Development Work 4

1st Photograph

This is the stage where I start assembling my different photographs together, seeing what arrangements took the best and what works and doesn't.
After selecting the best photographs of each of my models, I cut them out on Adobe Photoshop Cs6. I did this by adding a "Vector Mask" to the picture, I then selected the "Quick Selection Tool" to cut around the person, deleting the background. To neaten up the edges I used the "Brush Tool" and changed the colour to "Black" to get rig of any unwanted background. I changed the brush size according to what I needed. This would make it much easier for me to place them where ever I want in my arrangement.

To create the world of my photograph, I firstly had to create the city in the background. To do this I had to get the photographs I took of the city. I selected the best pictures, cut them out using the "Quick Selection Tool" and  "Brush Tool" again to get rid of anything except the buildings that I wanted. I had to get different buildings and put them together to make the city seem as big, busy and full of hustle and bustle as possible. This would be to capture the feel of the city and how how big and powerful it can look before people and nature.

I then put together the sky for the photograph. To do this I go a picture I took of the sky, as the sun was starting to set while I was on holiday in Jerusalem. I removed everything out the picture except the sky again by using the "Quick Selection" and  "Brush Tool". I then got another sky from a different picture I took while taking landscape pictures in a park and put with the other sky. I then turned the opacity of the 2nd sky down, to an appropriate level. Then used the "Brush Tool" turning it's opacity down to about 20% to fade the edges of the picture so the 2nd sky blends in with the 1st, to create a one whole sky. I then placed the sky behind the city landscape.

1st sky

2nd Faded Sky

The Final Sky behind the City

After creating the sky and city, I started thinking about the forest. I found making the forest was the hardest part of this picture. I selected a landscape photograph I took at Blidworth woods and added that photograph into photo-shop. I then started removing the sky and unwanted trees in the background of the picture, so you can only see the trees in the foreground. I did this by using a selection of tools, they included the "Quick Selection Tool", "Brush Tool" and the "Magic Wand Tool". This bit the editing process was especially hard as I had to get rid of all the little white bits of the sky and the green trees in the background. I wanted my trees to give off the autumn feel, with all the browns, oranges and red warm colours. I kept all the fallen leaves from the trees on the floor of the woods, as it did just that.

Adding in the woods and removing unwanted background

After adding in all the trees I want to use, I then looked at adding in the the people in my scene. As I cut the models out beforehand, I had a bit of trouble exporting them, because whenever I exported them, they would still have the background there. To solve this problem I had to export my model cut outs as a "TIFF" file. I then imported that file type into my main edited picture. Once the cut-out was imported, I then had to readjust the size, while holding the "shift" button down, then clicking the "Tick" on the top bar. After doing that, I then had to "Right Click" on that layer and "Rasterize Layer". I did this for each picture, of my models.

Adding in my models 

When I added in all my models to the scene and arranged them in the way I was happy with, I then started thinking about shading. I added in shadows, by selecting one of the models, Duplicating the layer by right clicking and selecting "Duplicate Layer", selecting the background using the "Magic Wand Tool"  then clicking "Select" and "Inverse", I then when to "Edit" "Fill" and "Black". I used "Ctrl+T" to change the resize handle, and drag the top middle handle to stretch the picture the way I wanted the shadow to look. After that, I went to  "Filter" "Blur" and "Gaussian blur" to blur the shadow out a bit, I then changed the opacity to around 50 percent to make the shadow as opaque as I wanted it.
I then adjusted all the colours of the separate layers, to make them all seem as one picture. I played around with the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation and the colour balance, all to create the same feel and colour tones, so that none of the images look out of place and all fit into the the final photograph and balance each other out.
For the final touch to this picture, I added in the mist. To do this I added a new layer by clicking "Create New Layer" I  filled the new layer with white by using the "Paint Bucket Tool". Clicked "Filter" "Render" and "Difference Clouds". To blur the clouds out, I hit "Filter" "Blur" and then "Gaussian blur" and changed the opacity right down. And that is how I created the mist you see in the final Photograph I have edited together.

1st of my 4 Final Photographs 

Within this photograph I created, I wanted to show people coming out of the city, still concentrating on their technology and engulfed in themselves and their little worlds they have created. They don't even realise when they have come out of the city and their busy lives and are walking in the beauty and nature of the woods. This photograph symbolises how much human kind have gotten used to technology, the comfort of an easy life and not connecting with each other. Showing they have forgotten how to look around and take in their surroundings and notice what God has given them with the beauty of nature.
You may have realised I have added more buildings to the city to show the magnitude of it all. I've also edited in a picture of London bridge, which I took. When looking at my Photograph, the eye goes straight to the bridge. It draws the eye to it with its bright blue colour and the fact that I've placed it on the left top-hand corner, taking into account the rule of thirds. The eye then draws to the city and then down to the people walking in the woods and the finally lands on the trees sky- rocketing up. I have positioned the city in the background, still making it look big and powerful, in a way towering over the people. I've placed the people in the foreground, coming out the city, slowly walking as they all use their technology and are consumed by it. This photograph has a extended depth of field, the people are dotted around the place showing that they are not interested in anyone else except themselves. The people that are towards the front of the scene are more in focus and bigger that the ones that are towards the back of the forest and by comparison are much smaller and not as much in focus. This photograph doesn't show any of the models personality as they are all consumed in what they are doing. The audience doesn't know much about the people except judging them with what they are wearing.

There are many different contrasts in this first piece. The contrasts of tones is a big one, the tones of the city with it's cold, grey, blues to the warm brown, reds and oranges of the woods. They should clash but the composition if the two go. The contrast of the scales is very interesting in this Photograph as both the city and trees tower over the people, who are very small in comparison. The textures of the cold, ice steel of the city compared to the wood and leaves of the woods are very different. The city's texture gives off that it is harsh and rough and cold, where as the woods have the soft touch of the wood and leaves.
This photograph makes you feel....

2nd Photograph 

To create my second photograph, I copy and pasted my first Adobe Photoshop Cs6 edited photo file so I had tow of the same photograph. I then took the second one and started editing it all over again. I firstly took out all my models and each one of their shadows. I then started taking out some of the city and readjusting it to be lower down, so it appears smaller. This was to show that the people have travelled deeper into the woods and have gotten away from the hustle and bustle, into the quite of the woods. 

I added in some more trees from other pictures I took. I did this by opening the picture up in Photo Shop, using the "Lasso tool" drawing around the specific tree I wand and copping and pasting it by using "Ctrl C+V" into the main photograph. I then used the "Brush Tool" and "Quick Selection Tool" to remove all the unwanted edges of the trees. I then adjusted the brightness and colours of each of the trees to match each other. I added more trees to make it seem as if they were going deeper into the woods and are loosing all the technology. 

I then started to add in the cut-outs of my models, as they were doing all their urban dancing. I had to go through that same process as I did in my last Photograph, I exported them as "TIFF" files and imported them into the photograph. I then did all the adjustments that needed doing and added the shadows. As well as that, I changed the colour of the sky, it did this by clicking on "Image" "Adjustment" "Hue/Saturation" and changing the saturation higher and the hue to a red tone. I did this to show that time has passes as the sky is changing.  After that I adjusted the brightness, contrast, hue, saturation and the colour balance, all to create the same feel and colour tones, in each layer. This wad so none of the images look out of place and all fit into the the final photograph and balance each other out.  

2nd of my 4 Final Photographs 

In this photograph, the people have got rid of their technology and have started to have fun! In this Photograph I wanted to show the change that could happen if people shot being so absorbed in their own life's and problems and see that life is good. When you let the people around you in and communicate, you can have a good time and forget about you troubles for a while and just have a fun. The people are in a way celebrating their freedom from technology, glade to be rid of it all. They look like they are having a good time, are socialising with each other much more by taking, dancing and laughing together and having human contact.  

For this photograph, I have changed the scene completely. The city isn't as big as it was, as it isn't looming over the people. The city is smaller than the last you saw it, symbolising that the city isn't playing such a big part of their lives as it is shrinking along with all their technology and barriers. By making the city smaller and adding more trees, it shows that the people have gone deeper into the woods and are more comfortable with their surroundings, as they are celebrating being free from all the industrial, man-made things.  

Again in this Photograph, the composition is similar to the first. You see the city in the background, along with the trees which gradually come into focus and into the foreground with the people right at the front being the main subject of the photo. The people aren't as separate and apart from each other as the last photograph, they are more together and as a unit at the front of the photo. This could also symbolise that it show they are not all just individual people they are all connected in some way and are not alone. 

When looking at the photograph for the first time, the eye goes straight to the front of the scene where you can see the people dancing. It then goes to the tall trees following the vertical lines all the way up to the top of the photo and the back to then to the city in the background following the horizontal lines of the buildings.

Again you have the contrasts in the picture. The contrasts tones of the city with it's cold, grey, blues to the warm brown, reds and oranges of the woods. This contrast is a bit more subtle then the last photograph but is still there, this contrast is not as big as the last image, as you can't see as much of the city and the colours are darker. They should clash but the composition if the two go. The contrast of the scales is very interesting in this Photograph as both the city and trees tower over the people, who are very small in comparison. The textures of the cold, ice steel of the city compared to the wood and leaves of the woods are very different. The city's texture gives off that it is harsh and rough and cold, where as the woods have the soft touch of the wood and leaves. 

This photograph makes you feel...

3rd Photograph 

With this photograph I changed many things. I firstly started off by changing the sky. I changed it to one a picture I took of a sunset outside my window. I then looked at the city. I took out certain buildings and dragged the city down to show that it is indeed getting smaller. I then had a lot of difficulty with the trees as I had to add a lot more trees into the woods. This was a very time-consuming task as I had to select each and every tree I wanted and then cut them out, so there was no background just the tree. I also had to clean-up the trees that already existed as they had white spaces left behind from the other photographs as the sky was different and you wouldn't be able to see them.

I then had to get rid of all the old images of the models and add in their new cut-outs of them in their formal clothes, looking around. I had to make sure they were all placed in the right position and the right scale according to where they were positioned. I had to make sure that the people who were placed at the back of the scene were smaller and more blur them out a bit to seem far away. I then add in all their shadows. 

I also added more mist in each photograph, showing that they are getting deeper into the woods, and as they get deeper in, the thicker the trees and mist become. 

3rd of my 4 Final Photographs 

This photograph shows how the models are taking in their surroundings. They have completely lost track of time and technology and are taking their time to get in-touch with nature. Looking around at the enchanting forest taking it in, the sounds, sight, smell and touch of it all. They are exploring the the woods walking through the trees, finding new places and things within nature they curious and  inquisitive about it, as they have never experienced this before.
The city is getting smaller and getting left behind. You can see the lights of the buildings in the background showing that the sun is going down and becoming twilight. The city is starting to look more like a siloet.
When looking at this the first time, the eye is drawn to the trees, they follow the vertical lines up the tall trees to the top of the photograph and then back down to the people in the foreground.They then go to the background where the city and sky are. 
The colours and tones of this photograph don't have that much of a contrast that the first Photograph. They in a way blend together as the colours of the sunset with it's purples and oranges go with the trees and leaves of the forest. There is a contrast of scale, as the trees are very tall and overpowering as they are towing over the people who in contrast are much smaller that them. 
when looking at this photograph...

4th Photograph 

For my final photograph I had my models doing some formal/ballroom dancing. I changed the woods entirely. Again I spent a lot of my time adding trees to this scene. I wanted to show that the people were no in the depths of the woods. I changed the sky one again, to do this I just added in a picture I took of a sunset and enlarged it to fill the space of the sky.  I have completely taken out the city, to do this I just had to click on the layer and hit the "Delete" key. I then started to add in the people into the scene. I had to position them all in the perfect place, scaling them according to where they are and adjusting all the colours and brightness. After that I added in their shadows and adjusted the mist. 

4th of my 4 Final Photographs 

For this final photograph, I wanted to show the joy of all the people in the woods. Showing them happy and comfortable with each other and nature. This photograph shows how the have adapted to the woods and are happy with nature around them as they communicate better. They realise that there are other people in the world except themselves and are happy to socialise, dance and be happy together, not just alone (how they were in the first photograph). This show that they are all all capable of human contact, making friends and being close with other humans, not just consumed with themselves. It shows that they have broken free of their restraints, rules and regulations of the city the barriers man kind have created with each other. They can do what ever they want to and can get way from it all and escape into nature. That is why there is no more city within this photograph. They have gone so far into the woods that there is no turning back to it. They have left the rushed buy life behind and are now taking their time exploring nature and each other to their harts content. They are no longer stuck with their roles and responsibilities and pressure of the modern life. It is as if they have gone back to a time, where it was much easier going, slower and with much less burdens.
When looking at this photograph for the first time, the eye goes straight to the stunning sky at the top of the photo, going across the horizontal line and then landing to the tree tops and down their vertical lines down to the people dancing under the sky. 
When looking at the trees, you can see that some of them are in the foreground and some in the background. The ones in the foreground are in focus as you can see all the texture of the wood on them. As for the trees in the background, you can tell they get smaller and are gradually blur out and getting out of focus and gradually tuning into siloets. 

You    can see all the texture in the wood of the trees and crisp feel of the leaves on the floor of the woods. Again there is a contrast of scale, as the trees are very tall and overpowering as they are towing over the people who in contrast are much smaller that them. The colours and tones of this photograph are warm and comforting as it used a lot of natural earthy tones with the browns and oranges. 

When looking at this photograph, it makes you feel...