In this report I will be reflecting and reviewing my efforts throughout my constructed image assignment. I will explore what went well and what did not as well as making suggestions for improvement if I were to undertake this project again. I will discover how successful I was in terms of editing and construction, and how well the theme was executed.
The subject I chose for my Constructed Image assignment was a psychedelic/drunk theme using portraiture and digital artistry. The aim of this was to create images that show the affects of alcohol but in a light-hearted, pop art style.
I would argue that there was an equal balance in terms of what went well and what did not, however there were a lot of issues that could have been changed and could have improved the outcome of this project. The problems started from the get go, especially in terms of timekeeping, I started working on it very late which left me not a lot of time to work on the project and alter any mistakes before making my final choices. It took me a long time to decide what my theme was going to be as I spent so long experimenting in Photoshop at first, if I had a clear theme and direction from the start I would have been able to make the images better and made more images to choose from. As at the end I only had 25 images created, when I could easily have made more over a longer period of time; having more images and more choice is better.
Although I only had 25 images, I still struggled to decide which images to use as my final 10. To make this decision I took to social media, posting the images so that people could choose their favourite images. This seems to be a very effective way to make decisions due to the fact that those that chose are unbiased, the majority of those that commented were also from the target audience group so their opinion are very valid. Although there were a few images that I was going to include regardless, I agreed with the choices that were made and feel that this method of decision making is very successful.
A good point about the project is I believe that I accurately portrayed the theme I had set, the use of effects displayed inebriation and the colours mimicked the bright lights of a club or party, showing the fun but also the negative affects of alcohol. Some images used were from parties or events where people were drunk and dancing, and others were of people who looked moody or upset, the latter shows the anxiety, sadness and disorientation felt from being inebriated and the others show first hand the boisterousness and careless inhibitions felt when drunk.
Though the images worked and portrayed the theme, it was hard to collate these images to begin with, they were images from various shoots and some do not necessarily work well collectively in the set. Some of the images may seem out of place and not quite connect completely in the 10 images.
The main issue with this is that I didn’t shoot any new material, I collected old images that I’d taken over the past two years at uni and used these images that fit into the dynamic of the theme. If I had used new images it would have been easier to make the images all connect and look as if they are all of the same subject. This is why it was crucial that the editing worked and was fluid throughout, using the same techniques and colours to make them look as though they are part of the same collection. I believe that my Photoshop skills have improved and evolved over time and I am confident in editing photos, though I had never edited images to this extreme it was interesting to learn and experiment. I believe I succeeded in making the images look psychedelic and that the colour and feel of the images connote club culture and drunkenness. Though there is always room for improvement I do not think my Photoshopping is sloppy, I think it is quite clean cut, as I am quite particular with my images and like them to be up to a certain standard.
Though I used old images, the ones I chose were all well lit and I would say that they have good composition. The majority of the images were taken using flash of sorts so they were well illuminated. This was helpful as with a brighter image you usually get more colour and contrast, meaning they were easy to saturate and manipulate without too much primary editing such as adjusting levels etc.
Another point that was not so good with this project is that I wanted to incorporate neon lights in the images as forms of text, I resorted to using stock images when I shouldn’t have, I only had a few images of my own that I had taken of neon lights, to obtain more I used stock images I found online that I felt worked in with the theme. I would try to take more images of my own to use in future, rather than using stock.
If I were to redo this shoot I would definitely start the project as soon as possible as to get as much time on the project that I can. I would also establish a theme and plan a photo shoot that works according to the theme so that the images all work as a collective and don’t look out of place. I would then use and work with those images in Photoshop, I would not change the way I edited, though I may have spent more time cleaning the images up and experimenting with more ways to manipulate them to work with the theme.
In conclusion, I believe that the outcome was mainly successful and the images adequately display the theme and idea I had intended. I accomplished my goal eventually and overcame any problems I faced. Though there are a lot of things I would have changed and numerous factors that could have been improved, I am satisfied with my work and will learn from this.
Riddle Photography 