Rusheen is a designer in Los Angeles, who worked on this project while she was a design student in college at UCLA. It stemmed from a video project that was supposed to highlight a specific colour. She chose the colour blue, and as a result of working on the video did another shoot to shoot some stills. I loved the way she was able to work with the water opacity, and actually shot these in her bathtub in her own home. Hands and hair were her favourite thing to shoot, as the water organically created some interesting shapes and colorways on its own. I like the way she has been able to transform a setting so drastically into something dreamlike and peaceful. This plays with the idea of translucency as it creates a physical barrier where the body features are hidden behind. I think this will be interesting to shoot using different liquids to achieve the desired opacity.
CONTACT SHEETS
EDITS
When shooting these images i reflected back to the originals to find an idea which would get the desired opacity. Using milk and water we created a fairly deep filled bath which my model then lied in exposing the most prominent features. We experimented with different positions such as forward facing, Her back faced to the camera but also some side shots to create a profile. After taking the portraits i wanted to achieve and copy her original work by shooting her arms and legs where some of the parts of them where out of the water and some where lost in the murky water. I think i achieved these images well and when going to edit these there was not much that needed to be done. I played around with the levels of the image as taking them in a warmly lit bathroom gave a yellow tone to the photographs. I changed the colour balance also to get rid of the orange tones and trying to use her idea of the colour blue and making the images more cool toned.
Hanging Plans
DEVELOPEMENT - GABRIELE CORNI
Corni is an italian photographer who composed a contemporary project with the Humans Breathless Project. These images are interesting as it looks as though they are either coming out of the water or putting their heads down into the water however their emotions are composed and unaffected. The colours of these images look very edited down into muted tones with a low contrast and saturation. To replicate this shoot i will need to take portrait images and digitally edit using masked layers to show the translucent boarder and clear high quality images.
CONTACT SHEETS
For this shoot i went into the studio where the light was even and i was able to light the background as there would be no shadowing. I sat the models down and made them look with a blank faced expression straight into the camera were i took a set of images and then looking away off the camera just to experiment with different positioning as reflecting back at the artist originals they have a relaxed expression on their face which ties in with the idea of being in water and having that translucent barrier which brings you within the world of peace.
DEVELOPMENT EDITS
For my edits i decided to digitally edit my images on photoshop. I wanted to recreate the effect using multiple layers masking parts of the image to get the desired effect. I used the magic wand tool by selecting loose parts of the image to create the patches of the models clothes and faces which looks as though it is piercing through the initial white layer which i edited onto to look like it is coming through water. I think these work well as they give dimension to the image and the parts of the image that protrudes out looks more realistic as the edges are rough and loose lined. The emotions of my models are fairly emotionless which gives a more peaceful and relaxed image drawing less attention away from the actual techniques. I used a white background to keep the image bright and be able to blend the layer i added over the top easily to make it realistic and water like. I sat the model down therefore they could remain in a still position and be sat in a fairly repetitive style of pose. I think these reflect the artists original style of work however slightly different as these were digitally edited.