Portrait: Final Images

April 14, 2016April 14, 2016 Maria Christina Pal Pullen Final Images, Portrait

Friend:

This image reflects the fact that we have hidden attributes that make up out full persona. Our ‘true’ self is made up of our different personalities which is wanted I to draw out with my subject during the shoot. By making Tamsin laugh and exchanging casual dialogue she felt comfortable to pose playfully and feel comfortable in the space. My editing allowed the photos to blend into one image and allow the centre, more neutral, image to stay prominent and act as the centre point.

Stranger:

I like how this image glows and really emphasizes her face. I prefer this approach to photographing strangers since my initial cold, awkward approach to creating an image of stranger didn’t show the experience in a positive light.

Self-portrait:

I like how I was able to create this image just using my Iphone. Apps such as Snapseed allowed me to add a vintage effect and fade the image slightly to add artificial age to the image.This image also reflects my distant Chinese relation which makes this image more expressive of my true identity.

Portrait: Self portrait

April 14, 2016April 14, 2016 Maria Christina Pal Pullen Portrait

For my final image I thought about expressing my mixed blood. Although my mother is from the Philippines her great Grandparents were fully Chinese. I found that a really interesting aspect of myself since I only recently found out that fact myself.

I researched about Chinese portrait photography and was drawn to the beauty of Chinese vintage photography. Through this I found the Shanghai Studio created by Sioma Lifshitz.

Here is some of his work:

He focused a lot of light mainly on the faces which really brought them out.

I attempted this look on myself:

I experimented with a black and white.

and one with a red-ish tinge to it:

For this image I directed the light on my face and then used the ‘instant’ filter to fade out the edges to make it appear more vintage. I then used a black and white filter along with Snapseed’s vintage filter to really age the image. This editing and lighting really emphasize my eyes which still slightly show the Chinese Epicanthic fold in my eyes.

Portrait: Self-portrait editing experimentation

April 14, 2016April 14, 2016 Maria Christina Pal Pullen Portrait, Work In Progress

I took a selfie via Snapchat and saved 5 different versions of it with 5 different filters. I put them together to create one image:

I like the effect but to make it better I think I plain background would be more effective and possibly clearer distinctions between different filters.

The next edit was inspired by what was said in the lecture. The idea that we have multiple selves. The actual, ought and ideal.

This is a combined image of my actual and ‘ideal’ self. This image communicates how our online self shows off our ideal, perfect, smiley selves rather than our true selves. The way it has been edited also appears as if I’m literally wearing a profile picture which also communicates how odd online lives are.

With the image below I combined numerous selfies of me putting on Minnie Ears and by doing this it shows the movement in that action. I tried using a prop to reflect my interest in Disney. This was in response to my research on Richard Avedon as some of his work had his subjects holding a prop that was key to their persona.

I had trouble keeping the ears in place so I thought editing the images in this way would tell the story of that experience. This gave the overall image a sense of movement.

People: Self-portrait research

April 13, 2016 Maria Christina Pal Pullen Portrait

The most common form of self-portrait in this modern age is the ‘selfie’ which are mostly taken on mobile phones. And with picture quality and capabilities greatly improving on phones, I thought about having my self portraits taken via my mobile.

In order to use my phone to the best of its ability I researched ways to take more professional photos and experimental images.

Apple holds an annual World Gallery which showcases some of the world’s best iPhone photos. Shangai-based designer Kevin Ma0 was able to get his work in the exclusive line-up. His secrets included using apps such as Snapseed and VSCO.

In this image he used Snapseed to remove reflections, highlight natural light in the face and decrease the ambiance to increase the contrast. By using VSCO he sharpened the image and added fade and vignette.

I find it very interesting how not only do modern phones enable us to take high quality photos but allow us to edit on the go with ease.

Portrait: Strangers – Development

April 13, 2016 Maria Christina Pal Pullen Portrait

Firstly I started with the image where my subject looked very awkward with the situation.

Before:

After:

I used my editing to emphasize the awkwardness of the situation and the cold first instances of meeting a stranger. I added a black and white filter and I also added a slight blue hue to the image. By cropping the image to bring the subject we can see her uncomfortable pose clearer. When cropping, I placed her in the centre of the composition to make her look odd thus increasing the overall uncomfortable image.

Thinking back to the work of Danny Santos I chose one of the more intimate photos of the stranger.

I then cropped the image to bring us closer to the stranger to have more of the intimacy that Danny Santos’ work had.

I edited it further to bring out the warmth of the encounter and bring more focus to her smiling face.

I added selective focus to enhance her facial features and slightly increased the saturation to bring out her skin’s warm glow. I prefer this image to the cold and awkward image since the real experience was a pleasant one. This image is truer to the actual story where the stranger became quite photogenic, enjoyed the experience and was happy to have met me.