How did I create these photographs.
The intention was to create human gargoyles, atmospheric partially illuminated grotesque and weird faces, or faces of unusual character.
The photographs were taken outside at night. The model was sat upon a stool, the face was illuminated with a bright torch and a red light, a reflector was used to help bounce light back on to the models face. The model pulled faces, moved their head. The lighting was moved around to create unnatural lighting.
The camera was mounted on a tripod to ensure stability for low light long exposure shots. The camera was moved and positioned on the tripod around the model to get strange angles to accentuate the peculiar nature of the portraits. The framing of the face was close to give a very tightly cropped subect of the head and face.
The photographs were taken with a Digital SLR, once the photographs were taken, they were manipulated in Photoshop.
How I manipulated the photographs.
The colour photographs were loaded into Photoshop. The clarity was increased to 100%, vibrance to 50%, the contrast increased to 50% or more.
The Photoshop image was adjusted to Black & White, the reds and magenta were reduced, this caused increase the reds on the face caused by veins, blushes or blotches on the skin to finally appear dark shades and black. The use of the red light when taking the photographs accentuated the skin and red facial imperfections. The blues and cyans were increased to lighten the blue colouration and the whites around the eyes. The colour photograph was then converted to B+W with very high contrast and strong shadows and darkened skin colouration.
The images were finally modified by using a variety of filters, Sharpen More and the filter, Smart Sharpen, the sharpen was adjusted to around 125%, radius approximately 32 pixels.
The brightness were modified and experimented with to create satisfactory images.
My Opinion
The images produced are the desired grotesque and slightly disturbing photographs.
The photographs where the model moved their face while the shutter was open are very effective, the light that is reflected in the eyes has created white streaks, the motion captured with the streaks from the face moving and the eyes of the models, the pictures look demonic.
The creative effects by the use of lighting, and editing in Photoshop have been very successful. However the images have been heavily manipulated that I have decided not to progress this idea. The images created are caricatures too artificial, modified, adapted and too far removed from the brief of portraits.
09slyounghusband 