Complimentary Colors

Artist Statement

For this original image, I used the portrait setting. When setting up the camera, I had to have it close enough to me so that the focus was clear and the background was mostly blocked out. The window behind me was a fairly neutral background, but not completely void of objects—which reduced the photo editing process I would have to do later to make the image, as I didn’t want every photo I produced to use spot healing to eliminate distractions from the background. Using the focus of the camera in the original image already eliminated background distractions. I took the photo looking off into the distance as if I were deep in thought, having a conversation in my head.

Photo editing for this one had a clear concept when I began the project: I wanted the image to portray internal thought, so I would add text in the background. I would make the colors of the text and background complimentary. However, using the complimentary colors on myself was a harder task—I wanted to change the color of my eyes in photoshop rather than my clothing, but I found it looked messy and rather unsettling instead of coordinating with the rest of the image. I also found that coloring my hair a different, related color of purple added some variation in the color. To make everything in the image less choppy, I used the blur tool a bit around the edges of where I changed the colors of the pixels. On top of everything I added a low-opacity gradient of the same shade of yellow as the text, adding more complexity to the image and making the color transitions look less obvious. It works well with the text in the background.

This image relates to my personal concentration, but I decided to stray slightly outside of the box on my idea—this image represents a soliloquy, a term often associated with Shakespeare in theater where a character speaks their thoughts out loud to themselves (only the audience can hear). I thought I would convey these thoughts with the text in the background, and by looking off into the distance, deep in thought, I am not focused on any other people in the image. Though it may be more difficult to justify as a literary device, I would like to branch out from metaphors, similes, and symbolism to portray in photography.