CD Cover

As preparation for a possible exam in photography, we had to create two CD covers for a genre of our choosing. The first task was to create one with at least one instrument and one person. As you may see, this is the second one, which we were allowed to do whatever. 

The "band" I made a cover for is called Serendipity, which is a symphonic metal band with folk elements. (And yes, I made all this up.)

Here I merged two images, "Poster Edged" the girl, created runny mascara with a soft brush and "Blur", as well as using "Burn" on her left eye. The background is merely with higher contrast and brightness.

Font is "FairyDust".

Drypoint (Koldnålsradering)

Drypoint is a printmaking technique, in which an image is incised into a plate with a needle. 

We were to find scenarios of which lines were prominent.

We used oil based paint and tried to rub it down in the "cracks". This became my result. (Right) I'm not quite happy with it since some of the lines aren't that clear. It does look slightly weird.

Advertisement

Ok.. So we were to make advertisements for something, anything really, and use techniques we've learned to create the elements that are in an advertisement. The idea is to advertise for reading, as it is possible to live through the main character through the words.

For this I did a collage of a screen shot of one of my characters, as well as a picture of a frequent model on this blog. 

Picture to the left is a two layered, with the lower being "posterized" and the above reduced to 13 % opacity. The eager reader is between these two, where I used "refine edges" to remove the unimportant background and merge the elements.

The text is first "Fairydust" and then "Metal Macabre". The last one flowing over the shield of the cartoon character. The eyes of the model looks at the book, but as you follow her eyes you get to the text.

Dead Silence

 The theme is as the title suggest, silence. For this assignment I asked a friend of mine to join me at a graveyard for a little photo shoot. All the photos had their saturation lowered to create a more gentle and soft feel. 

The model were to interact with the environment as gracefully and "silent" as to compliment the surroundings, and create a complete look which appears muffled.

 Towards the theme, I instantly thought of a graveyard because what's more silent than the last resting place?

Considering that it was quite windy at that time, I feel we were lucky to catch those moments when her hair and dress stood still, as a dynamic picture would disturb the message.

Reenactment

So for this assignment, we had to re-enact a painting, illustration or a text using a camera and PS.

I chose the delve in the art of Victoria Francés, my favourite illustrator. The one I chose is featured in Francé's first book in the Favole series, Gelida Luz. Which officially is translated to Frozen Light. Francés' art has a gothic feel to it, which I tried to create using some props.

On the model I've dyed her hair red,coloured her lips, darkened her lids with the burn tool.


Characteristic tears in Francé's art using a soft brush and the blur tool. Higher contrast, warming filter and lower brightness as usual. Also I took the frame from the original, and burned the edges.

The unedited picture:
f/ 3.5, Shutter: 1/25, ISO-320

Piece of History

Arthur Fellig (Weegee) is a well known (Though I did not know of him until now) photographer and photojournalist during the 20's-60's. His signature photos were his street photographies.

He worked in New York taking pictures for the news paper, featuring crime scenes and various other action photos.

 Though Weegee did not only do action photographies, he also had a photo collection featuring circus people and nudes.

Characteristic for Fellig, is that most of his shoots are during night time, where a dramatic contrast occur when using a flash. I am not sure if this is intentional, though it's something. He also took portraits, here of Marilyn Monroe puckering up.

Illusion of Frost and Snow

Our next quest, given to us by Duchess Teacher were to create the illusion of ice to confuse the villagers.

Do not be alarmed, the first two are actual ice. Chill dudes.... You see what I did there? The first two are taken with my cellphone camera.

The first picture shows a vast landscape of ice, with a soft curve around a mountain. The flakes does give away it's not real, but since there are no other objects revealing the actual size of the objects, it's sort of believable. 

Made with the help of my partner in crime's legs, I got to enhance the wave effect so to me, it looks like a frozen tsunami. The light through the ice gives it the feeling that it's a clear wave.

Now to begin the summoning of the illusion.

"Cast: Awesome photo skills"

 Look at mah caves.

If you tilt your head to the right, or just turn your laptop towards the right, you'll see how it actually looks. Though I feel it's more interesting with this angle.

The reason for that is the spiral effect   in the bottom half is enhanced, though It may not look like ice, but I find it pleasing.

 My favourite. To me this is perfect, you have the reflection, the water dripping from the cave side, and the light is not that extreme. Also, the shadow in the background to the left does sort of look like a guy in a boat.

Aaaand a mixture of both.

Real ice: Multiply layer prosperity, Cooling filter, Higher contrast and lower lighting

Fake: Overlay, Red filter, Higher contrast and lower lighting.