photo book: double exposures
reflection
My photo essay was based on double exposures. Double exposures are usually made in a darkroom with a film camera, but because this is a digital photography class, I manually edited each photo in Photoshop. My photographs are a combination of old photos and new photos. The first photograph was taken in my front yard, while the carousel in the last photo was taken in Boston. Combining different environments and subjects make the photographs more interesting.
I chose the subject of double exposures because I like how you combine almost anything together and make a cohesive photograph. You can combine nature and industrial architecture together and still have something that blends together. There isn't necessarily a concept or a story to my photo essay. However, I liked that visually every picture blends together. In the presentation, I ordered the pictures in color formation so that the colors flow into the next photograph. I tried to mix the composition of photographs so it wouldn't be too orderly.
Individual photographs:
1. This photo was taken underneath a tree where some flowers were blooming. The sun was right above the tree, so the lighting was directly above. I reflected the photo so that one of the flowers overlapped. After putting an overlay effect on each photo, the overlapped parts gained more contrast and saturation. I adjusted the color balance just a bit so it matched the color of the next photo in the book.
2. I combined three photos: a bird flying, a line of clouds, and water. The photos were all from the Pierce Beach field trip. All photos had the common color of blue, so it wasn't too hard to combine them. I used the screen overlay on both the bird and the clouds. I also increased the contrast.
3. This photo was taken in Maine on one of the beaches by a private house I stayed in. I increased the contrast and then copied the photo onto another page. Then, I flipped the photo and pasted it back onto the original as a new layer. Then, I just used the screen overlay but erased the bottom half of the layer just so that the other photo wouldn't become too light.
4. My backyard is right on the Taunton river and catches the best sunsets. This photo is an example of that. I duplicated the photo and flipped it so that the photos looked like a mirror image. Then, I made the picture horizontal. I slightly edited the contrast so that the shoreline seemed more foggy.
5. During the summer, I had bonfires down by the river all the time. I had to use a long shutter speed in order to capture the fire without any blur. To mirror the image, I used to same process as the last photo except this time, I needed to erase one half of the photo so that it appeared as a mirror image.
6. This photo is off a chandlier in a theatre in Providence. I flipped the photo as a mirror image like the other pictures, but instead of just keeping it as a mirror, I used the overlay effect and made it seem like there were three chandliers overlapping each other. I kept this photo in b&w because it felt like it made the photograph appear more elegant and classic.
7. I took a photo of my backyard in the winter, when the pine trees were the only thing visible across the river. When I took the photo, I made sure the sky was more exposed than the trees so that it created a silhouette effect. I reduced the contrast a little to make the photo look foggy. Then, I made the photograph b&w. I simply reflected the photo horizontally and made a mirror effect.
8. This photo was the most complicated to make. I first took a picture of my profile against a white background. I added more contrast onto the photo and put it to the side. Then, I took a picture from my trip to Boston of a carousel and rotated it 90 degrees counterclockwise. Then, I made it b&w. I dragged the profile picture onto the carousel and used the screen overlay on it. This made my face and the carousel combine together, but the dark parts of the photo (such as my hair and shirt) become overlayed by the carousel.
I chose the subject of double exposures because I like how you combine almost anything together and make a cohesive photograph. You can combine nature and industrial architecture together and still have something that blends together. There isn't necessarily a concept or a story to my photo essay. However, I liked that visually every picture blends together. In the presentation, I ordered the pictures in color formation so that the colors flow into the next photograph. I tried to mix the composition of photographs so it wouldn't be too orderly.
Individual photographs:
1. This photo was taken underneath a tree where some flowers were blooming. The sun was right above the tree, so the lighting was directly above. I reflected the photo so that one of the flowers overlapped. After putting an overlay effect on each photo, the overlapped parts gained more contrast and saturation. I adjusted the color balance just a bit so it matched the color of the next photo in the book.
2. I combined three photos: a bird flying, a line of clouds, and water. The photos were all from the Pierce Beach field trip. All photos had the common color of blue, so it wasn't too hard to combine them. I used the screen overlay on both the bird and the clouds. I also increased the contrast.
3. This photo was taken in Maine on one of the beaches by a private house I stayed in. I increased the contrast and then copied the photo onto another page. Then, I flipped the photo and pasted it back onto the original as a new layer. Then, I just used the screen overlay but erased the bottom half of the layer just so that the other photo wouldn't become too light.
4. My backyard is right on the Taunton river and catches the best sunsets. This photo is an example of that. I duplicated the photo and flipped it so that the photos looked like a mirror image. Then, I made the picture horizontal. I slightly edited the contrast so that the shoreline seemed more foggy.
5. During the summer, I had bonfires down by the river all the time. I had to use a long shutter speed in order to capture the fire without any blur. To mirror the image, I used to same process as the last photo except this time, I needed to erase one half of the photo so that it appeared as a mirror image.
6. This photo is off a chandlier in a theatre in Providence. I flipped the photo as a mirror image like the other pictures, but instead of just keeping it as a mirror, I used the overlay effect and made it seem like there were three chandliers overlapping each other. I kept this photo in b&w because it felt like it made the photograph appear more elegant and classic.
7. I took a photo of my backyard in the winter, when the pine trees were the only thing visible across the river. When I took the photo, I made sure the sky was more exposed than the trees so that it created a silhouette effect. I reduced the contrast a little to make the photo look foggy. Then, I made the photograph b&w. I simply reflected the photo horizontally and made a mirror effect.
8. This photo was the most complicated to make. I first took a picture of my profile against a white background. I added more contrast onto the photo and put it to the side. Then, I took a picture from my trip to Boston of a carousel and rotated it 90 degrees counterclockwise. Then, I made it b&w. I dragged the profile picture onto the carousel and used the screen overlay on it. This made my face and the carousel combine together, but the dark parts of the photo (such as my hair and shirt) become overlayed by the carousel.