this photoshoot. Visual Elements are used throughout work. My use of Line has been shown with the wavy lines from the background this is to represent static from an old TV this communicates the idea of confusion towards the audience representing similar confusions faces with Social Anxiety and the confusion of peoples actual thoughts on you.
Shape is present in this photograph with the edges defined within the piece shown on the multiple shapes constructed with the shadow. 
Form can be seen with the three dimensional quality of the subject standing in the frame, The width, length and height are all present on the subject. The position of the subject creates this with hs legs and arms. His legs stretch out closer to the camera with the bends on the knees and his position to show the dimensions. His arms folded over each other create the 3Dimensional look.
The colour has been used by converting the wall to grey instead of the yellowed brown it appeared ( it was originally a white wall ) colour was also used to darken the shadows so they appear more menacing and are able to be seen more clearly. The only colour is placed on the subject.
Space is present in this photograph with subject being small and positioned in the corner this allows the surroundings and background to take up more of the photograph than the subject but the shadows have been sized to be bigger than the subject reach out and over the photograph allowing for minimum space.
Texture can be seen with the surface of the subjects hands with the bones and meta-carpels showing to show pain and tension on the subject. 
The visual element of pattern is used with the pattern and repetition of the static lines from the background.

Composition is used in within my photograph as vantage points can be seen as the perspective view point from low level shot to look up at the subject. This is a medium close up of my subject. Framing has been used with in my piece as i have positioned the framing so the subject is in the bottom right corner. It wasn't cropped but the canvas size was scaled to have a bigger aspect ratio so that the clouds could be added into the frame.
I have applied the rules of thirds as the subject rests on the right vertical line.  If the main visual components (things in the image) lie on or near the lines then the image often tends to look 'right'.
The use of the rules of odds and evens is debatable as there is an odd number of arms which according to the rule gives the feeling of balance, yet the nature of the arms contradicts this as it communicates the ideas of abuse, fear, and aggression.
The rule of triangles has been used with triangles present in the folds of the subjects arms and the finger space between the fingers of the shadows. This creates a solid composition.
The use of space is is used to make the photograph more dynamic, The subject has been trapped in the corner giving the photograph a large area left but this is then is used up by black shadows. 
Symmetry was not used in this photograph to convey a more clustered message.
Repetition and pattern can be seen used in this photoshoot as the patterns of the black static background through the photograph while repetition of the shadows can be seen on the black background.
Simplification was essential for this piece, the subject had to be surrounded by nothing to be completely alone for the arms to attack him for  this photograph to work. 

The narrative of this piece is to communicate ideas of bullying leading to a Social Anxiety Disorder. We see the subject fear away at judgement of others, whether it be friends, family, random strangers in society, the shadows of the hands represent the views of others. It is part of the subjects shadows because it is the darkness that lurks within his own mind believing these people look down and mock them.

What i wanted from the shoot:
I wanted to represent social anxiety disorder and show connotations of bullying within my work. With shadows of arms and hands closing in on my subject.
Did I achieve this?
I believe i achieved this message through the subjects body movement and facial expression. The simplistic background helps to focus the attention onto the subject. 
How can I Improve Further?
Props could be used to improve my work. The list of props im going to use is baggy and oversized clothing with clown wig and other 'fancy dress' items of clothing that arnt socially acceptable or considered social norm. These will be appropriate for my work so allow the subject to stand out more. This allows us to see clearly that his mind is not like the average mind.

I do like the pose of the subject and i can experiment with different positions and tension in the facial features and the arms.
Lighting must be improved drastically. Clear lighting must be used to be able to successful capture the shadows 
The shadows have not worked as well as i had hoped and it was as struggle to cut them out of their original photographs. The issue would be because the light was far behind the camera and my hand was far away from the light this could of possibly made the shadows to smooth which would of been the reason why it was hard to select on Photoshop to drag it out. I need a harder light with my hands closer to the light with the bulb closer to the wall this will help me.

Refinement (3)
Refinement (2)
Refinement (1)
Refinement (4)
Refinement (5)
Refinement (7)
Refinement (6)
Refinement (12)
Refinement (11)
Refinement (10)
Refinement (9)
Refinement (8)
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Evaluation

This refinement was created as the original photograph was taken with my old camera and dimensions are around the hundreds to 1000 while the new photoshoot using the new camera and equipment has aloud for a better higher quality photograph that dimensions reach 5000. This is to help incase i want to develop this specific photoshoot further with my final outcome. 

Follow Up Progress

This will follow up in my next photoshoot with help in blending photographs together, selecting the subject out and distorting the environment.

I wanted the background to appear wooden, instead of a blank wall i wanted some other form of simplification and i wanted to experiment with wood. However it just didnt work well with the shadows

© 2018 by Jay Collins Personal Creative Enquiry. Mental Health. Made in Saint Robert Of Newminster. Proudly created with Wix.com

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