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Experimental Photography

(Abbey Bays)

(Discovering different moods)

(Discovering people’s moods)

(Discovering people’s moods)

Use this slide to annotate your final image

Use this slide to annotate your final image

Use this slide to annotate your final image

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• When I was first planning my images I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do. I wanted to create a collage of things which were to do with my life which were showing different moods, but the things I had in mind weren't involving any of the techniques and all the ideas I had didn’t really fit together. So I had a think about what other techniques were going to fit with what I wanted to use and I really liked the idea of Scanography, as I really liked this technique as when I looked up images for my moodboard I found some really good ones which I thought looked really good and they were really creative.

• For my first image I thought I would represent moods with a person showing expressions but I didn’t want to just take images and then edit them – this is why I chose scanography as it makes the image look weird and ‘misshapen’ compared to if I just took them and just edited them to make them look ‘full on’. I wanted a person like I said in my images as I thought it would be a good idea to show different things that represent moods – people, objects, colours etc.

• I wanted to make the images stand out as they were quite dark when they were taken so I edited each image to make them brighter and then I made them into one image – I did need to edit them as it would look very dull otherwise and I wanted it to look kind of shocking but it turned out better than I had expected, at first though I wasn’t to sure how it would turn out using a person and if it would go ok, but after putting them all together and editing them I think they look really good together and it gives a good impression of the moods however I think I could have tried other expressions rather than just the basic ones, I could have used a different people in each image but I think mostly I should have made them bigger as they look a bit small, but I kind of like them in the strips but they need to be a little bigger to just give a better look into the expression.

• This final image does match the brief but I think there are things to be improved on like I mentioned before but overall I really do like it and I think it maybe my favourite out of all of them just because of they way its done and edited as I like the way I made it really bright it gives it a good effect.

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• For my second image I wanted to use things that represented moods – objects and colours instead of just using people. I wanted to show that colours could also represent moods bright and dull colours. To create three of the images (heart and two faces) I used coins to represent the moods as I thought it was a basic but an effective idea, also thinking outside the box moods are sometimes based around money youre happy if you have lots and depressed if you have none so that’s why I thought it may be a good idea to make the faces out of money. The rest of the images I thought it would be interesting to see how moods could be defined by colour – bright colours for happy moods and dark, dull colours for when people are depressed, I tried to use a range of different colours and thought that they came out quite well.

• I think the images turn out ok, I did put a lot of thought into them and liked using the scanography technique as I thought it was really cool, I think the things I chose to do were really random but I think the final outcome is ok but it could be improved as some of the colours are bright but you could say some look a but ‘tacky’ like the pink and green, I think in other shades they would have been better. I think the heart image is good as it is quite passive and dull and the heart just stands out – I could have put more thought into it and thought that on one side I could have put the smiley face and a brightly coloured heart which would show love and happiness and the other side would show a depressed/sad face and a dull heart which would represent breakup’s or something like that as that may have been better as I just have to random images in the middle – I like them as they are bright and showing how colours represent moods but I think the other idea would have been better, so next time I think I may do something like that.

• After scanning the three ‘coin’ images in I had to edit out the background as it had the top of the scanner on and they wouldn’t scan without the lid down so this was a problem I experienced as with the first lot of person images they didn’t come out that well as they were scanning right – so I edited the colour out and made it white and changed the colours to make them brighter and just to make them stand out. The image in the middle I just made brighter so it would stand out more and look brighter as it came out quite dark, and the final one in the bottom corner I made the hand stand out as I wanted it to look as they were ‘grabbing’ onto the emotion and blurred out the colours.

• Overall I do like the final collage but like I said I should have done the idea I mentioned as it would have looked better but I do like the way it is showing moods though objects and colours as I was just trying out different things. But I think this is most likely my least favourite just because I think the colours don’t look right together and it’s a bizzare image it also looks quite childish with the same of the images so next time ill rethink how to do it.

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• For my third image i had used to main points of things for my images – a person and objects and colours to represent moods so I thought a mask may be a good idea as some people ‘hide behind a mask’ and cover up how they are feeling – if they are depressed for example they will hide away not wanting to speak to anyone so I thought that this would be a good idea to do. I had some masks at home which I like and thought I may use as they are really detailed and I thought they would fit to the image really well. I tried out a few ways how to do it first and I was just placing it on the scanner which didn’t look to interesting and just looked very basic so I decided to move it around a bit so it would capture the movement and it did and I really liked the way that it got it, it is meant to look like a ‘swirl of emotions’ leading down to the mask which is covering them up.

• I then proceeded to edit it on photoshop as it didn’t look quite finished so I cut out one of the masks of the images that I had taken and placed two of them onto the final image I wanted and changed the opacity creating the final image, I wanted to just show the masks going down the image but I didn’t want them to stand out, this is why I changed the opacity and made them hardly noticeable and quite dull.

• I really like this final image and the message behind it as I think it does represent moods and I like the way I have edited it – I think this one and my first image are the best two – I aren't that sure about the second one as I just think its really basic and I havent put a lot of thought into that one like I have these two. I think which this one, things could be changed such as the brightness of the image could be a bit brighter so it makes it more clear or I could add in more colour to the image so it is showing a range of different colours, but I quite like it the way it is.

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Final images - Conclusion • Overall I do like my images, I think they fit which the brief and the theme of ‘Discovering different moods’ that I chose. They

are however quite different as to what I planned in the first place. At the start I planned to use things such as the ‘Harris Shutter app and the photomontage/joiners technique – I was still considering using the Scanography technique however but I did like those two and thought that they would go with what I wanted to do. But when I was experimenting I found that the ideas I had wouldn’t really work and the images I had in mind were better and the final outcome would be better with the Scanography technique, I did like photomontage technique and I had some good ideas for it but I wanted to do a mixture of images and not just one main image – I wanted to use a technique then make them into a collage (like the second image) and therefor that would be comparing the moods rather than just making one main image like I said as that wouldn’t be comparing the moods it would just be showing one image. With the Harris Shutter app technique I really liked it as like I said before I thought you could get some really good images with it – especially movement I think that would be the best way to show it as it shows it in steps and gives a really good finish to the image, but after thinking I decided that this technique wouldn’t be the best to use as it wouldn’t show the images well compared to the other techniques so that’s when I decided on Scanography.

• When I was creating the moodboards for this technique I found some amazing images and thought that technique would go really well with the theme that I was doing so that’s why I decided on the scanography technique. I wanted to show different moods and compare them with different things – people, colours and objects. I think my images have turned out well and they are better then I had first anticipated the first one I like as it’s a person showing the mood and I like the way it is edited as its really bright which makes them stand out. I arent so keen on the second image and I think that would be improve upon like I spoke about before but I like the idea I had of showing and comparing moods with colours and objects. I think the final image with the mask is my favourite I like the way it is edited and I like the way its edited with the lightning and isnt too bright as if it was bright that would show that it’s a ‘happy’ kind of image and that was not what I was going for, I wanted it dark to represent the emotion and therefor I like the way its turn out.

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Evaluate: ideas eg analysis, results; How well do you feel you have realised your ideas and intentions and what results have you got? Ensure you talk critically (compare, contrast, assess) about your work. You should reference your influences and assess how your work compares.

Qualities:Consider the aesthetic qualities of your work. How does it look? What do you like about it? What are the strongest and weakest elements from an aesthetic point of view?

Consider the technical qualities of your work? How well done is it? What elements are strongest and which could need further work and development? Be sure to use technical terms in your work such as exposure, shutter speed, aperture and talk specifically about any post-production techniques you have used.

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How could you improve your work? Could you develop your work further with additional work? What would you try to achieve with this? Could you undertake further experiments? If so, what would they be?

When talking about your work, consider formal elements such as lines, shapes and patterns as well as the colour and contrast and also tone of your image. Think about the composition of your work and where this could be developed.

Finally you should consider if the images you have produced fulfil the brief you were set. Do they match the theme? Are they experimental? Explain your answers using specific examples.