Photography Mock Exam 2

Photography Mock Exam 2

Artist Research and Information.

(Andre De Freitas - MEGATHERIUM)

Andre De Freitas is a occasional photographer and Illustrator who is based in Peru. He studied animation at university which lead to his enjoyment of photography especially concentrating on the double exposure technique. 

All of his double exposures are based around people and many of his photographs also show the natural environment and city life which drew me to his work as my theme was touched upon in an imaginative way. Many of De Freitas' images are in black and white which I find creates more depth and definition to the shots, as well as making them look more 3D. I enjoyed his images imenseley and I was inspired by what could be created by using a portrait, natural landscape image and a computer.

Examples of Andre De Freitas' work

The first image above, features a younger child fused with a monochrome cityscape photograph. I think that De Freitas decided to keep the image in black and white to help capture the large amounts of detail in the face and the eyes of the child.  This works very well and achieves a modern visual style and creates emotion within the photograph. The lights of the buildings in the image have been cleverly and strategically placed in the shot to highlight the high points of the face, such as the nose and keeping the background darker has allows the two photographs to both be equally viewed.  The lines of the buildings in the background are kept clean & sharp whilst the image of the child is softer. I like this contrast and hope that I could achieve a similar effect within my photographs. 

The second image I have chosen as an inspirational piece is by the same artist, however, this image uses tree branches merged with a further portrait shot to again create a highly striking photograph.  Again, like with the city photo, the tree branches are kept darker and sharper, whilst the girls face is much softer.  I think the artist uses the branches of the tree to create the illusion of hair and skin and I liked this idea. I also liked how the branches carried on past the face to create a more natural look.  This time, the artist chose to use colour rather than keeping the piece monochrome and I think that the use of colour enhances this image giving a clear definition between the girl and the tree.  The white background is also clever as this concentrates the eye exactly where the artist wants you to focus.

The final image which i have chosen to study is again by the same artist, however, this time, the image features a side view of a human head rather than a full face shot.  By using this technique the focus is altered and the photograph becomes more about the city buildings which are used as the main focal point.  The silhouette of the head becomes the background and the buildings are moved into the foreground of the shot.  I liked this use of silhouette and it made me realise that I can choose whether to use the landscape or the person as my background and I can achieve a different effect when making this choice.  I began to experiment with images.  I found that some images which had strong lines, like roads in them worked well, like the building's in De Freitas work.

Experimental Pieces

To create my experimental pieces, Firstly I began by selecting suitable landscapes which I thought would produce interesting backdrops for my photographs.  I concentrated on interesting shadows & light, interesting cloud formations, strong natural structural shapes and visual textures which would hopefully produce some workable double exposure images.  I remembered the creative use of depth of field by Ansel Adams and tried to position the camera in different angles as well as lowering myself to the ground to extend the landscapes in my shots.  I found that my changing the viewing angle of my work, I could create better isolation.  I then tried to take some strong portrait shots which showed emotion in facial expression and a clear outline to work with which I hoped would allow my images to blend well together.

This is my practice piece which I have created to try out a few different ways of making double exposures. I used the first artist image as my inspiration to create this and found that the clean lines of the road merged with the softer head shot gave me the contrast that I was looking for. I also liked how the photograph was depicting a full landscape scene rather than just a tree or a flower as I think that this created drama within the photograph. 

 Both of these images have been taken by me and I decided to keep them in colour as the light of the sun through the clouds created a lovely tone to the shot. I used Photoshop to blend the portrait with the Icelandic scenery and I was happy that both photographs could be enjoyed as the detail was retained in each one.

This is the final image which i experimented with and overall i was not entirely happy with the end result. Instead of using a full landscape, I chose to concentrate of a natural texture instead, but the fusing of these images did not create the depth and detail of my first piece. The definition of the raindrops was lost and I also thought that the edges of the portrait image were far too sharp which again took away any focus on the background image. 
For my final photograph I will need to let the two images blend together more successfully and this will be down to experimentation and careful choice of images.The two photographs must compliment each other but at the same time, need enough contrast to create depth, definition and an overall pleasing merger.

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