We took images inspired by David Bailey. We chose Bailey as an inspiration as I really like the way in which he creates emotion and how he sometimes uses shadows to do this. Also, the way he uses lighting and the costumes really please the audience as they make the image strong and connects the model to the audience.
This was our first image. I wanted to have half the face showing and have it a lot brighter than the other half. We used the studio lights to create the shadow and to do this, we had the light on the left turned off completely and the umbrella light on the right bright, but just slightly. The effect of having part of the face in shadows was to make the audience feel uneasy about the character. We get the impression that the person is innocent however, the shadowing on the left represents how the person has a dark side. Also, there is movement in this image as we follow his eye down his nose to his dimple in his chin and then down the scarf. This makes the picture interesting as it makes us feel interacted with the person.
We were influenced by the image on the right, which is David Baileys, to try and create something the same with many elements within it. Firstly, we wanted to have shadows to make the image more interesting so we had the umbrella light on the right on a dim light and the light on the left was on the lowest brightness. This created shadows but only slightly so we could focus on emotions. The use of the big coat was to dominate the image and make it have texture. The lines in the fur are in a messy arrangement which brings out personality with the character. Furthermore, if you were to feel the image, it would seem soft as the fur on the coat looks fluffy and light. This image has 50/50 positive/negative light and the contrast of black and white makes image string as they both make each other stand out. We used a reflector board on the shadowy side of the image as we wanted them to appear as soft light, which we achieved as we wished. We used the rule of thirds and made his eyes fit on one of the horizontal lines. This was to make his eyes a focus point as we tried to create emotion within them.
We wanted to try something different and although the image is darker than we hoped it would be, I still really like it. The soft light was turned off completely and the umbrella light was on the dimmest. We also made a prop in which was transparent paper with masking tape placed horizontally on it. This was so we could create the shadow in the back to make the image different. The effect of the shadow creates a sad emotion within the picture. The model looks upset and their facial features, such as their eyes makes the emotion stronger as they are looking away, almost as if trying to avoid the audiences presence. It also creates a story as it seems as if the model is avoiding peoples attention and looking towards the streaks of light for guidance. The shadowed lines are a leading line with the characters eyes and this is effective as we feel sympathetic towards the person. David Bailey inspired this image as we could see how he can create such strong emotions towards a person that we hardly know. I'm extremely happy with the way the shadowy lines turned out as they were made from such simple materials yet still created a strong image. To improve on this next time, I would try and make the lines appear on the models face so that it looks like it is not in a studio but elsewhere.
Richard Avedon
I noticed that in quite a few of Richards images, there is movement and this inspired me to create these images. The lighting was only from the umbrella light which was at a quite dim setting. I thought that by creating an image with movement yet still have emotion within it would be quite hard however, when we tried it, it seemed quite easy. The first image shows the movement and in order to create it, we had to make the shutter speed quite quick as the person had to flick their hair. The fact how you can only see an eye really makes the image stand out as it is hidden within the depths of movement. It's quite luring as you can't really see it but when you do, it's unexpected and it the appears to be the only visible feature in the image. In the next image, we realised that we wanted to create movement in another way and therefore we improvised and used a big bit of cardboard and moved it so that the force was strong enough to make the effect of wind. The lighting in this image was pretty much the same as the first however, this time we wanted to create the sense of happiness so we brightened the umbrella light.
Gregory Crewdson
We wanted to try and create an image like one of Gregory's and to do this, I took a series of images and photoshopped them in a way that made the image work.
Gregory Crewdson's image did inspire me to do this however, it was really complicated. I went out to take a series of images in which I could then photoshop so that they look like Crewdson's images. I really like the fact how he has streaks of lights in his images which inspired me to take an image of sun rays. I am quite pleased with the way it turned out as it took me a while to change the settings in order to get a good set of rays. Im also pleased with the fact how I captured a bird in the image as it looks fake, like Crewdson's photos. I used a colour tool to change the colour of the sky. his was because Crewdson's images are darkened and in the original image, the sky was bright blue. I had originally had two images, one of the sky and one of the grass /half of the trees. photoshopped these together to make it look like a full image as I wanted it to look as if it was real but you know that it is fake. The point of the person in the image was to create dimension. I didn't intend to just have a scenery image as I figured that Crewdson's images had depth and almost two focal point. She brings emotion to the image as it make you feel sympathetic to her since she seems isolated and scared. The use of dark colours also help build this sense of isolation as it seems enclosed with nobody else to be seen. The character seems hopeless and the bird creates this as it is far away and shows the distance between the character and others.