Posterized Effect on Photoshop.

The posterized effect kept on appearing on photoshop in tabs when I was doing previous experiments, I thought that because of this photograph relating to Alice in Wonderland making it look slightly cartooned (the effect that is meant to be achieved when posterized) could look good so I decided to use this photograph and give the effect a go.

1. I opened my photograph on photoshop.
2. I clicked on the image tab, then adjustments, then posterize.
3. I put the levels to about 4 (the lower they are the more dominating the cartoon-like effect is.

The effect was very basic, and The result wasn't as good as I thought it would be, it looked too simple and the colours looked quite dull rather than vibrant, I used a brush to create a dark vignette around the photograph to see if it would bring out the face more but instead it look unprofessional because of the dotted pixels and rather out of place.

I definitely would not be continuing this for any further experimentation in the darkroom.

Shattered Glass Effect on Photoshop.

1. I loaded the original photograph that I wanted to use into photoshop, also from google I dragge din a photograph of shattered glass (prefferably black and white so the black can be selected easier), I made sure this photograph had a hold in it that was appropriate for me to place over my subjects face.

2. On the glass photograph layer I then changed the blending mode in the drop down menu above the layers from normal to screen.

3. To line up the hole in the glass with the face I went to edit, then free transform and clicked warp so I could stretch the hole to the correct place whilst holding shift to resize the glass layer image to cover my whole photograph.

4. Using the polygonal lasso tool I drew over parts of the cracks in the glass that were around the hole, I aslo added some into it to create a shape around her face that would be deleted to reveal her face more.

5. By clicking on the layer mask icon below the layers, I hid this selection around her face.

6. Using a photograph from google of a blank background with a slight dirty look and texture to it I dragged this into my document as a new layer. Using free transform in the edit drop down menu, I held shift to resize my layer to cover the whole document.

7. I then dropped the opacity of this layer to 50 and dragged the layer beneath the glass layer.

8. Then to get rid of the area on her face where I had previously cut out as a layer mask, I held down 'cmd' and clicked to drag the layer mask I created on the glass layer onto this layer.

9. On the texture layer, I went into layer style, chose bevel and emboss, then went into the techniques drop down menu and changed it to chisel hard. Also I bumped up the depth until visibly appropriate, dropped the size down to 2, and finally played around with the lighting circle until the direction of it looked correct.

10. To enhance the edges more I added a contour (which is in the menu on the bevel and emboss window), on the drop down menu I selected ring double, I adjusted the lighting again to see what looked best.

11. I went into the drop shadow menu, using multiply as a blending mode I manually dragged the shadow down until appropriately representing the glass being over her face.

12. To enhance lighting of whole photographs, I added a new layer above the original photograph but below layers with mask on them.

13. Using the gradient tool, I used foreground to transparent, I changed foreground white to black, I drew from middle of the face to outwards so that the composition gets darker as it goes out, then I changed the blend mode to multiply.

14. Reselecting the top layer with glass picture, I held 'cmd' and on the layer flyout menu chose merge visible.

15. I then went on image, adjustments, hue saturation, colourise, and changed the hue to 200, saturation to 40 and left the lightness at 0.

16. I changed the blend mode to soft light to give it a blue cast for dramatic effect.

I chose to do this because I had heard of shattering negatives in the darkroom so I thought I could try something similar digitally, I decided not to go ahead with shattered negatives because I didn't want to take this idea further run terms of leading up to a final piece because I wasn't too keen on the result, I didn't think it looked as realistic as it could have done.

Neuance Effect on Photoshop.

I decided to try and edit a photograph in a way which I hadn't before, I saw this effect and tried it out to see if it could enhance the fashion in my photograph. 

I chose something less dramatic than the skull tutorial because although I enjoyed doing that one, I wanted to try something on photoshop which had a slightly more subtle effect to see how I would be able to present this different type of skill.

1. I dragged the photo into photoshop.

2. I then created a new layer and named it vignette, I clicked the brush tool, set the size to around 900 pixels and painted black around the edges to give it a vignette effect.

3. I then changed the blend mode to overlay for that layer.

4. I created a new layer of black and white adjustments, I changed the preset to maximum black and opacity to 60%.

5. I created another new layer of levels adjustments, I set the black input to 20, mid tones in put to 0.83, and a brightness to around 200.

6. I duplicated that last layer, I lightened the whites then duplicated this layer.

7. Zooming in and using the brush tool I brightened the whites here. Then I clicked 'cmd' and then 'I' to invert this.

8. Using the paint brush I highlighted the parts of the photograph with white where they needed brightening, I also put the mid tones up slightly.

9. At this point I merged every layer into one. 

10. New layer and with this I went onto filter, then sharpen and adjusted this to around 190% and the radius between 7-8.

11. I changed the blend mode to lighten and duplicated this layer and changed the new ones blend mode to hard light.

12. I duplicated this layer and put the blending mode to normal and opacity to 65%.

13. To add more sharpness I duplicated that layer again and put the opacity to 100%, then went to filter, other and high pass to sharpen the radius at around 0.1.

14. Then I changed the blending mode to vivid light.

15. I merged the layers by clicking 'cmd', 'options' and then 'shift e'.

16. To save this I copied the document to a new document.

17. On the original I created a new layer (duplicate), on image adjustments I clicked HDR toning and ticked preset to monochromatic artistic.

18. I then adjusted the curves to make it darker by dragging the midpoint down to the right corner.

19. I then duplicated the layer for a final time and put a blur filter on it with pixels around 35, I set the blend mode to soft light.

I used this photograph because it was the best out of the 2 digital photographs that I took (I wanted colour in this photograph and I couldn't achieve this using my darkroom prints. The lighting also contrasts well.

I wouldn't take using this effect any further because I found it quite boring in comparison to fantasy and supernatural elements which I wanted to apply to my work, also the harsh lightings dramatic effect didn't seem appropriate for my theme because it can hide some of the details and colours in the clothing or make-up being advertised because there is too much shadow on them.

Skull Effect on Photoshop.

I chose this photograph because it focuses fully on the face as does the tutorial, also they're no odd angle which could make the transforming in photoshop more complicated. The bizarre mad-hatter style would also work well with this because of the spooky elements of both subjects. I chose to produce this particular type of experiment because the mystery and supernatural elements relate well to my fairy photographs but give them a darker twist.

Here I followed the tutorial and only masked half of her face so that the transition effect could blend with the tones of the face.

Here I transformed the whole of the face which looked quite out of perspective and I had trouble warping the photograph to achieve an accurate effect. I preferred only half of the face covered.

1. I opened my photograph in photoshop and then dragged a skull photograph onto it as a new layer.

2. I pressed enter to place it and then pressed 'cmd t' to retransform the image, I resized it to the same size as the face and rotated it to the same direction.

3. Using the magnetic lasso tool I drew around the skull and then clicked the select tab and inverse select, then I clicked cut to delete the background of the skull photograph.

4. 'Ctrl t' to transform it again but this time clicking warp on the options so that I could stretch the face of the skull over my photograph, enter to place this.

5. 'Alt' and then click between the 2 layers to create a clipping mask.

6. Then go to layer, layer mask and hide all.

7. Using the brush tool on white, I drew over the face with an opacity of 45 to have a subtle skull tone on the face.

8. When happy I adjusted the brightness and contrast and saved my outcome.

This tutorial was fairly easy and I enjoyed doing it because of the way the tones worked well together, I would take this further in terms of a final piece because I could link it with the spooky death-like elements in Wawi's (who I have briefly looked at) work such as the darkness and spider webs, also the cracked and frayed texture on human faces.

Fairy Fashion Photographs.

Here are my photographs from the first film I took from following my shooting plan, college misplaced the developing chemicals so my negatives were underdeveloped meaning my prints with them would end up over exposed because of the light getting through them, I experimented in the darkroom with f's of 16, 11, 8, 6, 4, 2.5 on timing from less than a second up to around 18 (all with a filter of 5 for maximum contrast in attempt to lessen the over exposed grey shades and lack of lighter areas) and all of my prints (found in my sketchbook) came up much too grey. Using photoshop I adjusted the brightness and contrast of my prints once scanned in and lessened the selective colours of white and black in some of them. Here are the photographs which turned out best.

Here I captured the make-up in detail and the fairy elements of her face. Depth of field used to focus on her face.

Longer shot, not as effective as the close up, I feel as if more of the outfit needs to be seen and the contrast from the darkness of the tree takes over too much.

Long shot, too much focus on background she should have been in the centre of the frame to focus on the fashion.

Sky in background works well, makes it seem wintery and fantastical, make-up isn't so clearly seen, could have had a slightly smaller aperture to lessen the shadowy darkness.

I like this one because of the make-up and hairstyle being shown clearly, the depth of field in the background, and the natural light making a contrasted and sharp effect.

CLose up of the wings, a shot to show them clearly rather than create a certain fantastical atmosphere.

A favourite, The depth of field creates abstracted shapes with are well contrasted but effectively blend into the background, we can see the transparency of the wing material creating texture and also the make-up and hairstyle full on and clearly, the setting works well with the natural lighting and feminine look of this photograph.

Works effectively like the photograph above it because of the depth of field and various tones of greys blending into black, mischievous stance/pose looking like she is hiding like a fairy would, the light peering through the trees helps this too.

I like this framing, the idea of contrast between a good and a dark fairy, the clothing being shown effectively and fully, also working well with the natural setting, fence in background slightly ruins it, would have been better with a forest/trees and branches everywhere because I could put them out of focus.

This photograph worked really well as a composition although the result was slightly out of focus. The colours of the outfits contrasted really well and the oppositions with good and evil were shown as something like a fashion battle.

As a bonus, on the day of the dress-up I took more photographs (this time digitally) using the studio lighting because I thought it would blend well with the harsh colours of the costume below, also the bold statment the harsh lighting with it could make and represent in photographs.

I like the studio lightings effect here, as if the darkness is emerging from below giving it a smoky effect, composition/framing could have been slightly more centred.

This composition worked much better, the shadow has a smoky effect and created a professional and harsh look on the background which had a soft texture compared to the brushed look of the hair and the straight and strong stripes on the shorts.

First Film Strip Ideas.

For my first film strip I saw the perfect opportunity to take some photographs, still relating to my fashion theme of friends at college because of the dress-up day for art students - I had friends coming in as fairies which would fit perfectly after looking at Viona's work relating to femininity in a fanstastical way. I decided I could photograph both of my friends styles seen as one was aiming for a dark theme and the other rather bright and colourful, shots such as body length shots showing off the full garments and close ups to show the detailed make-up combined with nature as Viona and Pischl did. I started outside but also wanted to make use of the studio lighting seen as their costumes looked professional and specifically prepared. I could also make use of a contrasting wall that I thought could work well as a backdrop.

7 Day Photo Challenge.

I set myself a challenge of taking a photograph each day for 7 days (still in relation to our theme, each one covering different themes out of these seven -

Time

Housing

Shoes

People

High Angle

Low Angle 

Something Blue

Day 1 - Time

Day 2 - Housing

Day 3 - Shoes

Day 4 - People

Day 5 - High Angle

Day 6 - Low Angle

Day 7 - Something Blue

Beate Pischl Analysis.

Beate Pischl is the sister of Gerd Pischl, both photographers, they have set up their own website together (http://photographies.at/start_galleries/start_galleries.htm), although all of their photographs have various themes (nature involving flowers and portraits of people, many more) their isn't really a distinctive way to tell their photographs apart although I have noticed Gerd's photography of people is usually shot as a long shot whereas the majority of Beate's are closer portraiture photographs. This photograph is in their portraiture gallery, although I think it could also be categorised as fashion, the only element missing is the fact photograph is taken for personal desire rather than for advertisement and selling. Their opinion is stated on their website in German (where they originate from) and translated to English 'We have always been having a strong affection to beautiful photos, the source of inspiration comes from ourselves but the visual side is always open when watching'. The dates of the photographs are not listed on their website, this photograph is titled 'Lolita'. This name is usually associated with sorrows and is a Spanish, it is also used a lot as a cover up name for females with a more seductive job, this could give deeper meaning to what the photograph is about. It exaggerates the contrast and airbrushed effect of the photograph, which creates a smoothened texture by the digital manipulation.

The piece has been framed quite tightly, there is no empty space, it is quite squashed in but this works well because this is enough to give us a full grasp of her facial expression and make-up as well as noticing the colours of the clothing we can see and that they co ordinate well and match with the make-up, just by seeing the umbrella in the background it shows us the clothing style of victorian first class elegance and femininity. It is quite a strange angle because rather than a front on portrait it is from the side and slightly low. The shapes created by the contrast of the her pale skin and the black clothes create a sharp and harsh edge and quite triangular shapes, the netting softens this and also looks like it could link to a lingerie material, her cleavage is out and the ribbons are tied as if she is attempting to seduce somebody. The tonal range varies, the main colours are black and the white tones blending with pale peach of her skin, the black is sometimes softened and blurred by the lighter tones blending over the shades, the pink gives an element of lust or femininity, it stands out from the black and highlights parts of the photograph such as her neck and her lips. The silk fabric reflects nicely with the studio lighting and shines through. The movement of the photograph is quite still but we can imagine the looks and attention that would be paid on this scene from outside of the frame if she was standing in the street for example. The arrangement is pleasing because it is how we would see her from our view if we were talking to her or paying attention to what she is wearing, although the low angle could present a lack of value or importance towards her or women.

I think the photograph has been planned out, the costumes carefully selected and colours having symbolistic meaning, her make-up has been done very detailed and carefully rather than rushed, this is a special occasion for the women or character and like fashion photography, focuses completely on beauty and appearance. The camera hasn't used a wide lens or any zooming, instead the depth of field has been lessened to blur the background deliberately, this is to focus us on her facial appearance and have the netting as a background element but not too blurry to make out what it is. The lighting is quite soft but bright enough to have the colours enhanced to look deep and powerful. Digitally taken, edited by photoshop rather than a filter or darkroom effects.

This work effects me because it shows beauty and feminism and is completely related to the genre of female fashion which is what I want to present, it captures a classy look and and could relate to literature of Victorian times and fashion, also something a poet would write about. I like the colours and think this is the most important formal element of the photograph, the contrast represents a harsh reality and strong reaction from the viewer because of the impact it makes, the idea of the women being squashed in could relate to a way she is being treated which could have links with the choice of costume which aimed to impress others rathe than herself. This has inspired me to take photographs of this genre with a white backdrop and enhance colours much more than I have been in photoshop.

Bec Wonders Analysis.

Bec Wonders started to photograph at the age of 15 when she moved to Sweden on her own. Her style involves various combining of mediums although she is primarily a painter she states that she likes to 'look outside the box and combine the obviously opposite, I like to merge painting with photography and design', and aims to exhibit fine art in a accessible way. You can tell that the piece is fairly modern (after 70's at least) because of the clothing which is quite high street, regular women's fashion rather than something obviously presenting the stage in time of the 60's by wearing something like a beret.

The process involves black white printed photographs with part of the print not printed where Wonders will paint over the gap left to represent the same image but with paint rather than the black and white. The materials used are photoshop to enhance the original photograph, the DSLR camera where the host was taken in studio lighting with a black backdrop. The paint also to give a splash of colour the photograph and create a more rough and gritty texture rather than the smoothness on the original print. Elements such as tone are very important in this composition, for the photograph because the black and white shows how important the lighting is because of the lighter tones in the hair being reflected from the direct lighting, this also creates a harder shadow. The paint is monochromatic which could symbolise presenting only one thing but also relies on tone a lot, the colour needs to be of the same spectrum but some lighter and some darker to create the 3D effect of shadow being caste din a similar way to how it is on the photograph and also the shadow of the 'paper' rips. Line is important around these rips because fit is harsh rather than soft.

The meaning could be that the words coming out her mouth could be from someone else and not what she actually believes in, it could be that her mouth is being ripped off for an aggressive reason, her expression isn't exactly happy so we wonder what is going on, she looks uncomfortable which could show that the paint is meant to represent something and actually be part of the photograph by representing something that she actually feels. The colour blue is seen as quite cold and more of a sad colour rather than something happy like red or yellow. Her aim of looking outside the box could also mean she is presenting more than what we see and instead showing feeling or views from inside somebody rather than only what we see. 

It makes me think of how I can interpret this myself and I would like to produce work like this from the darkroom by covering part of the photograph the I wish to paint of with a ripped piece of paper to give it a 3D effect and roughness to the edge. Then I could paint on top of my prints. Its like replacing something that exists with something that isn't relevant to them or is the same but in a different medium, the colour splash is quite subtle but makes an effect. I chose to analyse this piece because of the painting element involved which I have explored before but not in this way and I like painting and it is something I would consider doing for a final piece as a combination with darkroom prints.

Viona Analysis.

Titled ‘Cherry Blossom’ by photographer Viona. She is known simply by her first name, not much personal information about her age and life is available but she has been an experienced fairy tale themed photographer for a few years and labels herself as ‘Mistress of fantasy & queen of mysterious worlds’, this photograph was created from her personal interests which involve her attempts to grasp the gracefulness and elegance of women, freezing time and opening doors to other dimensions in a visually magical way. It links with a lot of modern photography work such as Victoria Frances, both artists and many more of this theme are presently working which shows the theme is popular and links with peoples social interests in the fashion and fairy tale theme of photography. Viona holds events and creates costumes as well as taking photographs and presenting her thoughts in this way. The photograph links to gothic literature and the imagery we see and props such as castles, unicorns and woodland settings in her other photographs show that this could be a strong influence.  The exact year this photograph was taken is unknown but we can tell it is modern because of the advanced editing skills that have been used – photoshop, DSLR camera.

The process involved a summers day to present the pale pink shades of blossom as positive and bright like the weather. Also costume is very important, colour especially because this matches the blossom. For the editing it looks like she has created a separate layer to paste the selected part of the photograph (the women/fairy) onto after lightening the background to create a magical mist effect. There looks like there is a high brightness and lack of contrast on parts of the tree to soften them and show the fairy as the focus point and what we are first drawn to and not letting harsh shadows produced by the plants overtake the contrasted colour on her wings. There is a sense of other worlds and dimensions of space in this photograph created by the way the fairy looks like she has entered out world by the light around her presenting a portal. The photograph is available in large canvas prints, the size can be chosen but I think it works better quite large, around a meter or 2 so that we can see the minute detail and the power of the colours can work, if it was too small this would be overshadowed. The composition has movement because of her position to the right, she is not staged completely in the centre, this shows that the shot is almost sneaking up on her for a shot and not setting her up especially for one. Colour is the most important formal element, the hues are similar – all pinks and greens which are softened so that they blend well as a relaxed composition. Tone in these colours presents the shadow in a way that shows us the reality of the colours but not too contrasted. The shape of the wings is important because this matches the roundness and softer blends of pale pink, they create a decorative look and the power of the photograph is very strong in a happy and magical sense because of this roundness and soft tones.

The title links us to nature and this relates to fairies being seen as pretty creatures in the woodland, her being by flowers and blossom rather than something artificial shows this more and relates to their classic stereotype. The genre I would associate this photograph with is portraiture and also documentary because it represents what Viona thinks of in a visual way. I think that the subject is presenting the beauty of women, she aims this and we can see it, the women is centre point symbolising her as most important and the silence created by the calm surrounding shows her as the only one. The pink represents the soft beauty and emotionally this photograph draws you in which can be an aim for women in general towards others. The narrative can be interpreted, we could link it to a woman’s loneliness or individual and standing out beauty, or a fairy tale story involving fairies. Viona quotes "Thousands of fans across the globe are watching closely how Viona transforms her ideas into pictures, costumes and events. As much as possible she tries to draw people into her magical world, where possibilities are only limited to one’s imagination." Showing that our imagination can take control of how we see this photograph. The fairy looks relaxed and calm which influences our mood.

Visually I think that the work is beautiful and I am drawn to the contrast between the misty faded colours and the fuller brighter ones. It reminds me of Frances work but more focused on the scene and colour rather than a close up portrait. It is a relaxed piece which mellows my mood, I like it because of the colours and how they stand out to me as beautifully chosen and the way the costume goes with this so well and the whole composition is so natural because of her positioning in herself and the photograph. There is a sense of sweet smell and soft touch too.

Personal Project Ideas and Mood Board.

James Davies - Smoke Manipulation

Toni Frissell - Underwater Black and White Photography

Jean Fan - Creative Bokeh

Foto4Good Graphics Group - Selective Colouring

Vitaly Freidman - Long Exposures

Patrizio de Renzo - Fashion Photography

Fashion Photography - Infared Photograph

James Cooper - Underwater Photography

Greg Sand - Mixed Media Photography

Body Painting

Wawi Navarroza - Darkroom Experiments

Personal Project Brief.

This is the final coursework project I will be doing throughout my projects in this A2 project, the title tells me all - this is a project to showcase work of the highest standard which I will produce to make this final project stand out as higher in terms of technical ability and analytical skills. Also, I will be sticking to my fashion theme that I chose in the first coursework project.
The aim is for this project to be planned out and completed by myself with my own aims and objectives in terms of the subject matter I will be photographing and who I can link it to (designers/artists/photographers) and the experiments I choose to do on the photographs. Towards the end I will have gathered enough experimentations and research to produce a final outcome and a mounted of my test prints and best work that has came out of my experiments. 

Final Piece Evaluation.

The idea of this Enhanced image project was to experiment with ways of changing photographs form their original state by experimenting in the dark room with things such as sandwich printing, handmade negatives and everything else presented in this blog, also digital enhancements on programmes such as photoshop where tutorials giving various effects for example limo or nashville effect. Other ways of enhancing could involve collaging with various materials, painting on top of them, ripping them act. which can be done on both darkroom prints and digital photographs in colour or black and white. By the end of the project the aim was to have a strong amount of various experiments and be ready to produce a final outcome involving photographs taken myself enhanced in some way (one or more ways of enhancing) and backing it up with inspiration from photographers that have inspired me to do what I choose to do with my photograph. My ideas of fashion have always been quite bold and different rather the casual styles, I liked looking at photoshoots which to me were very over the top, for example Karla Powell's make up designing which I have looked at. 

The journey of my project started from simple fashion photographs in the street with a coloured film, I then took this to a black and white one using a female model instead so that I could enhance them in the darkroom whilst developing rather than just digitally. I enjoyed collaging with some of the digital photographs, also double exposure in the darkroom. I stepped up my photoshoots by daring to include more props and create make-up that was more over the top, also focusing specifically on what my subjects were wearing, for example the 60's styled hat in my Parkinson inspired shoot. Towards this point of the project I started to look into more photographers which took photographs of the sort of shoots I liked, such as Powell and Parkinson and thinking about what enhancements would go well. When thinking about text I could overlay to my photographs, I looked at Jeffrey Wolin because his text had meaning and significance to the photographs, I did this to my 60's shoot combining letters from lost ones from the war to go well with the setting. This lead me on to create my own ideas for example enhancing these images even more by burning the edges to match the old and ruined effect. I tried to use text for my fashion photographs too, although I only covered part of the photograph (the background) as Wolin did, this lead me to weave the reversal of the text together creating a bold frame effect, I also played around with the timings of the exposure of the text giving me different results - one black and white text, the other more light and faded. Also, my darkroom prints inspired by Powell's make-up could look good when collaged so after having experimented with Quentin Jones and Michelle Thompson styled collages, I decided to involve elements that would relate to the photographs, for example alcohol lids for the party theme to be collaged on to represent her hair. When browsing for fashion photographers I looked at Charlotte Carons work and this involved detailed painting on digital photographs. Because I paint and like to do so detailed I thought that I could produce some dark room (for bonus marks for developing myself) prints myself to try this. Looking at these photographers led me to try out their style of work which over and over has led me to new ideas of my own stemming from their style.

Charlotte Caron was the photographer that inspired my outcome along with Stacey Page. The experimenting with painting in detail on photographs really appealed to me and I thought about my presentation of it and because I looked at Page before and had seen she had her photographs heat transferred (printed on fabric) I could do this (seen as she also covered some human faces up with animal identities but sewn instead of painted, below).

I printed my photographs on the fabric and this gave it a sense that it was fashion because it invalid actually clothing material (cotton) and also gave the photographs a texture of clothing/fashion. Although I didn't enjoy sewing. I thought whilst doing this piece, at the point where the painting was completed on the fabric, that I could enhance it further by taking tips off of Page and sewing around the edges of my photographs to present them separately more clearly and involve a process that is done to produce actual fashionable clothes. The animals on humans relates to this also because of catwalk head gear which I looked at here  on the Fashonising.com website. My idea to produce 5 rather than one was  my own choice but by backing up what I wanted to do with it by the inspiration from Caron and Page I felt this was justifiable, although Caron did a series, they didn't sit together as one piece and were larger, I thought mine would work better as a 5 because all of them stand out because there isn't too many and it also looks like a catwalk group in terms of more than one person walking in the same direction, I could also clearly show the type of animals I was involving in my painting clearly by doing more.

I am happy with my final outcome, I think that I took my original photographs a step further by enhancing them so much by using my painting skills to produce something appropriate but also something that I enjoyed. I am most happy with the choice I made to print my photographs onto fabric, I think this gives them a much more flexible effect and was a better base (similar to canvas) for paint to go on, it sat together well and because the fabric and paint had texture it wasn't looking out of place which I can imagine happening on photo paper if I had chosen to paint straight onto this, the smooth texture would contrast too much with the paint. I think the subtle sepia toned cloth went well with the neutral colour soy the paint, it didn't look too clean for the messy texture and various muddy colours created with the paint. I also think the idea to produce a series of these animals was a better but the sewing kept them separate clearly but also was quite subtle, the choice of orange represented 5 people without overbearing the actual composition, which was vertical rather than horizontal so that the walking direction was appropriate. I feel I could have improved the positioning in terms of size of my photographs when printed, the middle one was slightly too large and this shows in my composition on the top of his head, also the shape of the left over fabric could have been cut small and presented in a frame rather than left to hang, but this could also work well because of the texture and flowing material.

I enjoyed this project because making the images different to stand out by enhancement was my sort of style, experiments such as double exposures I could use again, especially my Dan Mountford inspired ones - the negative space with the face with a tree texture worked well and I could think of more ideas for this in my next project titled 'The Personal Project' and perhaps produce a piece with this involved with various models and poses, with a textured background. Another experiment was the collaging I did on my final mounted sheet, I could advance this and produce a large scaled image with detailed collaging on things such as accessories in the photograph, eye lashes ect. I liked the effect sewing gave photographs I'd looked at better than my own ones for example Page's embroidery, I feel I could create this effect by scratching into my prints or laying tracing paper over them to expose them with pen marks represented thread. In terms of theme people is my favourite subject matter and I have enjoyed being able to do this constantly with this project and because it is my personal style involved next time, I will keep to this and use these skills I have learned to produce something else enhanced and interesting.