Week 7

This lesson I finally started taking my final photos that were based on uncontrollable things. Before I started I looked at my planning and sketches so that I had a clear image of what I was going to pictures of, the only thing I hadn't prepared for was my chose of location. So to take my photos I made sure I had all my props prepared, and for my first photo I fetched a lamp to use so that I could alter the lighting easily. My first photo was about 'Addiction' and featured someone reaching out for a bottle of alcohol, I took many attempts to get the photo right, I tried over 10 angles with my character using at least 8 different positions for my photo but it took me a while to get the lighting right, eventually I figured the picture would look a lot better if the character moved his arms during the photo to give it a blurry effect and make it look more like he is desperately reaching for the bottle of alcohol. In the end I had to many shots of that one picture for me to decide which one to use, but I ended up using two for my final photos, I edited them equally though, I increased the exposure as well as the contrast and gamma correction to get more light onto the whine bottle and more shadow onto the characters face making him look dark and weak.

For my third photo and fourth photo I used the lamp again, but this time I used it as the main object in the photo. For my third photo I wanted to show 'Evil', I put a lamp into the character's face (this time I used a different model for the character to represent the evil character for my photos) and made him look into the light as if it were an orb of energy, I tried an angle that went above his head and the lamp to give his face some shadow making him look sinister and mysterious. When I edited the photo I used a black and white effect to make it look more mysterious, then i increased exposure and put more tone into the characters face by using the burn tool and the blur tool so that your focus is drawn firstly to the light at the bottom of the picture and then the light leads to the character's face, so that you can see the evil in the photo after the light. My fourth photo featured 'Power', I again used the lamp but instead of having the evil character's face in the photo I made him stand above the lamp and stretch out into a violent position with his face bent backwards so that it couldn't be seen, The photo represented Rage and Power but I still wanted the evil character's face to be unseen to give him a mysterious and almost scary persona. To make the character in the photo look powerful and angry, I used a low angle and took the photo from under the character's feet so that he seemed taller and more threatening to the audience, it also causes your eyes to follow from his legs to the top of his body so that you can see all of his body language and see the rage and power in the photo. I didn't use a black and white effect this time, instead I wanted more color and shade to make the photo seem stronger and really eye catching, but it also made it look as though there is a lot of energy surrounding the character, making him look powerful and beyond a normal human being, but it also draws your eyes away from the background and onto his arms which is where I believe the strongest part of body language is shown in the photo.

For my last four photos I wanted my evil character to show 'Crime', 'Pain', 'Violence' and finally 'Death'. So for my crime photo we searched for areas that had large amounts of graffiti, it took some time but eventually I found a wall that was almost perfect, with a large graffiti tag and a plain but dirty background. I had my character stand on the right side of the photo so that when your eyes follow the photo the first thing you see is the graffiti which is the crime, then you see the character at the end of the photo which is the criminal. I made my evil character put his hood up to hide his face slightly again whilst he faced the graffiti tags, and I stood behind him to get an over-shoulder shot to make it look as though he were admiring his work of art/crime. I used a black and white effect on the photo and make the background darker by increasing the darkness in all blue colours which made the wall darker but also made the dirt and scratches on the wall more visible, then i increased the exposure and gamma correction on all the graffiti tags to make them stand out more and look more eye catching. For my last three photos I mainly used one effect to make the photos look dark and grey by using a faded black and white effect so that they were only slightly black and white but still had small traits of color, then increased the contrast to increase the shadows and make the colors in the photo stronger but still almost grey and dark. My aim was to make the photos look dark and gloomy, but without using full on black and white because sometimes black and white takes everything away from the picture including color, but other times it makes it seem better if it's true colors are hidden. For my 'pain' photo I included my first character as well as my evil character in the photo, I used my first model to represent the 'victim' of pain, and the evil character to represent the one to cause the pain. I took the photo from an angle that was mainly from the victim's point of view to show that he was in pain and suffering. I only included the legs of the evil character, to make him seem powerful to the audience since he is bigger and still standing, almost the opposite of the victim who is in a weak stance and has fallen to the floor. I chose the angle to make your eyes follow the victims legs to his body, so that you firstly notice he is on the floor and then realize he is in pain/ almost defeated, and then you can see his opponent to the of him. I made sure the victim character faced his head downwards to hide his expression and almost look like he is cowering or to scared to face his opponent, and also because i wanted his body language to speak louder than his facial expressions. For my seventh photo I did everything the same as had been done in my sixth photo, but this time I wanted to show 'Violence' so I took the photo from the evil character's perspective to show that he was the one who had brought pain to the victim through violence. I again made sure the evil character's face was hidden to keep his mysterious and dark persona. Finally my last picture which showed 'Death', I wanted for it to link most of the pictures together and end the story. So at the start of the story my first character becomes a 'victim' of 'Addiction' and turns very weak, whereas my evil character discovers 'Evil' and gains uncontrollable 'power', then with his new evil persona he commits a 'Crime' of graffiti and then uses his new powers to inflict 'Pain' on the weaker character using violence, until he  is finally at one with 'Death',also with the bottle in his hand that caused him to become a weak victim. So basically I tried to make my two characters contrast with one another, one being evil and powerful and the other becoming a weak victim. To make the photo look better, I put water on the victim's hand and on the concrete surrounding him to make him seem more pale and as if there was blood on the concrete, it gave the picture a better effect and the reflections in the broken glass worked very well too, I tried to make the picture seem really dark by using dark colors in the photo and dead leafs surrounding the character's arm to really give an atmosphere of 'Death'. Overall I think all my pictures topics related to 'Uncontrollable' and I was proud of my editing and photography skills, but if most of my work hadn't been lost and focused on planning my photos and locations more, then perhaps I would have experienced a lot more success throughout this entire module.