Shoot 2 Work Record

SHOOT 2

PLANS FOR SHOOT: This shoot will take place 8/03/18. This shoot will be based on framing devices, I will be shooting using a CD case to frame my images. Within these CD cases I will be recreating existing album art. I will be super imposing one image on top of another via physical experimentations. 

RESEARCH INFLUENCE: I have been influenced by the work of Ben Heine and his 'Pencil Vs Camera' Series. This will impact my work during the editing stage as I will be drawing on top of my images. His manipulation with drawing usually was within an outside space, however I will be shooting from within an studio. 

CONTACT SHEET

EVALUATION

I believe that I have achieved what I set out gain from this shoot. I like the obvious nature of the CD case and how the framing is something that can be easily distinguished. If I were to take this further i would experiment more with abstract album art by using gels and different lighting to recreate the covers in my own way. 

MY BEST IMAGES

Here are a selection of my best images. Below each one is a smaller image illustrating the art I was trying to mimic. 

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My initial idea when shooting was to fit my image within the whole CD frame but this soon diminished when I shot the first image. This is because I saw the photo as more interesting when the CD case was at different angles, as it made the framing obvious and, like when Leiter framed his images,  it helped draw focus to the main image, adding to the photo rather than retracting from it. Knowing that my intention was to draw on my images after they were taken, I focused more on the lighting and positioning my models in a similar stances, rather than creating a perfectly accurate take on the album art. I did encounter some issue with my tripod and the framing as it was difficult to get the right extended height to get what I needed to be in frame. From my first shoot I have taken forward the ideas of using CD cases which I discussed at the end of my last work record. In terms of the decision behind choosing what album I was going to recreate, I was first inspired by Jamie Hewlett's work on the Gorillaz and with the band members being virtual and therefore cartoons, it linked nicely with my idea of drawing on my images. This then ultimately lead me down the path of recreating album art that is iconic and popular and when you look at it you instantly recognise what it is. 

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

When in the studio I shot with a CANON 1300D using an ISO of 200 an aperture of 8 and a shutter speed of 1/125. These setting weren't chosen randomly, I used a light meter which measures the light from the flash of the soft boxes to give me the measurements for my camera settings. The soft boxes are a piece of electrical equipment that is designed in a way that it transmits a even and diffused ray of light. The even light tones was helpful as the images on the album art look almost like a fashion shoot. 

Above is the studio set up I used for the majority of the shoot, with the soft boxes angled in at my model and with reflectors in the back to ensure that the light is reflected back on my subject 

Here are my initial drawings on images: 

This image was initially going to be printed in colour but I after some evaluation, I believed it was best to do some draft sketches to see whether my initial technique of drawing straight on to my image was the best idea. I didn't like how the images looked like they were more in the style of John Balderssari when he used the dots on peoples faces than it did my photographers influence, Ben Heine. 

Instead of packing in my initial technique, I continued on to see if it was just that I had not executed the sketch properly. Again I printed in black and white to establish that this was a draft and I really liked the outcome of these images, I felt like the sketch really merged the virtual and the physical world as can be seen in Ben Heine's work. However, before I became completely decided on the technique of my sketching, I decided it was best to take one into colour. 

 When I had the idea for recreating album art I was going to use my skills in photoshop to select certain parts of the album art and place them within my image. However, the idea of physical experimentation really appealed to me and when searching through Pinterest, I was really attracted to Heine's work and how he uses drawing to manipulate the physical environment, without having to make any actual changes to the landscape that he was shooting in. I had issues when trying to bringing my initial experimentation into colour, as the ink from the colour printer hindered my ability to use my pens to sketch on the image. As you can see from above, you can see the pen strokes and that gave the sketch an ugly look and was nothing like what I wished to create.

On the whole I wasn't pleased on how my test shoot had come out. When I scanned the images back into the computer it gave them a really grainy look and really tarnished my images. As well as that I was happy with the style of my images either as I did not feel like they reflected my photographers influences. This led me on to do a second shoot. 

Below are some rough depictions of the setting and materials I was looking to use during my shoot as well as diagram to illustrate the positioning of my models, which gave them something to work off as well. 

EDIT 1

This is the Final outcome of my first edit. Here I have mixed my physical and computer editing processes to reproduce the Fleetwood Mac 'Rumours' album art (as seen below). 

When I viewed the image the first time I saw that the models and the backdrop were of a different shade. This lead me to use the magnetic lasso tool to cut out the part of the image I needed and separate them into different layers. From here I applied a black and white filter as well as a curve adjustment. This allowed me to adjust the lighting on my models where I thought either the image was a bit over exposed or too dark. I then merged the those two layers down so they were only applied to the layer I had cut out. 

After adjusting the curves on my layers, I decided to adjust the colour balance on the black and white filter. This allowed me to create a lighter black and white tone, so that it reflected the album art accurately. 

Finally I applied a tint to the black and white layer over my backdrop so  that the same yellowish tint could be seen. I used the sample tool to sample the colour from the real image to use in my own. On the whole I am pleased with the outcome as the computer editing really helps show off the drawing like what is seen in Heine's images. It really balances the 'virtual' elements with that of the 'real' ones so the you can distinguish between the two with out it feeling out of place. This was something that I saw within Heine's images and it really intrigued me so I wanted to do it justice by reproducing it properly. 

EDIT 2

This is the final production of Gorillaz 'Do Ya Thing' album art (as seen below). For this image because of the simple nature of the album art there was not much editing that could be done to this photo. However, because when I scanned the image I drew on through it came out grainy, I decided to cut out the drawing of the image and paste it onto the image I used to shoot. 

EDIT 3

This the final product of Queen's 'Queen II' album art (as seen below). As with the edit above there was not much I could do to this image, so as before I cut out the drawings from the scans and pasted them onto the shoot image. However, where I had not position my lighting properly for the photo, so when I do shoot 3, I will reshoot this image as well. 

EDIT 4

This is the final outcome for The Cars 'Candy-O' as seen below. 

One of the first things I noticed when I saw the album art was that the images exposure levels were very high, so to recreate this look the first step I took was to adjust the levels. By toggling the grey output levels I could increase the exposure of the image. What I noticed from this was that the teared edges of the paper were really visible. This was an element that I had reproduced throughout all my images which helped give continuity. It also made it look like a section of the image had been torn off and underneath was this drawing. 

The adjustment of levels was again used to control the exposure of my image so that it fits with that of the album art. The levels gave the image a more white, brighter look and brought out some of the marks on the CD case obscuring my image slightly. I like the added medium this gave to my image, as this textured look was something featured in Leiter's work. 

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

Looking at both Leiter's and Heine's work influenced my shoot as they both showed me how I can use different mediums to produce my final outcomes. Saul Leiter influenced the way I framed my images as he was using doorways and window frames, that were usually out of focus, to draw more attention to his main image. Heine's drawing and physical manipulation intrigued me and led me to emulate his work in my final products. The way Heine merges the photography and drawing without creating too much contrast was something that I thought I brought across well into my work. Perhaps the method I used in scanning to bring across my drawings, meant that they lost some quality but on the whole I don't think this retracts from my images. 

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

I believe that on the whole I have produced a strong series of images that reflects well my intentions and influences. As a response to Ben Heine's work I believe that I emulated his style very well and as a piece of experimentation I feel as if I have developed and honed in on my more conventional artistic skills.

Progression: you must refer to what you will do next to improve on either the shoot you have done or how you will develop your project in the next shoot.  

 To take this further forward I may try to use drawing and painting programmes on iPads and computers to experiment further with different techniques and practises. I will also be recreating my images straight on to CDs and records. From my previous shoot I have been influenced by  the idea I had of using the CD hole to frame my images, but instead this time I used the CD cases to frame my images.