Shoot 3 Work Diary

For this shoot I wanted to experiment with more metaphorical elements of the hyperreality subject. I wanted to experiment with a combination of interior and exterior photography, focusing on continuing with the theme of contrasts from my previous shoot. I decided to reflect this idea by focusing on an idea of doorways and windows in order to reflect the types of realities that people tend to convince themselves that they lead while actually being in a dull environment. I would achieve this through the use of photomontage as well as selective colour in order to highlight contrasts within the image. This shoot was supposed to reflect this idea of having a desire to escape the dullness of reality by experiencing the fake, heightened reality in place of the real one. The effect is supposed to appear dream-like and invoke a sense of imagination. I took inspiration from an image by Logan Zillmer which depicts a man opening his background like a curtain, revealing a completely different example. What inspired me was the use of contrast, as the environment in which he was standing contrasted completely with the background which was present within the other environment. I began thinking of ways in which I could develop the themes within this imagine order to translate it into the subject of hyperreality.

This example of hyperreality gives the audience a clear example of how our perspective can be altered. This allows the audience to experience the differences between how we view the world and how the world really is in comparison. The background is represented as the real world as it is dull in a black and white format. The background is blurred while the foreground is sharp. This shows the audience how our reality is often ignored for a fake one that does not accurately depict the real nature of things. The hyperreality is represented with bright, over saturated colours in a completely different environment. I wanted the colours in the image to be over exaggerated as it reflects the heightened ideas about reality that are represented in media to be shown. For this image, I used an ISO of 200 and an f stop of 3. This allowed me to shoot in lower light and obtain the depth of field which I wanted to use to reduce the detail within the background while keeping detail within the glasses.

In order to create the desired effect, I used the selection tool in order manipulate the background independently. I inverted the selection and applied a black and white filter in order to leave the lens's coloured.

I inverted the selection again and began to use the eraser tool to remove the lens of the glasses. I selected my other image that I wanted to place into the framed pasted it in the layer underneath the glasses layer. 

Since I wanted it to be clear to the audience, that they were viewing the hyperreality world through the frame of the glasses while the real world remained dull in the background, I looked to enhance the contrasts within the frame. I used hue/saturation in order to make the tones of the second image brighter. I then used the levels tool in order to manipulate darker areas of the frame, causing the background to appear more obscure and dull.

This image conveys the way that our ideas of hyperreality are planted. The idea is that we watch television and we become attached to the way that life is represented in these fake television programmes. After a while the hyperreality that is shown on screen starts to form our opinions of how we believe the world to be. All the spectacle of television and film is not an accurate portrayal of the world that we live in. I have attempted to highlight this by sharpening the black and white tones in order to create a bigger contrast between the bright colours that are shown on the screen. The dark spots within our reality are enhanced in order to create an empty void. For this image, I had an exposure of 1/8 second with an ISO of 200. I was aware that I wanted to make some areas of the image darker, while maintaining enough detail to accurately uses the photomontage effect.

For this image, I created a duplicate layer of the background layer in order to allow me to remove a section of the image. I used the rectangular marquee tool in order to roughly fit the frame of the television. I then warped the selection in order to precisely fit the frame of the television in an attempt to match the perspective of the image. I created a layer mask and began using a black brush in order to remove the selected areas of the image.

I used a layer mask and brush in order to more intricately fit the frame of the television. I zoomed into the image and used a white brush to carefully fill in details of the image that were previously removed.

I pasted the desired image within the layer underneath the television layer. I scaled and transformed the image in order to fit the composition which I wanted. In order to make the television world seem more heightened, I used the hue/saturation tool in order to make the tones of the image brighter. I wanted the colours within the frame to appear slightly exaggerated in order to look like the media had presented a false reality, while creating a larger contrast within the final image.

I applied a black and white filter to the television layer in order to create a sense of how dull our reality is compared to the fictional hyperreality. In order to exaggerate this I used the levels tool and also began changing areas of the black and white filter. I reduced each colour of the image to a darker state to give a sense of emptiness within the frame. I created a clipping mask to the layer in order to ensure that other layers were not affected and remained bright.

Progress:

In this shoot, I would have liked to shoot more outdoors as well as indoors. Doing this would allow for me to have better light and more diversity within my images. If I could add any other aspects to this shoot, I would have explored a similar technique through other technological platforms e.g.Smartphones. For my next shoot, I will attempt to bring more of the outdoor elements into my images which will offer some contrast into the dark interiors that I have used within this shoot.