Photo Manipulation by Haris Sajid - https://www.behance.net/graphicdesigerz

This photo is a fascinating showcase of artistic composition, engaging with ideas of perception and the distinction between reality and reflection. It depicts a topless individual lying on the forest floor, appearing as though their upper body is detached from their lower half, mirrored back at them. This mirror is  positioned at the individual's waist, crafting a visual split. The forest backdrop lends a natural and slightly mystical vibe to the piece. Sunlight sifts through the trees, casting gentle shadows and fostering a peaceful, almost otherworldly ambiance. This illumination is crucial for the shot's impact, accentuating both the figure and the mirror while avoiding excessive reflection or glare that could break the illusion.

Week 2

This week we started to learn the basics of skin retouching. Skin retouching is a digital enhancement that perfects the texture of any skin in a photograph using Photoshop techniques. It entails using tools and methods to  smooth texture with the elimination of flaws like marks, blemishes, or wrinkles and many other types of pigmentations. The standard tools for spot correction are the Healing Brush, Patch Tool, and Clone Stamp, while further adjustments relating to texture and shadows/highlights are managed through Frequency Separation and Dodge and Burn techniques, respectively. This ensures that the skin looks all fresh yet completely natural so that the photograph is more appealing without looking over-photoshopped or even fake.

We also took it in turns to take basic headshots of each other so that we can use them in an advanced retouching session during next weeks class

Week 2 Home work

Task 1: Please watch the three videos in the flipped learning activities section. Document your process and upload it to your workbook.

Task 2: Make sure you have all your images from the session and that you have capture one and photoshop.

Week 3

This week we went hands on with skin retouching. We used the photos that we took last week during class and took them through the full skin retouching process. for me this is deffinatly somthing that i need to practice more and found that the deeper i got into it the self critical i became of my work. I liked my final outcome but feel with more practice and skill development i can get better at this.

The images above are a before and after shots from photoshop. the Shot on the left is my origional shot and the shot one the right is the after. I used frequency seperation, clone stamp and the healing brush to remove blemishes and inconsistencies on the skin.

This week i also assisted Winston on his location shoot at iFly in the O2 as second shooter taking photos of the instructurs and clientel in the fly tube during their sessions.  Below is a contact sheet of images that i took then passed to winston to edit and cull for his project.

Week 4

This week during class we where out side shooting images that can be used as part of our car composit This involved us headding out to shoot images of cars and landscapes that we can use to learn about the path tool and blending images.

I took several photos but decided on using a front on shot of a blue BMW as i thought that it would provide an intresting challange with perspective.

I also started planning on what i wanted to do with my project for this unit this semester. I knew from the very start that i wanted to do somthing with reflections and/or mirrors. i started to draw some early sketches of what i was picturing in my head

I wanted my composit to reflect the day in the life of my subject. I wanted to have one part showing a just woken up look, one showing a daytime happy look and the final image to be a going out / party look. In order to achieve this i knew i would need some sort of makeup/vanity mirror that had different sections in it. At this point i took to the internet to find somthing tat would work for what i have invisioned. 

I found a mirror on facebook market place for a very good price which was very local to where i liveed and contacted them to see 

Week 5

This week in class we where looking at creating composit images using the photos of cars that we took last session. we started out by cutting out the cars from the backgrounds using paths in photoshop. We learnt how to create a path using the pen tool and then from the path select and mask the object and remove it from the back ground

if i was to do this task again i would probable shoot the car at a different angle to make the pathing easier and also having a cleaner cut. However once i had cut out the car i was then able to place it onto a second image making a very basic and rudemntory composit image. 

This week was also my fist test shoot for my project using the mirror that i had aquirted last week. For my initial test i went with the following equipment. 

Canon Eos RP WIth 24-105 F4 usm L lense

3x Large Polly Boards (2 on black and 1 white)

1x Elencrom 1200 with beauty dish

tripod

I spent lots of time testing angles and positions of the equipment to get the looks that i was going for in the mirror. I also found that in order to make it look like the model was looking dorectley into the mirror that they needed to look at the camera in the reflection of the mirror. 

Week 6 - Formative Week / Test Week

This week we started class by completing 2 tests. This first test was a hardware/Studio/lighting test that i scored quite highly on. I was happy with scoring high on this test as i enjoy the studio & technical aspects of this course.  The second test was more software based which i felt i was not as strong on and only scored about 50%. I felt this test was a bit subjective as my style of learning and workflow uses very little shortcuts and use of capture one but the test was heavely geared to knowing shortcuts and the capture one software.  Once we finished the test we then just completed more work on our projects and bechance.

Also this week i completed my live shoot for my project with Lois as my model for the shoot. We recreated the setup of the shoot from the test shoot but made one important change. After reviewing the images from the first shoot i decided to replace the back drop behind the mirrors with a Green backdrop so that i could remove it in post and put in a new backgroun as the polyboards were to damaged and there would be to much clean up needed in post production. I also replaced the poly board that was behind the model and could be seen in the reflection of the mirror with an off white backdrop as i felt it worked better and was less distracting than the poly board was 

Below you can see the contact sheets of all the images taken as part of the live shoot.

from the above selection i choose my final selection of images that i felt best depicted what i was trying to achieve. As part of the shoot i also took a clean image of the setup that would become my base layer snd give me a good starting point. I did this because i realised that in the images taken of the different looks the items on the table are out of focus due to the focus point in the image so when i took the clean image i made sure to set the focus point on the table at the front so that all the items on the table where more in focus

Week 7 - Shadows and creating brushes

This week we learned how to add shadows to images and also how to creat a smoke effect brush from an image of clouds. I found the tutorial on creating the brush very informative and enjoyed my work and the outcome. I struggled alot with the creating the shadow under the fruit as i could not make it appear natural and always appeared to me to be visibly fake. This task is definitely something that i will continue to practice and come back to at a later date as i feel its an important skill to try and perfect for this course

This week i made very little progress on my project work as i have found myself in a bit of a low space and quite unmotivated. Hopefully next week i can be more productive.

Weeks 8 and 9

Unfortunatly due to personal issues i was out of class on week 8 so missed the lectures on manipulating colour. I did however go through all off the flipped learning material that had been posted so that i was up to date on what had been done during week 8.

in week 9 i put into practice what i had learned about colour grading along with what we had been taught about adding text to images. As with most of these classes i struggle following along in the environment that we work in so whilst i completed the task i felt that i would probable be able to do better if i was to try this task again and practice some more on my own. Unfortunaltly due to a HD fault i lost access to my original file but you can see in the picture below that was taken of my screen to send to another person  that i was able to add text to the image in a unique way and also i was able to change the colour of the models top from blue to red. 

Below is the feedback that i was given on my behance

This week i started to do some more work on my composit image and started with some clean up on im images which included removal of the back ground of the base layer image so that i could replace it with a colour that better reflected the outfits in my other chosen images.  I went with the blue/grey as i felt thatit complimented the outfits that had been used in the other images that where going to form part of this final outcome.

I also did some clean up on the frame of the mirror. As it was second hand when i got it there was some wear and tare on it that i fixed up using the healing blush and clone stamp tool in photo shop. Whilst this damage id give the picture some character and make it look like it was actually used and in somones bedroom i felt that it was also a distraction and drew the viewers eye away from the main subject of the image.

Weeks 10 & 11

We are into the home stretch now and with deadline fast approaching its time to get my images finished and combined into the final piece so i can print. Initially i was going to use layer masks to blend the images together but found that the way i was doing it meant that every time i added another image i had to flatted the entire image so i could bring in the next layer and then when i had all 4 images combined i was left with a single flat layer which i could not go back through the layer and do any touch ups and changes. 

I restarted the process and this time instead of using layer masks for every image i decided to just use the path tool to cut round each image that i wanted to cut it out and them merge it into my base later. Whilst this took longer to do that using the masking layer method it did mean that i now had an image that i could go into each aspect of and change and edit as i wanted. 

The firt image which was the day time look was still added as a layer mask as i still wated to see if you could tell the difference between the image added as a layer mask and one added as a copy and paste using the pathing tool to cut out the image. Once all the images where in i did a test print to see how it looked.

I noticed some fringing arround the the mirror edges and the headphone on the table that was quite noticable and distracting on the printed image so went back to the image again to remove all of that. 

Week 12- Final Thoughts

This has been an intresting project and challange and for me has been a challanging task as i have learned lots of new skills and techniques so that i could complete my final image. Whilst i was happy with my final image there was also some things that i did not like. I felt that the colours in the middle mirror where to muted and dark on the final print but due to bad planning on my part there was no time to go back and redit and reprint the image. I think i should have factored extra time into my planning to allow for at least 1 extra print test so that i could get the right feel for the image that i wanted. 

I am happy with the image selection that i choose to go into the final image and beieve that addingh the extra imgage in of the empty mirrors with the focus on the table mean that the final image looks clean and sharp 

the one thing that i was not able to get right but did try was using warped perspective to try and make the image level. Because of the way i had to shoot the images there is a slight diagonal ofset to the image and whilst it does not distract from the image for me i think it would have just made the image look better had i been able to get it right. This is somthing that im going to practice with over the summer and hopefully be able to bring it into my work in years 2 & 3

During class time i have found that using the flipepd learning material has helped me with my understanding of all the topics this semester as im able to go back to them in my own time and watch them again and pause and rewind at my leasure to make sure that im taking things in and doing things correctly.

Below you can find the final image that was the conclusion of 12 weeks of work. Im going to take everything that i have learned and hopefully make improvments and impliment into my work in year 2.