PROJECT #7 - Photo Collage

Internalizing
(Originals for Photo Collage can be Found Below)

CAMERA SETTINGS

WB: Cloudy

APERTURE: F5

SHUTTER SPEED: 1/30

ISO: 2800

My idea for this was about inner demons fighting to overtake us. It was not the original concept for this project, however the rain and my insane workweek prevented my original idea from reaching fruition. I set my son up at our dining room table. There was three sources of light: 1) natural lighting from behind, 2) Halogen bulb radiating from the left. 3) Incandescent light from the right in the next room. It was around 5p during the thunderstorm we had. The final lighting was dark and moody. I found an amazing backdrop image from Pinterest to set the scene.



In Photoshop: I had to flip the image orientation of one of the portraits and then create a clipping mask. I then inserted the image to make the dueling Joe’s face each other. I then erased (as well as I could) the background of both images so I could insert the “backdrop” image. I then set the whole image to Black and White, and color balanced the image so it was slightly purple in hue.



Compositional Elements – The backdrop helps to set the symmetry that I wanted for this image. I wanted it to feel like a Rorschach image.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I am quite happy with the scene of the image and how I blended all the elements together. However, the weakest part is the imperfections made by the background deleting. I would love to make a smoother transition between the images. This assignment was refreshing and challenging. It really tested my knowledge of Photoshop. I had to take many pictures of Joey so that I had the distance, clarity and focus correct for both “sides” of him. What I wish I had done differently was the pose. I should have had him leaning against a wall with one hand against it. I think it would have been easier to fuse the images.