Work diary - Multiple exposure

Evaluation and Technique

This session, exploring multiple exposure, has been one of my most enjoyed lessons because I have been able to learn and develop skills in a technique that I think will benefit my project immensely. This technique is an extremely unique way of photographing a person and a place they've been, a food they've worn, a make up product they like etc. Any type of photograph could be used to fill the shape and details of someones face which is why I find this photography technique to be the most interesting out of all the ones I have learnt. I would take a photograph of someone, and then something else with part of the sky in it. I would then add these both to Photoshop, and start editing the portrait first. I'd colour the background of the subject white, and then drag the location photograph over the first and select "lighten" which will enable the location image to blend in with the background of the portrait image. This allows for part of the location image to be visible amongst particular areas of the face. I'd then just experiment with scale and position over the face until I found an effective composition, maybe play with the curves and levels a bit more as well until I was happy. Below are two of my outcomes that I thought were the most successful ones from the shoot.

This one was my most favourite piece from the shoot for many reasons. I found it to be the most appealing style because it looks as though the leaves are part of Joshes face, and they are slowly falling from their branches. This could connote Joshes emotions as unhappy, which would also compliment his dim and lifeless facial expression. Many elements explain something in this image which is something that I find to be what mass a successful image. If a certain segment of a photograph can explain another segment of the photography, literally or metaphorically, then it is an important and effective picture. By making the sky in the tree picture white, and editing the background of Josh white as well meant that I was able to blend both photos effortlessly together without a certain colour of one pieces background interrupting. To improve this image I would have perhaps filled more of Joshes body with the tree so that it wasn't just his face in the frame, as it looks slightly compact and less spacious as it could appear with development.

This is the second photograph that I created that I thought was again, successful.  I took a depth picture in Brighton looking down a long wide street to a ferris wheel situated at the end of the road. I thought that this image effectively blended with my portrait of Darby as the colours in both of these pictures hold many similarities. Firstly, Darby has dark hair and dark eyebrows, which matches the dark windows and paint on the Brighton houses. Secondly, her face is a glowing beige which matches the light yellow house colours. Lastly, her top is a mixture of black and white which matches the dark cars with light reflections on them. The ferris wheel is then featured as an extra dimension to the sky. Having this in the frame means that there is less wasted space, as Darby's head is tilted to the left, which means there would be just white in the right side of the frame. Overall, this multiple exposure piece was an interesting one to create, as it took me a while to perfect the scale, however I was extremely pleased with the outcome and will most certainly be developing this idea in my future project. 

Progression

In order to excel my skills in multiple exposure, I want to use relevant photographs to replace the shape/outline/features of my models faces. I want to attempt some photographs using food and sweets and maybe drinks to see if this is successful when put into a multiple exposure piece; as this connects with my advertising theme. I also want to try filling the whole of someone's face whilst letting the second image on top fill the outline - I have put an example below of what I mean by this. I have many pictures that I have taken on my trip to Rome that I'd like to include for this technique and will most certainly be making sure that I create some successful multiple exposure pieces for my project.