You may also watch these two videos to see before and afters:

Face_VId

Body_Vid

Google Drive Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17tKik34NfrDUhXQ6F7HQZjbyjfXPg6tM/view?usp=sharing

 

Artist Statement 

The individual photographed in the images above is Jessica Lewis, a UX/UI designer born and raised in the heart of Toronto, Canada. Jessica also happens to be my best friend and we both came to Singapore together wanting to experience something out of our comfort zones. What compelled me to take this image is so that I can capture and manifest a struggle in her life that she is currently facing. That being identity — as a 6th generation Canadian Jessica has no idea what her ethnic makeup is and this sometimes makes her feel like she doesn’t belong. Jessica looking at her reflection in the mirror is a symbolic representation identity and knowing who you are as a person. In terms of location, one of our favourite places to go to in Toronto is IKEA (we love home decor) so I took her there so she can feel in her element during the shoot.

Technical Decisions 

• Camera : I used the Nikon D7500 with a 50mm lens. I stood behind her with the camera to portray the sense that we (the audience/viewer) are looking through the mirror with Jessica. I made sure to rack the focus on her face and blur out her arm and hair on the right side so that all the attention is not drawn there, but yet it is still noticeable.
• Digital: First I used the healing brush tool to even out skin tone starting off with the nose and remove most but not all the blemishes on her face/neck/chest to give a natural air-brushed look. I also removed the mascara and eyelash shadows around her eye using the same method. Not to mention there was two white patches on the tile under the mirror that i faded out to make it more subtle. After this I used the dodging and burning to lighten up her dark circles under her eyes. I used the gaussian blur filter to smooth out areas such as her stomach and arms. Then over processed the blur on her forehead to contour it. In addition I made the shiny parts of her face more dull and removed wrinkles on her shirt. The clone stamp tool came in hand to straighten the folds in her shirt. I used “liquify” to make Jessica’s lazy eye on the left side match her right eye in size. Last but not least but not least, because the fabric in her shirt was stretched out I smoothed it out to even out the darkness and remove elastics.