Distortion

The second part of the Distortion brief involved taking my own photographs exploring the theme of distortion and experimentation. This involved finding reflections, shadows, light effects and skewed perspectives that created strange images.

I experimented with my camera using reflections in mirrors and other objects and found that I could create interesting, unusual images this way.

I put these images together as a diptych to show and compare the differences in focus on the mirror. I found this was an effective way to show the different perspectives in the image and create a slightly more unusual image.

Using a convex mirror created a different kind of skewed reflection, distorting the images into different angles.

I think this image is a good example of a more confusing distorted image, as it isn't clear what the reflection is actually contained in. The very shallow depth of field also makes sure that the reflection is the main focus of the image.

This photograph shows another kind of distortion, showing the camera taking the photo in another kind of 'reflection'. I think this image also works as it looks as if the ground is continuing into the screen of the phone.

Darkroom Light Painting

For the Distortion brief we went down into the darkroom to experiment with light painting and double exposures.

I created pictures by using torches as the sole light source in the room, using a 20 second exposure to 'paint' light into the image with them. As well as the lights in the background of the image, behind my subject, I had to have my subject lit with torches from the front also.

Using techniques in the darkroom like this can produce lots of different results. You can 'write' with the light like in this image:

You can also create double/triple/etc exposures by having your subject(s) move during the 20-second exposure:

Another effective technique using light-painting involves creating silhouettes by filling the space behind your subject with light.

Magazine Covers

In this task I had to create two original magazine covers. I had to create and arrange the layout and photographs used myself, putting together the covers and magazine concept from scratch. The magazine could be about anything, from sport to interior design. I chose to make a fashion magazine.

I began by researching different magazine covers that I liked. I found that I am frequently drawn towards more minimal covers, often involving simple, stripped-back portraits. I compiled a few of the covers I liked and tried to work out the elements I liked in each, so I could later apply them to my own work.

For my cover I shot simple portraits to use. As my model was a male I had to think about adding more menswear elements to my cover. I decided to make a cover for a publication that focused more on culture and art to work around this.

I used the Character Palette in Photoshop frequently in this project as typography was very important on my covers. Using the Character Palette to adjust different parts of my typography helped give my covers a more custom, professional look.

I tried to make two different covers that would appeal to different audiences by using different photographs, typography and layouts. 

I enjoyed this project and feel I produced two good pieces of work for it. I think doing extensive research into covers I liked at the beginning of the project helped me produce better work later on. 

Animation

To work with Animation I had to begin using Adobe Flash. I have never used Flash before so the program and workspace was completely new to me.

Our first task to start in Flash was to create an animated alphabet. At first I just made letters go from side to side, but this quickly built up to more complicated techniques, including changing colours of letters, making them spin and rotate, making them change in size and moving them around the screen.

Shown above is the workspace in Flash. I took this screenshot after doing a lot of work on my project, which can be seen with the amount of scenes and library items on the left.

To make letters usable in animation you have to convert them to Graphic Symbols. This makes them fully customizable and controllable in animation. After doing this you can start creating frames and altering the motion of the animation.

For simple animations like this, Motion Tweening is used to fill in the space between the frames and 'complete' the animation. This means the frames do not have to be created individually and makes the animation a lot smoother than it would be if every frame had to be created manually.

To start creating a more complicated animation I created a figure, in this case a robot, in Photoshop. I created each part of the robot individually on separate layers so I could animate them one-by-one later on.

When I imported this into Flash each layer was added individually. I turned each one into a Graphic Symbol so I could control and animate them more easily later on.

After spending some time animating my robot I decided I wanted to change the look of it to make it look more interesting. To do this I changed the textures of different parts of the robot, and edited some of the shapes slightly.

I also added music to my animation, a background, and later added two smaller robots either side of my main one. These touches finished off the animation and made it more visually interesting.

Album Covers

In this task I had to create an album cover/sleeve from scratch. I had a very basic template to start with, including just the album title and song names.

For this project I could use whatever medium I wanted. This included choices from digital photography, traditional fine art work using pencils, paint, etc, or creating a collage using various different sources. I could use any or all of these methods in creating my cover. I focused on using digital photography in my work as it is my main interest.

I also looked at different photography websites including Flickr to explore different photographic ideas I could explore. I was frequently drawn to photography utilising different light sources at night and decided I would try something similar using a globe lamp that I own.

I also had to work heavily with typography on this brief. I downloaded new free fonts from DaFont.com. I found the typography to be the hardest part of this brief and spent a lot of time experimenting with different fonts, sizes, placements and spacing.

After completing these two covers with this theme I went on to experimenting with other styles of covers. I also experimented more with spacing and kerning in my typography, utilizing the Character Palette. 

I created a third cover using a different style of photography. This cover would probably be used by a fairly different band to the first two. 

Overall in this task I thought I produced some good work but I did find it difficult to get inspired in the beginning. I worked a lot with typography in this brief and think my skills in that area definitely improved. 

Giants Project

In this project I had to create 'giants' in photoshop. This involved taking background/landscape images as well as photographs of people, so I could combine them in photoshop.

When taking photographs for this task I had to be aware of how my models would later fit into the images. This meant I had to be conscious of having enough space for my 'giants' and making sure they would look realistic in the environment.

Once I had posed my models to fit into my landscape images I took my photographs into photoshop. My main task was cropping the model photographs. I had to work very neatly, making sure I cropped and selected my models down to select details. If I did not do this my giants would look too obviously photoshopped.

One of the new tools I used in this project was the Mask tool. This is another way to edit selections and offers more freedom in experimenting with selections and making mistakes.

Overall I thought I did well on this task and understood it. I produced five different Giant images that I was pleased with. I found the process interesting and felt confident using different techniques in Photoshop. I think the results I gained from this project fit the brief description well.

Collage

I created a collage to later on use for screen printing. I struggled to find a theme at first but the idea developed as I began to research and create the work. I found some examples of collage using natural images and geometric shapes and began to form ideas with this inspiration. 

I arranged my collage in a fairly neat way, focusing on shape and contrast of images. I chose images with some action and movement in them, including crashing waves, cracking ice and explosion.

After my image was scanned I turned it black and white, increasing the contrast heavily so it could be used for screen printing.