Evaluation

In this project I have photographed fashion, portraits and items that are connected to gambling. This has included dresses, playing cards, poker chips, bracelets with dice on it and characters from popular culture that are based on characters in a pack of cards. Looking at my final pages and cover it looks like a representation of gambling as a physical form of fashion.

My first ideas were sketched out into a notebook that I scanned in. this showed ideas like a card dress, dice in between teeth, face painting card suits, pouring water into a glass of dice and ice and intricate designs to be incorporated with the suits of the cards. However I only pursued two of these ideas. The card dress and the pouring of water. I also had the idea of someone throwing a card towards the camera and catching the card in detail and the model out of focus. I pursued this as well however in consideration after all the images were taken it did not match the style of the other images I took. Therefore I would not use it even though it is a strong image.

Whilst researching relevant practitioners I came across Kirk Quilaquil who had drawn an image of an unhappy jester holding playing cards which was very contradictory to the traditional jester stereotype. This influenced me greatly and I photographed my model with a face paint design that I had developed. this greatly resembled a character from Batman comics called Harley Quinn. I believe that she was based on the queen of diamonds because of the traditional design of her to have diamonds on her costume. These images then influenced my cover image because of the contrast in tone and the grungy theme.

To take all these images I used my own camera and lens'. This includes Nikon D610, 50mm f/1.4 and 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5. I then used many different techniques using Photoshop. I used some methods that are often used in the fashion industry like liquify and warp grids to shape and mold the models bodies to make them more attractive and reflective of professional practice.

I only had one problem. I didn't do all the research that I needed to do in time. This meant that the images were all taken in a very short timespan which I found quite stressful because I didn't have that much time to edit and reshoot if it was going to be needed. However I found that I didn't need to reshoot so I only had to worry about editing.

A big influence was Kirk Quilaquil who created the image of the jester. This influenced ideas that lead on to Harley Quinn, the face paint and clothing design. Rezarta Shkurta was another great influence because of the female biting the card and large contrast in tones.

I am very pleased with the cover I have created, it looks professional and official which is what I have tried to achieve. I am also pleased with the first of the double page spreads because it is very simple and to the point. The card dress represents card games like poker and blackjack, the models positioning and expression shows the fear of losing and the quote puts a lot of pressure on the image again reflected by the model. I am pleased with the second double page spread however I don't feel that it is as strong as the others because of the amount of white on the page and the amount of wording used to fill this area.

If I was to do this unit again I would complete the research faster and give myself more time to develop and experiment with face painting and body painting. This may give me more images to work with and make my second page stronger.

Inside page 2

Edits

Again I started with a blank page and a line.

I had all my final images in the layers and I was changing the visibility and positioning of each one to find the best one for that position. I decided on this image however I think that it should have a border.

I think that this border size is appropriate because it will give me some space later on to put some text in around the edge so that it looks professional and official.

This image is the most appropriate one to be opposite because the smile reflects that of the character that  I am trying to portray.

The name Harley Quinn sounds really posh to me so I think that the name should have an upper class feel to it which is actually contradictory to how the actual character acts and lives.

A brief description has been placed at the top left of the right page which is usually done in the magazine. However I have not been able to provide the designer names of the clothes.

I have added a quote from the model that she said to me before the photo shoot. I think I should have a quote that is more edgy and has more attitude. maybe I could look up quotes from Harley Quinn? 

I think this quote is perfect because not only does it reflect the image above it but it feels like that should also be the title of the image.

Finally I added Harley Quinn's name under the quote and the details of make up artist, model and photographer to the right of the image on the right page.

Final

Inside page 1

Edits

I started with this template. A blank white page with a line down the middle to show the spine of the magazine.

I then placed my favourite image of my model wearing the dress that I made on it and it lined up perfectly with the edge of the template.

Since as the left side of the page was just the background of the image I put a quote that was on a T-shirt I had years ago on it because it was catchy and was appropriate to gambling.

A friend has just pointed out that I had missed the apostrophes on the 'can't' and 'don't' so I fixed that.

Final

Front cover

Edits 

Original image.

I have now placed the i-D logo on the image in the right place however I think that it is too big to resemble a real cover.

I have made the logo a little smaller and I think that it looks a lot better.

I have added the slogan above the logo now.

Now the barcode which it was a little hard to find one that resembles the magazine that I have but this one is very similar and I am quite happy with it.

I have added the issue name, number, model and photographer names. I dislike the white because it is becoming very common on the cover and on the covers I have researched this is usually a different colour to the rest of the image.

I have changed it to red which matches the models cheeks and dice on the bracelet.

I have added the title of the issue and kept it in lower case because that is how i-D compose the titles on there covers.

Final

Image evaluation

I have found that the images I took in the first two shoots are both strong with good positioning and strong composition and smooth photoshop editing. However I feel that the images that I created during photo shoots 3 & 4 are much stronger and flow from one to the next much smoother because the contrast and the colour tones are continuous across them. I think that if I had stuck to my overall research more closely I would have avoided wasting time on images that I wont use. Therefore I am going to use images from 3 & 4 for my final template.

Photo shoot 4

Edits:

This is the original.

There is a light area of the models arm and hair to the left of the front arm which I find very distracting so I will have to get rid of it.

I have just applied a levels adjustment layer to increase the contrast of the image and to make the dark areas very defined.

Another adjustment layer for levels was added and I only exposed the highlights in the models hair which I think defines the image because it is bright and colourful.

I made a hue and saturation adjustment layer and exposed the models lips and the red dice on her bracelet to enhance the brightness.

Final

I really like this image because of the use of soft lighting. The model blends in with the shadows of the image on the left. The skin of the model is soft and lets the tones change smoothly across the image. For the lighting I used directed natural lights from the right in two places. One on the model and diffused light on the brick wall in the background. This image looks very serious which resembles the emotions that are often displayed in a casino or professional poker match. The small aperture used to create this image really defines the face of the model. The excess material in the foreground and background is mostly ignored because the attention of the viewer is drawn to the detail. The colours used are very bright and vibrant so they stand out against the dark tones. The dark tones around the edge of the image give it a sort of frame. I am going to use this image as my front cover because it is very strong and fits the criteria for an i-D magazine front cover.

Photo shoot 3

Image 1830:

This is the original image.

Here I use the spot healing tool to take away any imperfections I could find on the models face and arms. I also used liquify on the models left arm to make it thinner. This is so that it matches trade methods in the fashion industry. The models body shape fits that similar of a proffessional model.

I used a hue and saturation adjustment layer to increase the blue of the models eyes.

High pass has been used to emphasise the the cards mostly. I put it into a layer mask and only exposed to cards to 50% and the face to 15%.

I used another adjustment layer of hue and saturation to intensify the red of lips, flower and bow.

I adjusted the overall levels with another adjustment layer.

I placed an orange filter on the image and only exposed the arms because they had a purple tint to them and it really stood out against the pale orange of the models face.

Final:

This is my final image of the first part of this photo shoot and I am very pleased with the result. The model is clearly exposed and in good detail. The reds and yellows that are prominent in this image are bright and capture the audiences attention. The reds in the background create a warm feeling to the image.

Image 1887

Original image.

I used the spot healing tool to correct the imperfections in the models skin.

Instead of using the high pass layer on the whole image I used a layer mask to only show the extended detail in the models eye closest to the camera.

I adjusted the levels to increase the contrast from the whites to blacks making the image more dynamic.

The middle and right diamond still looked a little grey so I used another levels adjustment layer and only exposed the black to it. This has made them black enough.

I made another levels adjustment layer and used this to highlight the models hair. I used the brush tool and followed the lines that was naturally created by the models hair.

The last adjustment layer I used was a hue and saturation type so that I could make the eyes stand out.

Final

Image 1858

The original image. Spot healing tool to correct imperfections

Here I have used liquify and warp grids which are trade methods, in order to move the stomach in to produce a thinner waist. I still think that the hips look too small in comparison to that of the waist so I will probably have to enlarge the hips.

Here I used trade methods again to increase the size of the models hip and thigh, this gives the illusion that the models waist is thinner than it actually is.

I disliked the card that was being used in the image. I have another image that uses a different 'Joker' card which I believe looks better. However the chin and cheek look out of place so I need to work on it.

 

They now look a lot smoother and with the small level adjustment on the cheek the two exposures blend well.

I feel that the red and purple of the shirt and corset need to stand out more because they are the primary colours that the model is wearing.

 

I used another adjustment layer and only exposed the hair to it to give the model highlights.

 

When I looked at the image I found that it was crooked to the door frame, so I straightened it and I think it looks more organised.

Final

I find this image very strong because of the contrast in the tones and the strong and confident posture of the model. the reds that are worn by the model blend in with location and allows the model to flow with the structure of the location. the positioning also helps it because the front leg is nearly perfectly in line with the door frame and the front arm follows the line created by the corner of the desk.