Rankin: Destroy
In the photo below I manipulated a picture of Donald Trump in order to represent his personality. I used the censor bar over the eyes to show that he's manipulative and could be not who some people perceive him to be and the American flag is supposed to be ironic and represent how he's a false representation of the population of USA. I think to improve it I would either use photoshop rather than the traditional arts such as collage and drawing and I would also add something more to represent another one of his characteristics (as I only did two).
After this, I tried the same thing but with a photo of myself.
Double exposure
Christoffer Relander
We've studied some of Christoffer Relander's work and have recreated it. In his "We Are Nature" series, Christoffer uses the double exposure technique to show the person almost merging with nature.
Christoffer Relander creates surreal portraits. He does this by editing together a portrait and a image of nature using multiple exposure. I believe he wanted to show us the relationship between man and nature. The way he merges the pictures make us feel that people, even in this urbanized era, are connected and at one with nature.
Relander is not considering any specific individual in this piece of work. This is shown by how each subject is different from one an other. A lot of the individuals are of a different age, gender and race to each other. Also, all of the subjects are kept hidden by nature, making them anonymous and making it difficult for the observer to see many distinguishable features on the person. By keeping the identies of the models anonymous, it allows the viewer to develop their own opinion.
Relander has used multiple exposure in creating this work. This helps create a merged effect with the model and the background. This further helps support Relander's point about anonymity.
Relander is not considering any specific individual in this piece of work. This is shown by how each subject is different from one an other. A lot of the individuals are of a different age, gender and race to each other. Also, all of the subjects are kept hidden by nature, making them anonymous and making it difficult for the observer to see many distinguishable features on the person. By keeping the identies of the models anonymous, it allows the viewer to develop their own opinion.
Relander has used multiple exposure in creating this work. This helps create a merged effect with the model and the background. This further helps support Relander's point about anonymity.
Double exposure is when you have a silhouette of a person in front of another photo. This can be used to show the person's connection with the background. For example, putting someone in front of a city landscape could show the persons loss of individuality with the city and the people in it.
My Photoshop layers:
Top layer is on the blending option of 'lighten'. Lighten: 'If the pixels of the selected layer are lighter than the ones on the layers below, they are kept in the image. If the pixels in the layer are darker, they are replaced with the pixels on the layers below.' Second layer is the subject with a white mask around the head/shoulders. Third layer is the normal landscape with the opacity lowered to make the background a light version of the landscape. Bottom layer is just a white. |
I think I successfully merged people and the city environment but to do better I think I could use better background photos.
Herbert bayer - Lonely metropolitan
In this picture there are two arms with the palms facing up. In each palm there's an eye collaged on top. In the background, there are dark, cramped looking building with no visible exit. The two eyes belong to two different people and the arms seem detached towards the wrist.
The photographer intended to represent claustrophobia in his picture. He did this by using a background of cramped buildings. These buildings and the darkness of the background convey feeling of claustrophobia and also the two different eyes make us feel that the feeling is collective and shared with all of Berlin. Furthermore, in the background there's no sign of an exit or the sky, making us feel that there's no escape from the city or the feeling of detachment or claustrophobia. Bayer is trying to represent the surrealist movements and express his subconscious. He used surrealism to represent his emotions and the emotions of the city within a photo. The surrealism gives an impression of his subconscious and Bayer made the photo seem as if it was from subconscious thought or a dream. The photographer has used collage in creating this work. He uses collage to help present the surrealism of the picture as this would be impossible to create in real life. The surrealism could further emphasise the detachment as it could show how people are unconnected to their subconscious and with reality. |
geometric portrait
Gordon Magnin
Gordon Magnin creates distorted geometric portraits. We studied and recreated some of his work in order to better understand the effect and reasoning behind his photography.
Gordon Magnin creates distorted geometrical portraits. He does this by taking part of an image and repeating it inside a geometrical shape (such as a hexagon or a triangle). He wanted us to consider how people passively categorize pictures objects and images. In this series the photographer attempts to get the observer to re-evaluate something they already knew, rather than overlooking it.
Gordon Magnin is considering free association in this piece of work. This is shown how there's a portrait which would be considered normal, but it's distorted and re-arranged to destroy the viewers association and passive categorization of the subject. This helps to support Magnin's point about passive categorization to show that everything isn't what it may first be seen as, and there's more to every image than there would be on first look.
Gordon Magnin has used collage in creating this work. This creates a distorted effect where everything is mixed up and in different places. This helps to support Magnin's point about passive categorization as it's a relatively orthodox photo but it's changed to show more of a story and deeper meaning behind it.
Gordon Magnin is considering free association in this piece of work. This is shown how there's a portrait which would be considered normal, but it's distorted and re-arranged to destroy the viewers association and passive categorization of the subject. This helps to support Magnin's point about passive categorization to show that everything isn't what it may first be seen as, and there's more to every image than there would be on first look.
Gordon Magnin has used collage in creating this work. This creates a distorted effect where everything is mixed up and in different places. This helps to support Magnin's point about passive categorization as it's a relatively orthodox photo but it's changed to show more of a story and deeper meaning behind it.
The geometric portraits create a distorted picture of the subject. This would be created by using Photoshop or other image editing software.
I think some of them (bottom left and top right) successfully distort the portrait and create an interesting effect. I think the bottom right one was less successful as the shapes I used don't work that well and the top left one I like but I don't think was completely relevant to the task.
Portrait as object
Lucas Simoes
Lucas Simoes cuts geometric shapes out of portraits and puts other photos behind it, creating a layered effect.