Making my final images

I created these multiple exposures in Photoshop:

Each image has 3 different image, a scene, a portrait and a bedroom scene.
Each image started with a bedroom scene image. I then added a scene image and lowered the opactity and changed the blending mode (usually to multiply or darken) until it looked blended but visible.

I then added the portrait on top of these using the mask tool and slowly revealing the portrait with a detailed brush. I used brush 66 to add the portraits in to my multiple exposures. I added the portraits in at a low opacity and layered the opactity by using the brush more over certain areas like the eyes as I wanted these to show more as a focus point. I blended the portrait in to the rest of the image by lowering the opacity of the brush whilst adding in the edges of the person in the portrait. I made sure the portrait was enlarged and placed in the image to keep a good composition rather than placing it randomly within the image.

I then lowered the saturation of all of the bedroom scenes to -100 to remove all colour. I lowered the saturation levels of the portrait and scene to around -80 so that they still showed slight colour but not too much as I thought the colour of the saturated images was too bright and made the images look too busy as the colour was quite distracting.

When I took the colour away from the layers I then added a gradient map over the layers and chose colours for the gradient map that would have been in the images before I took away the saturation as I thought it would be fitting. I used the soft light blending mode for all of my gradient maps as I thought this worked nicely as it wasn't too contrasting. I lowered the gradient opacity to between 50-80% to create a nice soft colour tone which fitted with the dream-like feel I was trying to create.

Final piece description for exhibition

Lucid Dreams

I created these multiple exposures as I wanted to show my visual representation of lucid dreaming. Lucid dreaming is the state in which a person realises that they are dreaming. The images that I have created show a similar scene to that I see whilst I am having a lucid dream. I wanted to turn my unpleasant experience in to a pleasant visual experience and I hope to widen your understanding of the subject. - Shannon Jaques

Changes from proposal.

I have decided to no longer add light streaks or filters as there was quite a lot of colour and saturation whilst I was editing my images as I used a gradient map with a blending mode which added colour over my multiple exposures really nicely. If I had added filters it would have looked too colourful and  distract from the narrative and imagery and If I had added light streaks, I feel they would have blocked out too much important imagery as I need everything on show to tell my narrative of lucid dreaming which is the whole idea of the images.

I am presenting my work as A3 prints which will be hanging from the ceiling rather than being stuck to the wall. They will be mounted on foamboard.

I will have my original 6x4 prints from my disposable cameras and 6x4 prints of the original portraits that I used so that people can look at them and think about which images I put together in my final images. This allows them to think more about my work and get involved with my work rather than just scanning and walking by.

I did not print on acetate as unfortunately I did not have the funds to do this, as I did not save each layer of the images as an a4 file it would have taken me a long time to rescale and resize all of the separate layers that I would have needed for each print.

I am still very happy with my results and Originally I wanted to print my finals in A4 but after some advice I printed them A3 which worked really well as they were a lot more visible and eye catching and I look forward to seeing them displayed.

Artists from London exhibitions

Samuel Fossa

The exhibition I visited , called 'African Spirits' he had placed huge portraits of himself inside of black frames in a grid format which I thought was a really eye catching way to lay out images you are presenting.

The size of the images caught my eye straight away as you don't usually see people in such a blown up way, you could see all the detail on the face and clothing which you don't really see in real life as you can't 'zoom in'. Each image in the display was 1016 x 760 mm.

From looking at the exhibition I was unsure as to whether he was portraying different personalities within himself and styles or whether he was impersonating other people.

The large format in which they were, I feel as though he chose this to show the significance of the people/personalities in the image. They could've meant a lot to him or he was showing how loud his different personalities are and how he feels or should look of importance. This could also be on the subject of race, he could be showing the significance of the African race due to the history of the black race.

I really love his work as his images are in black and white showing a lot of detail and contrast as well as being layed in a grid format which I love as I enjoy the typology feel.

Jo Spence

Jo Spence exhibited a series of self portraits showing her battle with breast cancer. I really like her images as I feel she is trying the show the beauty of the female form even during a time in which the body is deteriorating which in it's way is morbidly beautiful in itself. Each of her images is slightly different which made them interesting to view and I was also intrigued as breast cancer is not often a subject photographed so I thought she was emotionally brave to share the images with the public which had a positive effect on her negative subject.