FACE MASH
EQUIPMENT
Models (Shannon, Harry, Katie and Shannon)
Tripod
Nikon D3200 DSLR
Studio Lighting (4 spotlights)
White Backdrop
METHODOLOGY
The set-up for this shoot was a white sheet backdrop, with two spotlights shining towards it, whilst the remaining two were reflected off the ceiling. I placed a stool close to the backdrop but in front of the back row of lights for my model to sit on, by doing this I was able to control the distance between the position of the camera and the model. At first I found that there were still some remaining shadows on the faces of my models; I used a fold-up reflector held below the face to reduce the appearance of these shadows, primarily either side of their noses and on their chins.
Next, I instructed five different models to maintain an emotionless, straight-faced expression whilst staring directly at the camera, I did this so that it would be easier to align the different segments of various people's faces. I made sure that any hair was not obscuring the facial features so that the whole face was visible.
Once I had uploaded all of the photos, I had to delete the weaker images, I removed the photographs in which the reflector hadn't made enough of an impact and so the image appeared too dark or where the photo was not sufficiently focused. With the remaining images, I used photoshop curves to brighten them, I then used the spot heal tool to correct any prominent marks on the surface of the skin. Finally, I took sections of each portrait and combined them to make different combinations of facial features, my favourite combination featured one image made up of four different quarters. However, at this point, I noticed that the images looked odd together because each face had a different hue sand vibrancy, to overcome this, I used a black and white filter on the whole picture.
Despite the fact that I faced challenges to align the facial features, for example the ears, I think that the finished result worked well and I believe that it links with my theme of 'Out of the Ordinary'' in that the final result seems alien because I have used a mixture of male and female faces, thus, the gender of the new creation is unidentifiable.
Afterwards, I decided to focus directly on single portraits by overlaying an image of Shannon with a flower image that I took at Shawn Woods. I liked the contrast between the chiaroscuro, black and white background, along with the deep purple petals. At the centre of the flower, I noticed that there were vine-like strands that were readiating from the centre and my aim was to overlay the images so that the strands radiated from the eye of the model. In order to achieve this, I ............
PLANNING