Unit 2 - Identity
Laurence Demaison
Artist Analysis
In this image I see a distressed girl almost drowning underwater. Bubbles fill the area she is gasping for breath in. The bubbles show hear breath slowing being released from her system. I would describe this photograph as eerie and distorted, the bubbles look like a gag because they are situated mainly around her mouth. The overall genre of this photo is portrait photography. The image is abstract because it is not a scene you would usually see. This photograph reminds me of swimming. It looks like the feeling when you submerge you head underwater and just float there for a little while, your hearing is impaired and you are at peace. The elements that seem most important are the bubbles and the face. Without the bubbles and ripples, it would still be interesting but having them present makes the piece more effective and abstract. Without the head, it would not be interesting in the slightest because it would just be some lone bubbles that someone has photographed. With the face, the image is given more meaning. The photographer has used low key lighting. This is how the black background was created along with a black sheet. Using low key lighting, the face is illuminated and is in contrast to the surroundings of the model in the photograph. The part that captivates me the most is the bubbles. They are
puzzling in the way they are placed as they complement the face in an interesting way. The photographer positioned the model in the centre of the image to make them the subject of the photo. They have also made the background black to highlight the face and bubbles eve more. The bubbles layered over he face has created dimension and a 3D effect. This changes our view and makes it look as if they are drowning. If I could ask the artist questions I would ask how they made the image. Did they layer the background, model and bubbles or did they take the photograph like that. If I could give this image a title, I would called it 'Bubble'. This is because along with the other photos in the gallery which are very similar to this one, they are all focused on the vibrations and movement of the water and bubbles. I think this photograph is about any kind of restraint and loss of say in a matter. It can represent speechlessness physically and metaphorically. If I were inside this photograph I would be drowning, gasping for breath. As the air in my lungs swiftly escaped bubbles would form above me swaying as I struggle to swim to the surface.In this photograph, I fell the most effective and captivating aspect of the image is the bubbles. As I have mentioned, the way they are situated is important and different in every image. I think
Photoshoot plan
another person viewing this from an new perspective would say this photo is very simplistic but meaning full. The highlights and monochrome colour amplify this.
I will have my model submerge her head underwater and blow bubbles. The bubbles will appear different in every image and this will create the effect she is drowning.
I will take the photos in my bathtub using the white base of the tub as the background.
I will capture the photos froma birds eye view. I will stand over my model as she lays in the bathtub to get a shot of just the face and neck of the figure.
I am inspired by the portrait photographer Laurence Demaison. I will be replicating his images with accuracy.
I will use natural lighting but if needed, a warm artificial light from my bathroom ceiling. I will aim to have little glare on the water from the light but there is little I can do to prevent that
My model will have the hardest job as she has to keep her head straight while being underwater. Another challenge is making sure there is no glare on the water
My model will have her head straight and eyes closed. In some however, she will have her eyes open to create a more striking affect on the viewer.
I think the shoot was overall good. Some of the photos were blurry and off center but most of them were well composed and clear.
Contact sheets
For my first shoot for Laurence Demaison, I decided to take some underwater images, like he did. For my image I submerged my models head and my own underwater and created bubbles on the surface of the water. This created the effect she was drowning under the water. I made the bubbles by blowing when I was underwater and splashing the water also created this effect. My intentions for his shoot were to replicate Laurence Demaison's photographs with accuracy and create the effect of drowning. One thing that went well with this shoot is that all the photos were different. The bubbles came out well and unique to each other which made every image different and a possible development. That is one thing I like about this particular shoot, there is a possibility for more developments than other shoots. One thing that did not go well was going under water. This was the highest struggle of the shoot. getting my face at a 18o degree angle was extremely difficult as every time we tried, water would go up our noses. On the upside, this did create more bubbles. Another struggle of the shoot, linking to this one, was the amount of time we could stay underwater. we could only stay submerged for about 6 second maximum before we emerged with loss of breath. It is not that we could not hold our noses, but that water was slowly trickling up them. This shoot was very fun and educational to take as it took a lot of experimentation, failing and eventually succeeding. I am overall happy as to how these images resulted and the bubbles and water movements turned out exactly how I wanted them.
Developments
I have taken a photoshoot inspired by the photographer Laurence Demaison who took underwater images focusing on the bubbles on the surface. I edited this by mainly blacking out the background. I drew with the burn tool to darken the backdrop and make it look significantly more like the photographers work. This was a tiring process because I had to make sure not to burn too much of the face. First, I put the tool on low exposure This made it so the tool did not destroy the lighter areas too much and took a couple appliances to make a fully black image. In some areas not close to the facial or bubble area, I used the tool on full exposure to make the process faster and less tiresome. After this, I applied to brightness and contrast application to enhance the shadows in my pieces. In this series, I love the shapes of the bubbles and ripples of the water. This is my favorite aspect of the work and I feel that without it there would be no purpose or center to the photos. To improve my work, I could make the background black in real life to make the editing process a bit smoother and faster to do. The aspects of these series I really do not like are the compositions used and the background. I think the doing the same thing in every photo was quite boring so next time I will try and take more of a variety of photos.
Further Developments
Liquify
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Curve & Colour Look-up
Mirroring
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To further develop my work, I used three different techniques. This included liquify, mirroring and curve. I think the most successful technique of the few was liquify because it was expanding on not only the image itself but the distortion that the bubbles create over the figure. The liquify creates another for of distortion. To do this, I pressed liquify and then drew with the circle provided. I had the point at large so that it would be easier to distort larger portions of the image. The second most successful technique was mirroring because this was also an element of Laurence Demaison's work as the symmetricalness of the faces in his work are very impactful. To mirror my images, first I had to select and copy the side of the image I wanted to mirror. I then pasted it and dragged it onto the other side. If needed, I reversed it with the transform tool to add the finishing touches. The least successful set of developments were the curve and colour lookup ones. This is because the idea of colour does not really connect to Laurence Demaisons work. I like that in the liquify series, it looks like her cheeks are letting in water by enlarging that part of the face. Next time I further develop my work, I could use composition as it would add more impact to my work.
Redraft
Contact Sheets
In my opinion, this photoshoot concluded in a better result than my fist one. What I did differently this time was dye the bath water black. This will make it easier to edit as I will not have to burn the entire background black from white. To dye the water, I experimented using black food coloring and art charcoal. To be safe, I first used a white ceramic mug with warm water in it to test whether the dye would stain or not. As a result, I used food coloring initially but then used a charcoal stick to intensify the colour and darkness of the water. This worked extremely well and did not stain the bath or the model. However, I did have to repeatedly scrape matter off the sides of the bath to be safe from any chances of it staining. Once the water was a suitable temperature and colour. My model lay flat in the bathtub while I stood over her to take a birds eye view picture of her face. To create the bubbles on the water, my model had to submerge her face and then blew from the beneath the surface. I also decided to take some photos where her face was just above the water and she could be able to breath. And during this experimentation, I also decided to write the words help me on her forehead and cheeks to add to to the topic of Identity and being trapped just below the surface; like being trapped in your own skin.
The successful elements of the shoot as definitely the emotion behind them. My models yes and facial expressions I feel were very good and portrayed a melancholic effect. I also love the meaning behind it. Being trapped. Not knowing who you are. Forced to live in a body that is not you. Feeling isolated. It is fascinating.
Redraft Developments
This photoshoot is much better than my first one for Laurence Demaison. One of the main reasons is because I used a black background because with my first shoot, I had to slowly burn out every inch of the white background with the burn tool. Therefore, by eliminating that process the image was much clearer and cleaner. To edit, I drew with the burn tool to cover any blemishes and increased the contrast and brightness to enhance the natural features of the photos. This made the faces stand out from the background and make the bubbles more recognizable. I feel that my work looks quite similar to hid work because of the depiction of bubbles above the water. My favorite aspect is probably the facial expressions my model makes. Her expressiveness and character is mainly shown through her face. I think my images also relate to some of Laurence Demaison's other work such as the image to the right. This is because pf many reasons. The black and white is a large factor but also they look like they could have been taken underwater. The distortment in his work looks like waves and ripples replicating the way water would look. To improve the work, I could probably move the water more or overlay ripples onto my work.
Further Developments
Liquify
Curve & Colour Look-up
Mirroring
Double Exposure
To further develop my work, I used a variety of editing techniques using photoshop. This includes double exposure, mirroring, curve and liquify. I think the most successful technique was probably liquify because it helped the aspect of distortment under the water. To do this, I selected filter ten liquify on photoshop. I then dragged the face with the cursor and made sure the size was high enough to make it look natural. In the end I they look very good and I love all the different interpretations of contortion. The second most successful developing technique was double exposure. The impact emitting from them is immense as they are so different from any and all of the other developments. The one I like the most is probably the bottom left one. This is because the additional black in the image adds to the negative space in the image and makes it look more surreal than it already is.