DP2001 Digital Photography (AY2020/21 SEM 2) G02

THE FINAL PT.2: ESCAPE

Title: Escape

Artist Statement:

Escape is a series of photographs explores the darkness and the mystery of dream. Most of my nightmares are being chased by some unknown figures, stemming from feelings of anxiety in my waking life.

Technical Decisions:

Some of the techniques that I use are defocus to create depth and mystery, absurd angles, blurry figures and slow shutter speed to achieve the motion blurs. For post editing, to keep a consistent treatment on the images, I applied motion blur, uniform grain and gaussian blur for all my images.

Image Installation Layout

Google Link to High Res JPEG

FINAL PROJECT 1: THEATRE OF THE MIND

Dreams have been described as dress rehearsals for real life, opportunities to gratify wishes, and a form of nocturnal therapy. A new theory aims to make sense of it all. These images were inspired by the idea of consciousness and unconsciousness, we recall only a fraction of what we dream about, unless written down the moment we woke up, it tend to be evanescent, the details quickly fading as we made our way through the day.

I shot these the photography in a studio setting, to evoke the transience of beauty and the fragility of dreams, delicate, ethereal style, I use a slow shutter speed 1.00s to capture the motion blur into the image. To create the dreamy/haze effect, I stretch some plastic wrap over the front of your lens, and rub a small amount of vaseline onto the plastic.

Here are the before and after of my images, and their layers:

Photographer Research pt.II – Paul Rousteau

Paul Rousteau, a France photographer, often overexposed or out of focus, his photographs are series of playful experiments. By pushing the camera to its limits, the artist creates new forms of perception. The result made of vivid colors and enigmatic figures has something of a daydream with a touch of kaleidoscopic hallucinations. His works are mainly navigating between figuration and abstraction, painting and digital art.

Each of them bathed in warm Californian colors therefore, often a bit blurred, like watercolors, somewhat fleeting, like a dream right after waking. Abstraction is never far off, his photographs are pure impressions.

For my final assignment, I would like experiment with different colours and motions to create interesting composition that’s draws the viewer in.

Exercise 2. The landscape

Before

After

I used the photo that I took for exercise 1 with a landscape background. I took a photography of my friend at Jurong lake gardens and decided to capture the etherial, airier quality photograph. When it came to editing the photo, I wanted to create the dreamy, soft visuals photos in which the tone of the photography is slightly purple/pink.

Camera Setting _ ISO 100 F/5.6 1/640S

Here are my layers:

Here is the link to access the file_ Click Here

Exercise 1. The Portrait

For this class’s first exercise, I took a portrait of my friend at Jurong lake gardens. I decided to capture the etherial, airier quality photograph, the mildly hilly area is covered in a sea of lalang and tall grass tufts, making the perfect dreamy backdrop for a portrait. The sunny afternoon sun shining directly onto the subject, the silhouette cast a distinct, hard shadow on the subject’s face.

Before

After

Camera Setting – ISO 200, f/5.6 1/640s

Screenshot of Layers:

Post Processes – I removed some of the hair strands covering on her face and removed all the pimples and blemishes. The most challenging part of the this exercise is to even out the skin tone and texture in order to achieve the natural skin looks. I did some minor adjustment to remove the harsh shadow and brighten up her face to even out the skin tone.

Google Drive link to .psd file:

Photographer Research I_Jin Jia Ji

My chosen artist for Photographer Research I is Jin Jia Ji , a fashion photographer working in China and London. Jin has an introspective approach to fashion image making. Characterised by unexpressive faces, achromatic backdrops, and soft hues, his shots go beyond his models’ exterior, reaching a more intimate, private dimension.

For my own works I would like experiment with unexpected angle, color schemes, an interaction between people and objects to generates a narrative in my photos.