Final Piece

 

This is my final piece. Its a photomanipulation of two pieces put together, but I really like the way it looks. I like the way the lighting works with the piece, and the way I've mirrored the head at each side. It gives the picture quite a nice border and the way it is the same deer. I like the way the deer seems to be smiling, and how bright the light reflecting off the skull is. I also like the soft light on the deers skeleton in the center of the piece, too. The way it doesnt steal too much attention from the rest of the piece.

The two pieces below are the pieces that I blended for the piece above.

These two pictures were an experiment to see if I could get a decent shot in my room. I like the way the skull reflects off the surface, and how even though the background is light, due to the depth of field the skulls still stand out from the bright background. I just like the genuine lighting and focus of the pieces.

This is a picture I took of my yellowhammer study skin. I really like this picture due to the fact that only the birds claws are in focus, the rest of the bird is blurred I also like how even though the bird is a bright colour, it doesnt take away from the claws. The claws seem to be holding eachother, which adds a bit of emotion to the picture. Overall, I actually really like this picture and the way it can be taken in context.

This was a picture I took at the Bolton Museum, of one of the taxidermy bird displays they have. I really like the colours of the birds and the way they're positioned in the photo. The soft shadows behind the birds mean that the birds get all of the attention of the viewer, and the picture is really comfortable to look at, even though its busy.

Bolton Museum also has a porpoise skeleton, as seen above. I thought the pale orange lighting would make really good for a picture if I edited it, and due to the unique shape of the skeleton, I thought it would make for some quite eerie pictures. 

These are the two pictures I made through the editing, I really like the bottom one, the way its really intense and the grungy pattern that the map/cloth in the background creates. I also like the way the greens still blend nicely with the reds, despite the two colours contrasting and not working too well together. The intense darkness of the background gives the picture quite an eriee feel to it, and the alien look of the porpoise skeleton adds to this effect.

Soon after the first photoshoot, The fourth leg of my deer was found. I articulated it rather quickly so I could get more photos taken. The photos below are the next batch from the next photoshoot.

These pictures were all taken on top of a natural coloured cover, which also had very warm colours. Combined with the light it gave the opportunity for some fantastic photos where I could play with the shadows I especially like the last photo as you can see the shadow of the deer very well. The other two Im not as fond of, they seem to be missing the flare that the bottom one has. The top one is too dark and at a weird angle, I couldnt get the entire deer in due to not being high enough,  and the one below it doesnt have enough of a contrast to it to be eye catching.

After the above pictures, I suspended the deer in the air to get some low key shots. This is a picture of the deer in the studio. Originally it was just going to be a journalist picture, but I ended up really liking the atmosphere of the shot, like a photo from a hollywood set, so I chose to include it in the blog.

I like just how dark this picture is, and how the light is behind the deer. The way it highlights the thinner areas of bone makes it really quite eerie. I also like the shine on the neck bones. However, I think this picture could be improved if I removed the light on the right from the picture and made the entire background black.

I really like this picture, the way that the light is shining through the ribs, and the way you can see the shadows of the ribs through the scapula. Even though you can see the poor attempt at glueing the parts together, it doesnt really show up in the picture, as the ribs steal the attention.

I like this one due to the interesting lighting on the nasal bones, I also like the fact that half of the head is in shadow and the other is in rather intense lighting, and the way theres an interesting background going on too, but its dim enough not to steal the attention from the main subject matter. I also like the way that the deer is not exactly central, making the picture more interesting.

These three pictures are my favourite ones from the entire photoshoot, I like the way that the lighting is situated on the deer, and how the background is as dark as it is, drawing attention to nothing at all but the deer. I especially like the last one as it illustrates the entire deer, and the way the ribcage is lit up. The lighting on the first one is extremely intense, theres a large contrast between the white and the black. I also like the way they zoom out from the head to the whole deer.

Before I had added the fourth leg, I chose to do a photoshoot with the deer in the photography studio. I used several of my other skulls and various backdrops and lighting to experiment more with this piece.

I love the atmosphere of this piece and the way it seems quite touching, the male deer resting his head on the female deer, whilst the two more draconic deer skulls hang around the outside, maybe waiting to feed. I also like the colours which give it quite a warm feeling despite the meaning, its quite conflicting and the composition works well.

This is where the picture above was taken, I was stood on a ladder to take the image. I like the way this image is laid out, with the most light shining on the deers face and spine, and most of the animals are surrounding the deers head. I like the way the background gives it a rather sepia-tone.

These two photos are two silhouette pictures that I took of the deer, using back lighting to make the deer stand out from the background. Im happy with these pieces as they have quite a unique appearance to them, and they are reversed to my other photos. The lighting on the bottom photo also gives it a quite eerie look, as it is directed from below it. 

These photos are similar to the above ones, only reversed, the lightness of the deers bones showing up on a dark background. I also had a light spotlighted on the face for more effect. I was thinking about using these in my final piece, maybe using them as "border" pieces.

This photo was a photo I took in my bedroom, practising with the lighting. I like the shadow reaching across the fishes face, and how the fish isnt exactly in the center of the image. I also like the two reflective white dots at the top, as they fill up the darkness a little, but they dont steal the attention from the fish. 

These are two pictures I took in the studio,  Practising with lighting, they were some of the first photos I took with low key. I like the dolphin skull because of the orange-ish tints of the skull really give the picture quite a warm feeling. I also like the way that only the center of the picture is visible, the exact center of it and everywhere else is in darkness. The other picture has rather soft colours despite the contrasts, the shadows on the white are really soft. The intense red of the feathers below also help this picture, making it seem rather mythical and dragon-like.

I tried something rather different with this picture, with different lighting and a different angle. The light is soft again, but the surrounding area is visible. The way the male deer is resting his head on the female is rather emotional, and the colours add to this. They're warm colours but only slightly, and the male deers face is the focal point, the rest of the skulls just giving the picture that extra interest.

I like the black backgrounds of these two pictures, the way that the background is as dark as it is and the skulls are lit up with a specific lighting. I also like how each piece shows the difference between my photography taken in my bedroom, and my photography taken in the colleges studio. I also like the context of the two dog skulls, how the larger one is eating the smaller one.

Banded Pitta. 

This is a study skin of a bird that I recently received from a friend of mine. Its a very beautiful bird and because it basically looks like its still alive, I thought it would be ideal to use in a quite emotional piece. I also love the colours and the way they stand out so much against each other, and decided it would make some good contrast for desaturated images, so I decided to make the image pictured below Grayscale. Another thing I thought what would make it work is the fact that theres quite a lot of contrast between my hand and the background, and the bird and the background. I like the coloured picture because it shows the colour, and just how beautiful the bird is

This is the photo in grayscale, maybe if I made the photo a little softer it would look better, but at the same time I really like the contrast. between the whites and the blacks. The grayscale gives the picture more emotion, and makes the bird look more alive.

I like the lighting on this piece, and the constrast between the blue and the orange/red feathers. I also like the way the darkness surrounds them, and how it looks like fire coming out of the dark. I may edit this piece to represent that more in the future.

Research

Marian Drew

Marian Drews still life contains dead, stuffed roadkill animals and fruit, using quite impressive compositions and elements to her work, like the lighting and creased blankets. The fruit almost draws away the attention from the dead animal, making the photos quite a shock factor when the animal is finally noticed. Eg. The wombat in the first picture is quite dark coloured, like the background, whilst the watermelon is light and stands out.

Meanwhile, the possum on the second picture is white, like the plate underneath it, whilst the vegetable with it is dark, and stands out

She also uses animals from her home country, maybe as something more personal to her.

David Bailey 

This picture reminds me of some of the high key photographs I did last year, a dark coloured skull in a light coloured environment, and a short depth of field. I like the rusty look of the skull and the way the jaw is positioned, it gives the picture quite a lot of emotion. 

I really like the way this photo is done, the soft lighting that Bailey used. I also like the way the keys are positioned over the skull and the colour that the flowers add to the piece. They also take up some of the negative space in the picture. I like how pure and white the background is.

Statement of intent

-I intend to explore the topic of bones and articulation. So my Unit 2 is basically following on and developing from Unit 1.  Practising with different styles of photography and different ways of producing and displaying the image.
-The images I intend to produce will either come into the editorial or fine art photography genres. To develop I intend to experiment with producing images inside of a studio and potentially on location, for example in a domestic setting or Outside in nature. As well as this Im going to experiment with lighting the subject, different camera angles and depths of field. I'd like to develop this body of work Ill further research into photographers who experiment with lighting and using anatomy in their work.