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Digital Photography & Imaging / Final Project

25.10.2021 - 22.11.2021 (Week 10 - Week 14)
Lulu Luisa Linardi / 0349358 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Digital Photography and Imaging [GROUP C] 
Final Project: Self-Titled

LECTURES

Fig 1.0: Thumbnail


Week 9: Digital Surrealism

Realism vs. Surrealism

- Realism
Takes subject matters of the ordinary and common world which we call "reality." It almost always takes a non-exotic and non-extraordinary subject matter and theme. There is no need to think outside of the box, as that is not "real."

Fig 1.1.1: Example of Realism


- Surrealism
A twist on Realism. It explores the subconscious mind, with subject matters concentrating on dream images and often aims to distort the ordinary and what we call reality.

Fig 1.1.2: Example of Surrealism #1

Surrealism defies logic. Dreams and the workings of the subconscious mind inspire surrealistic art (French for "super-realism") filled with strange images and bizarre juxtapositions.

Fueled by the teachings of Freud and the rebellious work of Dada artists, surrealists like Salvador Dalí promoted free association and dream imagery. 

Fig 1.1.3: Example of Surrealism #2

Dadaism is an anti-war art movement with artworks that is satirical and nonsensical in nature. Salvador Dalí was a Spanish Surrealist painter and printmaker known for exploring subconscious imagery.

Fig 1.1.4: Example of Dadaism

Fig 1.1.5: Artwork by Salvador Dalí


Digital Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement focused on types of arts to express the artist’s ideas themselves. In this digital era, surrealism is one of the top digital art styles.

How to start creating Surrealism artworks?
1. Think of:
- Dream-like scenes and symbolic images
- Unexpected, illogical juxtapositions
- Bizarre assemblages of ordinary objects
- Primitive or child-like designs

Fig 1.1.6: Example of Digital Surrealism #1

Fig 1.1.7: Example of Digital Surrealism #2

Fig 1.1.8: Example of Digital Surrealism #3


2. Capturing your Dream

- Sketch It Out  
Take a piece of paper and pen/pencil or a tablet and start to sketch. Draw your vision out roughly. Don't finesse any details yet, but just lay out key points of your vision.

- Find Reference Images
Gathering reference images will help you greatly in realizing your new idea. Gather images that directly relate to what you have in mind. 

3. Mindset During Creation

- "Does this look real?"
Surrealism is at its best when it's convincing enough that it could be real, however, we obviously know that the subject matter you are creating is nonexistent, thus is not real.

- Make it happen to the best of your ability

When you try to approach something challenging, you will learn the skills you may need for next time to make it work. The worst thing you can do is be afraid and back off from your idea, because you would never learn that way. 


Week 10: Intro to After Effects

What is After Effects?
Adobe After Effects is a 2.5D animation software used for animation, visual effects, and motion picture compositing. It is used in film, TV, and web video creation. This software is used in the post-production phase, and has hundreds of effects that can be used to manipulate imagery. This allows you to combine layers of video and images into the same scene.

Fig 1.2.1: Adobe After Effects

Adobe After Effects takes a different approach for creating movement. Motion graphics animation works by manipulating vector and rasterized art to create and tell a story. You can integrate physical-based media as well through photographs and videography.

Pre-Compositing in Adobe Photoshop
Basically, Photoshop is a platform to compositing the layers (graphic elements and photography). All the layers need to be arranged and rename accordingly so that it will be organized and easy to be animated in After Effects into moving images. 

Fig 1.2.2: Pre-Compositing in Photoshop

Pre-Compositing in Adobe After Effects
Basically, users can import elements such as images, video, vector and more into After Effects to create a digital visual effects, motion graphics, and other compositions. All the layer elements need to be organized and synchronized to the external software platforms such as Photoshop & Illustrator. After Effects files does not embed its media, it links to it.

Fig 1.2.3: Pre-Compositing in After Effects


Week 11: Digital Photography

Exposure Setting
In photography, exposure is the amount of light that reaches your camera sensor or film.

Fig 1.3.1: Exposure

The main parts of the camera:
1. Camera Body:
- Shutter
- Image sensor
- LCD screen

2. Camera Lens:
- Aperture/ Iris

*The camera body is a light-proof box.

Fig 1.3.2: Parts of Camera

There are only two camera settings that affect the actual “luminous exposure” of an image: shutter speed and aperture. The third setting, camera ISO, also affects the brightness of your photos.

Fig 1.3.3: Exposure Triangle

- Iris
Iris/Aperture is control the flow of light entering the lens. It is measured by f-stop, indicated by sequence of f-number: f/1, f/1.4, f/2 , f/ 2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22 , f/32, f/...
The lower the f-number, the larger the lens opening.

Fig 1.3.4: Iris

- Shutter
The shutter is a small plastic sheet that opens and closes to allow light onto the film or prevent light from reaching the film. Shutter speed is measured in seconds: 1/1000s, 1/500s, 1/250s, 1/125s, 1/60s, 1/30s, 1/15s, 1/8s, 1/4s, 1/2s, 1s, 2s, 3s, ...s

Fig 1.3.5: Shutter Speed

Fig 1.3.6: Shutter Speed Example #1

Fig 1.3.7: Shutter Speed Example #2

- ISO
Originally referred to the sensitivity of film—it's "light gathering" ability. For digital photography, ISO refers to the sensitivity—the signal gain—of the camera's sensor. The common ISO camera settings are: 100, 200, 400, 640, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400, ...
The lower the number of ISO the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain. 

Fig 1.3.8: ISO


Lens Perspective

There are wide-angle lens, standard lens, and tele lens. Appropriate lens provided desire framing, lens choice affects the angle of view.

Fig 1.3.10: Lens size comparison

Different lenses are designed for different purposes. Lenses can be categorized by Focal Length.

Fig 1.3.11: Types of Camera Lenses

- Focal Length
The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view, and vice-versa. Focal length is the measurement (in millimeters) from the optical center of a camera lens to the camera’s sensor.

Fig 1.3.12: Focal Length Example

Fig 1.3.13: Focal Length Measurement

- Depth of Field
It's the proportion of the image that is reasonably sharp and in focus. The smaller the aperture you use, the greater the depth of field. 

Fig 1.3.14: Lens Aperture Chart

Wide-angle Lens
Wide-angle lenses are ideal for fitting a large area into your frame. Wide-angle lens is especially useful for landscape photography or street photography. With wide-angle lenses, almost everything is in focus, unless your subject is very close to the lens.

Fig 1.3.15: Wide-angle Lens

Standard Lens
Standard lens offers a fairly accurate representation of what the human eye sees, both in terms of visual angle and perspective. Images created by the standard lens are perceived as more natural than those taken with other types of camera lenses.

Fig 1.3.16: Standard Lens

Tele Lens
Tele lenses are great for isolating a subject that is far away. Tele lenses allow you to photograph subjects from a distance thanks to their magnification. 

Fig 1.3.17: Tele Lens


Week 12: Double Exposure

Double Exposure & Image Blending Mode
Double exposure photography refers to merging multiple images. The goal is to make them surreal, emotional, or humorous. They usually feature silhouettes. Double exposure effect may look complicated at first. But it’s easy to make in-camera and in Adobe Photoshop. You don’t need a double exposure camera, as there are a few other ways you can create them. In the editing world, you have endless possibilities. 

Fig 1.4.1: Example of Double Exposure


How to transform ordinary photographs into powerful masterpieces?
1. Using the Tilt-Shift Effect
Photoshop has a great tilt-shift tool that will transform your photos into soft works of art. If you want to be extra creative, blur one of your photos instead of the entire image. Or blur everything except for one important detail. To add this feature, go to Filter > Blur Gallery > Tilt-Shift.

Fig 1.4.2: Tilt-Shift Effect

2. Create fake reflection
There are many ways you can create reflections. One of them is creating a double exposure with the help of a separate window photo. This is an example of the main subject surface with raindrops and bokeh. This helps to add interesting textures to multiple exposure photography.

Fig 1.4.3: Fake Reflection

3. Experiment with simple portraits and details textured
Combining something plain with something complicated will give you a balanced result. It will also save a lot of simple photos that you might discard.

Fig 1.4.4: Simple Portrait x Details Textured

4. Convert your results to Black & White
A lack of color will strengthen the emotions in your double-exposure images. If you want to express your work in a vulnerable way, experiment with this. It gives them a unique depth and allows you to experiment with something interesting just like film photography.

Fig 1.4.5: Black & White

5. Work with silhouette
Many double exposure photographers choose to work with silhouettes. But what if you worked with silhouettes only? It would give you a fun and doable challenge. And an opportunity to show very creative sides of yourself. Try silhouettes of yourself, other people, or random objects. Anything else that catches your eye can create unique composite images.

Fig 1.4.6: Silhouette

6. Pick two random photo
A random process doesn’t mean it’s not meaningful. Your results might create a story of their own, one that others will find encouraging. A lot of double exposures photography was happy accidents. But they led to great feedback and even greater creative growth. Try and forget about any other double-exposure ideas. Shoot interesting textures, shapes, and forms instead.

Fig 1.3.7: Combine two random photos

7. Make simple objects look fascinating
Take photos of everyday objects you usually take for granted. Try to make them look like something else. A silhouette of a dull-looking building could become the outline of a starry sky like the photo below. This technique will enhance your imagination.

Fig 1.4.8: Manipulate object

8. Use Shadow
Outlines of any kind are fantastic to work with for double-exposure photography. Shadows are as effective as silhouettes in this genre. They’re fascinating to work with. Take a photo of someone’s shadow and transform it into a story. You can do anything your heart desires with outlines of this sort. All you have to do is go out, take photos of a few shadows, and turn them into something beautiful.

Fig 1.4.9: Shadow


Photoshop: Blend Mode
Working with blend modes is almost always an experimental process. Because it’s nearly impossible to predict the results, you always seem to end up experimenting with different modes and Fill Opacities until you get the results you’re looking for. A particular blending mode works really well on more difficult subjects like glass, smoke, fire, and lightning. 

Fig 1.4.10: Blend Mode Groups


INSTRUCTIONS

TUTORIAL

Week 9: Moving Imagery

How to Create Loop Animation for IG Stories

Week 10: Layer, Composition, Keyframe

After Effects Live Demo Class

Kinetic Typography

Week 11: Lighting Do's & Don't

Laws of Light: 5 Portrait Lighting Setups

6 Easy & Amazing Lighting Setups with 1 Light: Cinematic Lighting Techniques

PRACTICAL

Final Project: Self-Titled

Our final project of Digital Photography and Imaging module, Self-titled, is an exploration project for the students to express their own individuality and reflect their personality into digital art self-expression. The main idea is to build up self-confidence and discover their interest.

The aim of this final project is to produce a still poster with the size of IG story or reels (1080 x 1920 px) and an animated poster with the same canvas size and is a 15 seconds long .mov or .mp4, which is less than 20MB.

To begin this project, students need to fill in their idea development inside the ppt slides. We had to write a biography of ourselves and the statement of our work, and also gather some mood board.

Idea Development
- Biography
Tell us about yourself
I’m a cheerful girl who still hasn’t had a clear picture for her future. Stuck in my own imagination, dreaming for unreachable things more than the future life.

What is your passion?
I spend most of my time sitting in front of TV watching drama series, and I also enjoy taking pictures of anything, especially scenery.

What’s motivate you to achieve your dream?
Seeing people’s great achievement makes me motivated a lot. Other than that, I also really appreciate and get motivated from the compliment given by my peers.

How do you want to visualize your dream into an artwork?
I’m planning to make an artwork with dreamy vibes showing myself who stucks in my imagination since I often get lost in fantasy.

Fig 2.1.1: My biography

- Work Statement
Tell us about your work
I want to show a work with myself who’s getting stuck in my own imagination, with cheerful and dreamy vibes of surrealism poster.

What is the concept behind it?
Showing an ordinary girl who has a lot of dreams and thoughts. My reality is often got mixed with the imagination. Therefore, I want to put both things in my reality and imagination inside my head and make it pops out.

What is the message you want people to understand it?
Nobody knows what thoughts are exactly inside people’s mind. Sometimes, even our own selves don’t know what’s in our mind.

What is your motto/quote?
Stay alive even if it’s useless.

Fig 2.1.2: Work Statement


Mood Board
Actually, I got really lost while searching for my mood board. I was very confused about determining what is suitable for my topic. And at the very first, I could only think of K-pop idol's poster, so I picked some of them as my inspiration. However, seemed like I was wrong. What I did was not the aim of this project. So, unfortunately, I had to try finding another mood board. And here's my new mood board.

Fig 2.1.3: Old Mood Board

Fig 2.1.4: New Mood Board

Poster #1
This first artwork design really caught my eyes. I really love how the designer combined all the elements and created a 'real' yet surreal artwork. It has like "fly me to the moon" feels, that's why I picked it.

Fig 2.1.5: Mood Board #1

Poster #2
I picked this poster because it really shows the surrealism vibes, which we're to produce in this project. The way the designer put dreamy and futuristic vibes together really made me attracted to this artwork.

Fig 2.1.6: Mood Board #2

Poster #3

The last poster I chose for my reference is this one. It is really interesting how the designer made the girl's head sliced and elements popping out from her head. While seeing this poster, I suddenly got the inspiration to create the popping head thingy.

Fig 2.1.7: Mood Board #3


Design Direction
This part really got me crying. It was really difficult determining what to create and how I'm gonna execute them. When I was to show my work to my lecturer, I got so nervous since I also didn't know what am I doing at that time. And while receiving negative comments from the lecturer, I felt like I was about to cry and give up at that moment. However, after clearing my mind, I started to explore for new design direction.

Fig 2.2.1: Old Sketch

Fig 2.2.2: New Sketch

Sketch #1
I came out with this sketch after seeing Poster #1 (Fig 2.1.5). The main idea of this sketch is to show myself sitting on the cloud and leaning on the TV, bringing out the dreamy vibes, which is my intention since the beginning. I wanted to share what's in my thought by slicing the head, and making items/elements pop out from my head.

Fig 2.2.3: Sketch #1

Sketch #2
For this sketch idea, I was inspired by the second and third posters (Fig 2.1.6 & Fig 2.1.7). I wanted to express what's in my thought also with the sliced head and pop-out thingy. However, for this second sketch, my aim is to bring out a more dreamy, cheerful, and brighter concept.

Fig 2.2.4: Sketch #2


Execution & Post Production
Next, I proceed to the execution part. But before that, I'll need to take a portrait of myself first. I took the photographs with my phone and also with the help of my precious tripod. From about 30++ pictures that I took, I chose some to use later. By the way, please ignore the background :(

Fig 2.3.0: Portrait of me, 15.11.2021

Digital Poster #1
I picked the first picture (top left) to use in my first poster draft. Before that, I removed the portrait's background first. I forgot to document the cutting process, but the tool that I used is quick selection tool. And here's the result.

Fig 2.3.1: My portrait after the background removal, 15.11.2021

After finishing the first process, I went straight to the main process. I started putting the elements together and play with the color correction.

Fig 2.3.2: Putting elements, 16.11.2021

Fig 2.3.3: Correcting the color, 16.11.2021

Next, I began the head-cutting process. I sliced my head and added some effects to make it looks 'real'.

Fig 2.3.4: Head cutting process, 16.11.2021

Fig 2.3.5: Adding cut-out effect, 16.11.2021

I then realized that this poster doesn't look so good and not that interesting. So I decided to not finalize it and chose to leave this poster draft. Here's the final draft of the first idea.

Fig 2.3.6: Poster #1 Draft, 16.11.2021

Digital Poster #2
I decided to move on to the second idea since I don't feel satisfied with the first one. The elements that I used are the same as the previous one, but I added some more and changed my portrait. I chose the third photograph (bottom left) because the portrait is more close up than the others. So, first I again removed the background of my portrait using quick selection tool.

Fig 2.4.1: Removing background, 18.11.2021

Fig 2.4.2: My portrait after the background removal, 18.11.2021

Before going to the next step, I went to the internet to explore new elements. Actually, I didn't save the links where I got those elements. But maybe we can refer to the file's name here. I also used some elements I obtained from the previous task.

Fig 2.4.3: Used elements

I began the head cutting part and the editings. For the step by step, I followed this hollow head tutorial here: https://youtu.be/mW1734wt76c

Fig 2.4.4: Cutting head, 18.11.2021

Then I started to edit and put the elements.

Fig 2.4.5: Removing elements background, 18.11.2021

Fig 2.4.6: Cropping elements, 18.11.2021

Additional information: This claw crane was edited by me. It was actually not that long, but since I need a longer one so I modified it myself in Illustrator.

Fig 2.4.7: Claw crane after modification, 20.11.2021

I also repaired the color, added shadow and grain noise to my portrait and the elements.

Fig 2.4.8: Correcting the color, 20.11.2021

Fig 2.4.9: Adding drop shadow to sliced head, 20.11.2021

Fig 2.4.10: Adding drop shadow to elements, 20.11.2021

Fig 2.4.11: Adding noise to elements, 20.11.2021

Finally, below here is my digital poster final outcome. At last, I decided to just go with this 2nd poster because the first one isn't interesting.

Fig 2.4.12: Poster #2 Final Outcome, 20.11.2021


Animation & Finishing
The last thing and the most challenging part to do is making the animation. I need to move the .psd file into After Effects to start the animating part.

Fig 2.5.1: Done importing the files, 21.11.2021

Then I proceed to the animating process.

Fig 2.5.2: Animating the clouds, 21.11.2021

Fig 2.5.3: Animating the TV, 21.11.2021

Fig 2.5.4: Animating the building, 21.11.2021

Fig 2.5.5: Animating the claw crane and sliced head, 21.11.2021

This is the draft of what I've done earlier.


Fig 2.5.6: Animation Draft, 21.11.2021

After receiving feedback from my lecturer, I gave some changes to my animation. Before, I only left my head open till the end of the video. However, I was told to try making it open at the beginning, and then close towards the end.

Fig 2.5.7: Repairing the animation, 24.11.2021

The final outcome of my animation and my statement (artist statement) can be seen at the end of the final outcome part.


Final Outcome

- PowerPoint Slide

- Still Poster

Fig 2.5.1: Final Poster Outcome, 20.11.2021


Fig 2.5.2: Self-Titled Final PDF, 20.11.2021

- Animated Poster


Fig 2.5.3: Final Video Outcome, 24.11.2021

Title: Helpless Dreamer

Helpless Dreamer is a self-titled project which is expressing myself. The work I made is using dreamy vibes, packaged in a surrealism poster. It is showing an ordinary girl who has a lot of dreams and thoughts. Since my reality is often got mixed with the imagination, so I decided to put both things in my reality and imagination inside my head and make it pops out. 

The concept is bright, cheerful, and dreamy, which is very me. I chose the cloud as the element and the color sky blue (with stars) to make it feels bright and dreamy, and so does the color scheme of the whole artwork. I came out with the idea of the claw crane and the music to brighten up the vibes and spread cheerfulness and positivity.

Throughout this project, I wanted to deliver this message for people to understand, “Nobody knows what thoughts are exactly inside people’s mind. Sometimes, even our own selves don’t know what’s in our mind.”

FEEDBACK

Week 10-12

No feedback given

Week 13

You've got your concept but you have no sense of art, and your work has no design direction as for now. Start finding new poster as mood board because we're doing a surrealism work not just simple photography.


Week 14

Nice poster and animation. The song fits well and the animation speed is good. Since you make the head open at the beginning, also make it close towards the end, it'll be nicer and if done, can be submitted already.


REFLECTIONS

This final project was really challenging. I was having a very hard time during this project. I had a lot of urgent matters in my daily life, but I also needed to complete this task. At first, I really got mixed up and confused, and that's resulting in my work. At the beginning, I wasn't very stable while doing this task and didn't even know what am I exactly doing. As the result, I received critics from the lecturer regarding to my work. However, after receiving the critics, I tried to understand what did I do wrong and then reflected for a while. Finally, after that, I came back with a fresher mind and can eventually complete the task with a better outcome. Despite all the dramas I faced during this project, I really enjoyed the whole process of designing and animating my poster.

FURTHER READING