Shoot 7 Multiple Exposure Work Diary

For this shoot I wanted to focus on a simple yet visually striking image that will convey how hyperreality is triggered through the thoughts of the other person. To achieve the type of visual style that I wanted to go for, I opted to focus on multiple exposure. This technique is popular among many photographers such as Andre de Frietas who use it as a means to explore the mind of the subject.  I wanted to use one of his images as a critical influence for the creative direction which I would take the shoot. The image featured a girl whose expression matched what was going on in her head creating a small story for the audience. Her expression showed that she was almost daydreaming of a better place. This idea of a distraction from the real world quickly became the main theme for this shoot. For me this translated perfectly within the subject of hyperreality as I could explore themes that cause people to blend their outlook on life with the influence of the media within film. In order to evoke an otherworldly sensation I decided to use a shoot which I had done in New York. I did this as New York is one of the most documented cities on earth. It is commonly featured within films and other media so it made sense to use this as a contrast to the background. I would focus mainly on the use of contrast and compare an exciting, heightened world to a dull reality. For studio shoots, I only needed to keep a simple two light set-up with two soft boxes. I just needed to ensure that the portraits were well lit enough to salvage details of the face within the editing process. I had a shutter speed of 1/125, an ISO of 200 and an f stop of 11. These settings would allow me to capture well lit and detailed portraits. For the two images bellow, I captured the New York images at night. As I was dealing with a lack of light from the sky and fluorescent lights from advertisement I had to adjust m camera settings carefully. I used a shutter speed of 1/60, an f stop of 2 and an ISO of 40. This allowed me to capture a well lit image with good detail despite the lack of light.

Andre de Frietas influential image:

My images:

This image shows how I wished to achieve the message that I wanted to get across. The person appears to contain all this excitement and colour while the surrounding background remains blank and empty. This shows that our ideas about the world can appear more extrodinary than the world really is. The image appears stylised like a film in order to show how the film world can influence a person's thoughts on the world around them.

I used this technique for almost all of the images. I created a copy of the background layer and then made the lowest layer white. I then created a layer mask and used a black brush with a hardness of 80% in order to remove the background. I created a rough edit and then used the select tool and used refine edges in order to smooth the mask.

I then pasted the New York image into a new layer at the top of the image. I adjusted the scale and position of the image in order to fit the composition I wanted after creating a clipping mask in order to cause the image to fill the silhouette. In order to make some areas of the face present, I dropped the opacity to 82%. Small facial features would help humanise the image and make the purpose more clear that the person is constructing the world within their mind through media representation.

This image explores the same premise but instead focuses more on the media. Within the image, we can see billboards and signs that have lots of bringing within them. They clutter the inside of the image in order to show how the influence of this branding can become a part of the person's ideology. This idea is enforced through the use of contrast. The bold colours stand out among the night sky of New York. These darker tones also create greater contrasts with the background, enforcing the idea that reality is empty in comparison to this fictional world.

Progression:

If I were to develop this shoot, I would utilise more landscape photography which would work with my current theme within the image. I would choose to photograph nature landscapes in order to create more variations within this style of photography. For my next shoot, I would like to develop this idea of altering perceptions of reality through the use of more Photoshop techniques.