Ziqian Liu

Self-portrait photographer; combines her body posture and flowers with the use of water symbolism/interpretation.

L I N K S -

Ziqian Liu

About — Ziqianqian

Second Dimension — Ziqianqian

The Self-Portraits of Ziqian Liu: Embodying Harmony and Beauty Through Symbiotic Intimacy

Born in 1990 in China, graduated from the University of Technology Sydney in 2015 and started photography in 2018. Independent photographer based in Shanghai. Primarily working in the topic of portraiture, her works incorporate elements on nature, plants, body, mirror images and reflections. Her works rarely capture her full face (facial features) because she wants the viewer to visualise the full piece themselves - using our imagination.

Her project 'Second Dimension' combines the properties and symbolism of water with portraiture - capturing herself in this foggy fantasy type world. Her pieces incorporates flowers from fully grown banana leaves to singular flower/stem; using the natural elements to add structure and shape into her work.

This photograph is taken from her 'Second Dimension' project, is creates this sense of mystery with her face being concealed whilst presenting certain parts of her body - this particular photograph reveals her hand loosely being let down to create this lifeless feel.

She uses opaque glass as a veil to separate herself from the elements and nature. the body is surrounded by cloudiness while nature is foregrounded. Her movements and body posture has a quite elegant and gently grasp towards nature .Highlighting the closeness that existed between humans and nature with the opaque glass represents separation.

The large leaf plant further adds to this mysterious atmosphere as it blurs into the background - giving more depth and dimension. The closer the plant is the more focused and crisp the image is.

For this I will be taking normal shoots and then using photoshop editing a quite blurred effect similar to how the opaque class grates this foggy mysterious effect. I will also be experimenting with steam/condensation on glass to recreate the effect as I do not have opaque glass on hand.

I will try and match the types of flowers she has used but also incorporate different shapes and sizes of flowers - using bundles to short stemmed flowers.

SETUP :

Equipment - Flowers, Large drapes of fabric, Tripod, Stool, Camera Remote

Placed the camera on the tripod and used a remote to be able to take photographs of myself.
With the flowers, I bought a bundle of roses to be able to have single flowers. Some of my other shoots I used flowers which I already had in my house.
I used a sheer type of fabric to droop it against the wall, additionally used A2 coloured paper to have a variety of coloured backgrounds.

BRIDGE PROCESS :

Shifted the temperature to balance out the warmth.
Increased the contrast and lowered the whites and highlights

PHOTOSHOP PROCESS :

1. Fading Blur - Glass Mimicking

Cropped the Image to 4:5 ratio.
Duplicate the layer and Gaussian Blur the copied image.

36 pixel radius.

Eraser tool 0% hardness - softly erased areas which I want to be in focus.

2. Water droplets

Image template of water droplets on glass.
Changed the layer type to 'multiply' - this will remove all the whites of the image.
Using the soft eraser tool 0% hardness, removed the harsh edges to blend it in with the background.

3.Filters/Refinements