Digital Photography & Imaging / Final Project: Self-Titled

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02/06/2021 - 30/05/2021 (Week 10 - Week 14)

Ngu Kah Shin / 0347666

Digital Photography and Imaging / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media / Taylor's Design School

Final Project: Cinemagraph - Self-Titled


 INSTRUCTIONS 


HTML LINK: 
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 LECTURES 

Week 10:
This week, we learnt about Digital Photography. Mr Martin mentioned that if we had actual classes instead of virtual classes, we would have gotten the experience of using an actual camera, taking pictures in the Design School's studio as well as around the campus. However, given the current circumstances, we are unable to do that so Mr Martin guided us through the important terms, settings and all the basics we need to know about photography.

Exposure setting

1. Iris/Aperture is the size of the opening in the lens.
     - The lower the f-number, the larger the lens opening.
     - The wider the opening, the more light comes in, producing a creamy, unfocused background.
     - The smaller the opening, the less light comes in, producing a sharp image.
2. Shutter is a small plastic sheet that opens and closes to let light in
     - Lower ISO means lesser light sensitivity, preferable to be used in daylight.
     - Higher ISO means higher light sensitivity, preferable to be used in low light conditions.
3. Shutter Speed is how long the part of the camera that opens and closes to let light in stays open.
     - measured in seconds
     - 1/4 captures a relatively more blurry photo meanwhile 1/200 captures a sharper photo.
     - If anything moves when the shutter is open, the image will turn out blurry
     - Hence, the longer the shutter stays open, the shutter speed is lower, you will need to use a tripod.


Lens Perspective

1. Lens Type
     -some examples include ultra wide-angle lens, super-telephoto lens, prime lens and fisheye lens.
2. Focal Length
     - measurement in millimetres from the optical centre of a camera lens to the camera sensor.
     - the shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view
3. Depth of Field
     - proportion of the image that is reasonably sharp and in focus
     - the smaller the aperture, the greater the depth of field.
     - wide-angle lenses are ideal for fitting a large area into your frame

Extra tutorials and demo:
Learn Photography
What Is Shutter Speed? - Beginner Friendly Tutorial
Smartphone VS Pro DSLR


Week 11:
During our online lecture class, Mr Martin taught us about Double Exposure. It is the merging of multiple images. The effect of double exposure makes an image look surreal, emotional or even humorous. This can be achieved by using a camera or editing on Photoshop.

To achieve Double Exposure,
1. we can use the Tilt-Shift effect
2. create fake reflection
3. experiment with simple portraits and textured details
4. convert results to black and white
5. work with the silhouette
6. pick 2 random photo
7. create depth and interest from simple objects 
8. use shadow

Extra tutorials and demo:
Week 13:
We learnt about Digital Surrealism during this week's lecture class.

Realism 
Takes subject matters of the ordinary and common world which we call "reality." It almost always takes a non-exotic and non-extraordinary subject matter and theme. There is no need to think outside of the box, as that is not "real."
Surrealism
A twist on Realism. It explores the subconscious mind, with subject matters concentrating on dream-images and often aims to distort the ordinary and what we call reality. Surrealism defies logic. Dreams and the workings of the subconscious mind inspire surrealistic art (French for "super-realism") filled with strange images and bizarre juxtapositions. 

Extra Tutorials




 EXERCISES 

Week 9 Practical: Adobe After Effects / Animation

During the online practical class, Mr Martin guided us on basic animation using Adobe After Effects. He provided us with a PSD file of a prearranged collage work. We learned the function of keyframes, anchor points, positions, scales and rotation. This was my first time using Adobe After Effects. Fig 1.2 shows the result of my first try. There is still a lot to be improved and I am excited to learn more.

Fig 2.1 Basic animation exercise on Adobe After Effects

Fig 2.2 Basic animation video outcome on Adobe After Effects

Week 12 Practical: Adobe Photoshop / Double Exposure Parallax Effect

We learnt how to clip and mask other elements onto an existing background. We had to apply multiply and blend it with the background. Below are the steps we did on Adobe Photoshop to achieve a convincing result.

Fig 2.3 Original image of birds

Fig 2.4 Original image of birds clipped onto sunset background

Fig 2.5 Final image of birds clipped onto sunset background

Fig 2.6 Original image of steam

Fig 2.7 Original image of steam clipped onto new background

Fig 2.8 Original image of steam masked onto a new background

Week 12 Practical: Adobe Photoshop / Puppet control

We also learned how to use the puppet control tool in Adobe Photoshop. The GIF below was the outcome of combining 2 static images, an original, unedited image and an edited one, warped with puppet control.

Fig 2.9 Yoga GIF on Adobe Photoshop

 FINAL PROJECT: 

INTRO

Tell us about yourself

Ellis Ngu Kah Shin is a design student with too little time. Born and raised in the serene scene of Brunei, Ellis loves to embroider, paint, sing, cook, roller skate, garden and multifarious activities that she is not particularly good at, but enjoys a lot.

PARAGRAPH 1

What is your passion?


Despite being a student from the science stream, Ellis has always been passionate about art and design. She has joined and won various art competitions while pursuing her enthusiasm in science. Other than that, she is a firm believer in equal rights and is an environmental advocate-in-progress.

PARAGRAPH 2

What’s motivating you to achieve your dream?


The plan (as of now) is to venture into UI/UX in Year 2 of her design course. To be able to create websites, apps or any digital platform for people of all ages and educational background fuels me to achieve my dream. This includes giving a chance to the children who were unable to receive proper education or refugees trying to apply for a job with minimal technological knowledge. They will all be able to easily learn, attain jobs and be accomplished in their life.

SUMMARY

How do you want to visualize your dream into an artwork?


I think my dreams are not the most straightforward or easily attainable as they are quite ambitious. However, I am not letting any obstacles stop me from achieving my dreams. In my artwork, I visualize myself to be able to handle a lot of things, but at the same time, a lot of things I will have to learn to let go too. I envision my self-titled project to be categorized into 2 sections, things that are within my capability/ interest and things that are less important or those I should dismiss.

 

INTRO

Tell us about your work
 

I intend to make my design revolve around the things that are important to me, what made me who i am today and things that could potentially guide me towards a happier and brighter future.

PARAGRAPH 1

What is the concept behind it?


There are things that are important to us and we should take care of and embrace. There are also things that are out of our reach and are less important as they do not bring as many benefits into our life as we think. We should stay truthful and loyal to things that are good to us. It is also important to stay in touch with our family, friends, and most importantly, ourselves. Treating ourselves better such as taking care of our own mental well being, or even having compassion for our inner child happy (to name a few) can really mould out a happy life.

PARAGRAPH 2

What is the message you want people to understand?


Truly connect with yourself, acknowledge and seek the things that make you happy and could make you a better person to the people around you and the rest of the world.

SUMMARY

What is your motto/ quote?


If I am worth anything later, I am worth something now.



Fig 3.1, 3.2 Visual research and ideas exploration

      
Fig 3.3, 3.4 First stage- sketching and drafts

Fig 3.5, 3.6 Second stage- Mockups

My first 2 designs were either a bright coloured portrait consisting of a statue, stone-carved version of myself, accompanied with many decorative and dramatic brush strokes which would represent my love for art and design, or a plate of my head on it along with all my favourite things and whatever that makes me, me.  Eventually, I decided to proceed with the plate idea as I thought it befits what I want to portray and the message I want to convey across would be more apparent. It would also be more visually interesting and exhibits surrealism better. 

Fig 3.7 Handwritten phrase and photos I took 

To make my self-titled portrait even more authentic, I decided to write the phrase "I've got too much on my plate!" with my own handwriting. I tried out different pens and markers of different colours and then later adjusted the brightness and contrast on Adobe photoshop to make sure the inserted paper matches well with the portrait.

As seen in Fig 3.4 and 3.5, I have created many layers and adjustments of the different elements and pieces I have added into my portrait. I used folders to navigate easily and keep my layers organised. 

Fig 3.8 Self Titled Portrait on Adobe Photoshop

Fig 3.9 Screenshot of a part of the layers of Self Titled Portrait

Fig 3.10 Simplified layers for easier arrangement when moved onto Adobe After Effects

Fig 3.11 Screenshot of lecture on how to save the After Effects video product

Fig 3.12 Self Titled Portrait progression on Adobe After Effects
 

The whole concept behind Too Much On My Plate literally means what it means, I always have too many things on my To-Do List, I’m always complaining about how there’s never enough time and I’m never bored. All the objects present on the plate are things that I like and matters a lot to me


Starting from my head, my pink coloured eyeshadow signifies how I view the world in a rose-coloured lens. I am an optimistic, glass half full kind of person. The pigtails hairstyle, cassettes, pokemon cards and dice all symbolise the importance of my attachment to my inner child and my childhood. Being brought up in a very loving home, I believe we all should pay more attention to our inner child to truly be content in our life, staying a little naive, spontaneous and down to earth. The leafy vegetable and sugar cookies are my favourite food, each representing vegetables and pastries accordingly. My hobby is roller skating, hence roller skates. The earphones represent my love for all kinds of music, ranging from Taylor Swift to Green Day. The newspaper and crumpled paper epitomize my love for reading and writing but never published any work of my own. Lastly. the snail is how I wish the things around me move, time should be slower so we could embrace and soak in what the world offers to us, just a little longer!


As for the things falling around me, they represent things that are out of my reach or are unimportant to me. First off, we can see a clock falling off the plate, which means I do not have a good grasp of time. Other items like Rubiks Cube symbolises the unsolvable questions I have in life (I’m still young, I still do not have answers to many aspects of life!)  and the cat stands for my missed opportunity to have a pet cat. As for the last item, it is a roll of money and is where the video ended without seeing where it landed. This is how I view my financial situation as of now. I am still a student, I still receive allowances from my parents. The mystery of my finance in the future remains unknown and I wish the money roll does end up on my plate!



 FINAL OUTCOME: 



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