Shoot 8 - work diary

Inspiration and my shoot:

The inspiration from this shoot came from the photographer Alexander Khokhlov. The photograph from his work that caught my eye was the photograph that can be seen to the left. It shows a woman who has been covered in paint on her face and neckline. This caught my attention because it was different to other photographs I have seen. My shoot consisted of something similar to the inspiration. Within my shoot, I used different coloured face paints and placed them onto my model's face and neck. In order to make them have a 'dripping' effect like Alex's photo, I individually placed a couple onto her face. I put a blob of paint on a certain area and then I I dripped water onto the blog to allow for it to drip down and run on it's own accord - this allowed for the paint to go wherever it wanted too. I decided to use colours like purple, blue, green and pink etc because I thought that it went well together and didn't look too out of place. The location for this shoot was a room in a house and a garden. I decided todo the shoot in these places because it allowed for the colours on the face to stand out. I think that this shoot was quite interesting to complete because it gave me the opportunity to explore the pre-production rather than just the production of the shoot. 

My work:

 This photograph was one of my favourites from the shoot but unfortunately it could not be used due to the fact that the outcome came out blurry. I think that the way the whole space has been covered works really well because there are no empty spaces and therefore you are focused to look at the model's face. I also like the fact that the model is not looking directly at the camera but is instead looking to the right of it. I think that this works really well because it creates a more dramatic feel to the photograph. I think that the elements seen within this photograph were really good and I was disappointed with the fact that it was blurry. I try to edit the photograph within Photoshop to try to see if I could do anything with it but I wasn't successful because it was just too blurry. If I were to re-do this photograph I would ensure that it was clear because it would look really good and effective if it was in focus. 

This photograph is one of my favourites from all the entire shoots. This is due to the fact that it immediately hits you in the face when you look at it due to the high level of colour and the lack of space present. My favourite part of this photograph is the model's eyes. I like her eyes because they are looking directly at the camera and therefore result in the eyes looking directly at the person viewing the photograph. The fact that her eyes are an off colour also make them my favourite part of the shot. The colour of her eyes fit in well with the colours seen on and around her face. I decided to take a close-up shot of her face because I wanted to capture the detail found on the model. In terms of editing this photograph, I decided that I wanted to adjust the levels and curves to make it appear more defined and slightly darker. I also used soft focus to ensure that her eyes were the main focus of the photograph. I think that this made the overall appearance look a lot better and interesting towards the audience. I do not think there is anything that I do not like about this photograph and therefore would not feel the need to re-do it to try to improve it. 

Evaluation and development:
I think that I achieved the intended aim of shoot - which was using the inspiration from Alexander's work to try and create my own unusual portrait. I think that this shoot was a success and was really interesting to do. In terms of development, I think that I am going to continue to do this but instead try using black and white paints rather than colour to create a contrast between the two shoots. I think that this will work well and be interesting to try and complete it using black and white rather than the colours used in this shoot.