EXAM

Exam: Writing

I am going to conduct two shoots on writing combined with portraiture, with inspiration taken from Nancy Hellebrand, Kelly Maker and Martin Schoeller.

Research Influences:

Nancy Hellebrand:

Nancy Hellebrand was inspired to start photography by a sense of social justice. Over time, her works have become more abstract and less content-based, but still are driven by human beauty. Her works have been in many museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Tate Gallery in London.

Hellebrand has a series of photos called "Handwriting", which is what I am exploring. She was inspired to start the series when she received many condolence letters when her father died. As she experienced the different variations of handwriting, she realised that handwriting expresses more about the writer than their message. That eliminated the need to work with content loaded material and so she widened her artistic eye. Hellebrand experimented with putting the writing sideways or upside down because if the writing didn’t need to be legible then any angle can be powerful.

This series heavily focuses on the curvature and structure of the writing rather than what the wrihting is saying, because as Hellebrand has stated, "the handwriting says more about the writer than their message". Having the writing at an angle that is unreadable to the eye focuses more attention on the definition of the ink.There is a lot of negative space in Hellebrand's frame as her style is more abstract, so things are supposed to look slightly out of place and isolated. The contrast between the black ink and the white ink makes these images seem more powerful and they have a higher impact on the eye. These images hold very personal and individual tones, creating an intimate feel in the pictures. 

Martin Schoeller:

Martin Schoeller is an award winning photographer who is best known for his close - up portraits of celebrities. He was inspired to become a photographer by August Sander's portraits of the poor and the bourgeoisie. This could explain why he photographs celebrities in a non-specific way, giving the same treatment to both. Schoeller's close up portraits emphasise facial features (studied and unstudied) of his subjects. Schoeller worked as an assistant to Annie Leibovitz from 1993 to 1996, he then advanced as a freelance photographer where he would produce portraits of people that he saw on the street. His work got recognised in 1998 in The Rolling Stone and then he started working alongside  another photographer in 1999. 

The reason I am inspired by his close-us is because the models are expressionless, which isn't usually the case.A photo that is this close and with no expression is usually unsettling, however these do not have a scary feel to them, just a blank canvas to work with. Schoeller also leaves some negative space around his subject in order to draw the eye in and keep the viewer from being distracted. In comparison to Hellebrand's work, the colours in these pictures are very vital to drawing the attention in. Particular points such as the lips or eyes are very bright, causing the viewer to be drawn in. I was additionally interested in these works as there are many creative ways to incorporate the theme of Writing.

        

                       

 

Kelly Maker:

Kelly Maker is a digital artist and photographer known mostly for her collage style art using papers, glitters and florals. Maker started making art at 19 years old in Australia by teaching herself how to digitally manipulate her images. From that point her passion grew to editing other photos by professionals and shots of models creating "paper edits". Her edits took the media by storm and were shared by some of the biggest names in the industry. She quickly moved on to shooting her own imagery alongside her custom work, demonstrating her creative flair. 

I intend to recreate works similar to Kelly Maker's, but including the portrait aspect of Schoeller's work and the handwriting from Hellebrand's work.The background which is book pages in Kelly Maker's works should be personal handwritten notes by the model who I have photographed. I think this is a creative idea as it combines two completely different types of photography and can have many different deeper meaning. To create these "paper edits" I will edit my pictures on Photoshop and then physically print them out and chop them to layer in place. I would change my edits into black and white which contrasts with Kelly's most popular series, however i think it highlights the theme of writing more if the image is in black and white, because bold colours could overpower the writing. 

Shoot 1: 

Contact Sheet:

Best Images (Straight Images):

To capture these images I used a Canon EOS camera. The camera settings for these was 1/250" and an aperture of f//8. Because of the use of natural lighting, some of the pictures required different settings such as apertures of f//11. Some of the images were taken using a tripod, but the very close ones were taken by holding the camera. 

This photo could be edited in a way that focuses on the eyes and leaves the rest of the portrait untouched. The gloomy mood in this photo will be changed when editing, as I want to make some black and white edits. This photo has a good focus on the eyes and an interesting composition and so could potentially be used for a final edit. 

This picture would be useful to cut out the eyes. Once this image is is black and white, there will be a strong definition to where the eye shape should be cut, therefore framing a place to cut and replace with handwriting. The depth in this photo makes it interesting as the trees in the background are out of focus whilst the models face and eyes are very focused.

This photo is slightly different to the rest, as there is a lot more negative space behind and around the subject. This adds some variation to the edits as all of them have been very close. The lighting is good in this photo as it highlights the subject and defines the lines of her silhouette, making it clear to see where to collage.

This photo would work with cutting around the shape of the whole face. This idea was in a previous image bank in my preparatory shoots and it was something I wanted to experiment with. The lighting and composition of this image have turned out really well, a personal feel is created within this photograph and with the correct editing, this could be a good final edit. 

I believe that the photos I have chosen to use are successful from my shoot and reflect the style I wanted to capture.

Editing Plans:

For this shoot, I intend to create two black and white edits and two colour edits. I would like to focus on individual aspects in some of the edits and in others I want to collage the whole face. I will create these by asking my subject to hand write some notes and then scanning them in. I will then edit them to be heavily contrasted, as this is what Nancy Hellebrand's style reflected. Next, I will edit my images from the shoot. The ones that will be black and white will be heavily contrasted to have a more moody feel, the ones that will be in colour will be kept soft due to bold colours overpowering the writing. I will then chose which part of the text I want to show through the space. Lastly, I will edit the layers together on Photoshop.

Editing Process:

All of my edits underwent the same editing process, the only difference being if they were colour or black and white. Below is the process the images went through to achieve my final edits.

Firstly, I used the Spot Healing brush tool in order to clean up the image. I removed things such as smudged makeup or spots. 

Next, I converted the image to black and white and adjusted the colours to create definition and contrast. The yellows and red were made darker to create a dramatic effect, whilst the greens and blues were made lighter to create highlights.

I then slightly increased the contrast and brightness. For the black and white edits I wanted a moody and dramatic effect to be reflected and therefore wanted to create a contrast between the lighter greys and darker blacks.

Lastly, to add more dimension and definition, I adjusted the exposure slightly.

I then began to edit the coloured images.

I began to edit these photos by cropping to the desired size. There was too much background space in the original version to I decided to crop it to a square. 

After that, I very slightly increased the brightness and contrast to make the colours more radiant and to make the image more light and feel less dense.

Next, I changed the exposure as the exposure on my camera picked up a little bit too much light and made the image look too white.

I lastly just made the image a small amount more vibrant in order to really establish a difference in the mood reflected by the black and white images compared to the colour images.

The last step in my editing process was to edit the handwriting images, erase the parts of the portrait photographs where I wanted to writing to be visible and then layer the images.

To begin this part of the process, I cropped the handwriting image to the useful parts where it would be 100% writing and no background space.

I then edited the photo into black and white, to eliminate any colours that may be in the paper or ink, and to make it easier to contrast the white and black, as Hellebrand does.

Next, I increased the brightness slightly and increased the contrast all the way. This enables my handwriting pictures to look contrasted as Hellebrand's do.

Then, I opened the portrait I wanted to layer and drew with the white brush tool where I wanted to erase and have the writing come through. When this was done, I used the moving tool to transfer the portrait on top of the writing and lines up where the writing would come through.

Lastly, I began to erase the white eye areas and adjusted the background layer as needed. This gives the effect that the model has, and is crying, writing rather than eyes with tears. 

Overall, I think that this editing process has enabled me to create the type of image the reflects my ideas and research.

Final Edits From This Shoot:

Final Evaluation:

In conclusion, I think that this shoot was highly successful. My preparatory shoots have allowed my work to develop over the last few weeks and led me to the style of photography that I feel I can succeed in. I feel that my final edits relate strongly to the research carried out, showing the handwriting style from Nancy Hellebrand, the close up portraiture shots by Martin Schoeller, and Kelly Maker's collage style, combining the other two styles. By reviewing my previous shoots, this one shows substantial progress in my photography skills. This experimental type of editing has allowed me to try out new things on Photoshop, creating an opportunity for me to develop my skills. I think that these edits show how i have been reflecting on and refining my work from previous shoots.

The idea behind this series of photographs is to represent that people can have so much that they feel inside but hold it in for reasons regrading feeling insecure, judged or vulnerable. The edit where there are tears is intended to be the last of the series, where the subject has reached capacity, and everyhting is spilling out, which non-metaphorically could be seen as an emotional breakdown after having intense emotions for a long time. On the other hand, the edits where the writing has "masked" the face could be interpreted as the model feeling defined by her feelings and thoughts, as if all she can see in herself is her emotions.

I believe that this is quite a personalised and unique photographic style that shows originality of ideas as well as it reflecting a combination of various different photographers works.

Shoot 2:

Contact Sheet:

Best Images (Straight Images):

To take these pictures I used a Canon EOS camera. Some of the pictures were taken whilst using a tripod to get them straight and still, but other were taken free-hand. The aperture for these images was in between F//8-F//11 most of the time and the shutter speed at 1/250". This created the right amount of light in my frame and produced well-focused images.

This image is a good option to take further to editing as the positioning of the model is interesting, and will draw attention to the subject rather than drawing the eye to the writing.

I like this image from my shoot because of the gloomy mood that the lighting suggests. Most of the other images are quite light, and this one adds some variation to the collection. 

Again, the obscure positioning of the subject in this image draws more attention and brings the eye to the subject rather than reading the words around them, as Hellebrand didn't intend for her works to be read as words, just interpreted as shapes and curves.

The angle that this shot was taken makes this one suitable for editing. This was taken from a low angle, feeling more personal and intimate with the subject.

For these images, I want a final image of the subject being surrounded by words. I will crop the model out from the image and place her inside a picture of writing. Then I will adjust the colours in both of the images and finally create shadows using the brush tool, to give the image more dimension and depth.

Editing Process:

Using the quick selection tool, I copied out the subject from the image.

I then prepared my handwriting photograph by cropping it to the appropriate size for the subject.

Adjusting the brightness and contrast allowed me to have the definition between the black ink and the white paper, seen in Hellebrand's works.

Increasing the gamma correction emphasises the contrast between the black and white.

Next, I changed the picture into black and white in order to cancel any coloured undertones in the image.

Then, I pasted my model onto the background image.

Lastly,I created shadows using the brush tool.

Final Images:

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Overall Analysis:

Overall, I believe that this shoot proposes a good range of skills used for editing and shooting, as well as different meanings and interpretations. This shoot demonstrates how i have learned and improved from my preparatory shoots and this is the product of many of those ideas combined. The theme of isolation and lonesomeness reflects in these edits. The positioning of the subject in each edit is varying, drawing the eye to the model rather than the writing around, as Nancy Hellebrand's intentions were not to draw viewers into what her handwriting pieces say but what the image means or radiates. As a final conclusion, I would say that this shoot is of high quality and relates to research carries out prior to the shoot.