In summary... The goal of this photoshoot was to practice Expressionism, a theory of Aesthetics that posits that the worth of an art piece is based in how well it conveys emotion. My assigned emotion was Sad, and I chose to portray the subtopics of Ashamed, Abandoned, Isolated, Powerless, Ignored and Lonely by telling a story with 3 facets of one person. Hare, who is realistic about the situation of being alone and abandoned but feels small and powerless in the face of it, Miss Vesuvius, who acts to solve her situation but blows it up dramatically and ends up falling all over herself, and Cern, a self-comforting device the person uses to try to put themself back together. As of now, it is not going well.

Post-processing... Some of my favorites were 4128, 4224, 4275 and 4291. I feel like I used both good, non-cheesy portrayals of the subject of being ashamed, lonely and desperate, and well-done technical aspects such as use of light, use of body language and use of editing. I'm especially proud of my use of the self-timer, as I really had no other subject to work with that was reliably there, and I wanted to tell a story with multiple outfits over multiple days. Modes such as overlay and filters such as Brightness/Contrast and Selective Color assisted to make sure it turned out well.

Class Critique...

Clarity of Ideas: Pretty clearly guessed that it was sadness, 4224 was very expressive and conveyed it well, definitely dominates the Best Prints. 

Best Prints: 4224 and 4081.

Post-Processing: I've generally already edited, but some of them are a bit dark. I am going to ensure the quality and printability of them with lighting edits. 

After the fact, Kaitlyn and Jessica actually suggested making them darker, especially the forest in the second.

Originals:

In summary... The goal of this photoshoot was to express myself through Creative portraits, hiding my face while still expressing something about myself. The challenge of doing this all with the self-timer was also ever-present. I was forced to search more deeply into my creative side, my camera's settings and Photoshop's tools to accomplish this expression of feeling lost, and inhuman, and strange, but still having lighthearted fun with this dissociation. Stress and imagery and excitement all trapped inside one faceless body.

Post-processing... Some of my favorites were 2, 3, 6, 7 and 9, as I feel I had the most fun with their concepts. A lot of my post-processing was used to make the images genuinely less comprehensible for the goal of an aesthetic cohesiveness. I mostly used photo filters, layer masks, and especially the spot healing tool to complete these. I feel like 10, 4, and 5 were perhaps a little corny, and 8 isn't completely clear, so they may be my least favorite. 

Class Critique:

Clarity of Ideas: Ideas seemed to be clear! Commenters also seemed to like my use of props. My final crit believed the lighting I used accentuated my ideas in both.

Best Prints:  3, 6.

Post-Processing: I like coming into class critique with my images already edited. It really helps convey the vibe I am going for. It was suggested that I crop 3 to focus on the people. My final crit suggested that I put another filter on 3 for emotional impact, such as red or green.

Originals:

In summary...  the goal of this photoshoot was to convey symbolism through objects and create an overarching meaning for the 12 pictures. I chose a theme of Overwork, how the workings of business crush people under it's heels without regard for their health, and how they really have to scurry to keep themselves healthy and able to keep going. My little brother personified business and took on the sort of cutthroat persona attributed to many "robber barons" or "self-made millionaires" of today. No matter if you respect or resent business, it's there and it's going to get things done.

Post-processing... 

4682 was not actually the image that I wanted to use! I had a really fun one of my dad wolfing down his breakfast :(( The ones present here are actually without editing (especially top left!) Most of my post--processing had to do with lighting adjustments. Some of these were necessary to highlight some parts of the image, while others just had to do with the general lighting quality of the images. My favorites were 4780, 4795, 4821 and 4833. They just have my favorite compositions. 

Class Critique, Originals:

A couple goals I have for the next few shoots are to work on finding more fun and symbolic compositions like this. I've noticed that some of my concept shoots include pictures that are similar compositions, even if I'm not necessarily trying to convey the same things. I also really enjoyed moving away from using myself as a model, as it's a struggle to get composition exactly right, so I need to do more of that!

In summary...  the goal of this photoshoot was to create the source images necessary to make a well-done composite as a final image. I had to keep in mind the lighting, color and quality required of the images involved for the size it will be used at in the composite image. For me this involved putting macro lenses on many pictures, using fractal and color lens, collecting textures to use on models, and bringing said models out into the environments they need to be in. I also discovered isolating bokeh and lighting effects to use them as part of the environment being created in each photo. I used both morning and afternoon light angled differently to create the correct shadows. The main idea of my compositions was to show a dichotomy between large and small that reverses their preconceptions of power - the small person can be quite a bit more powerful than the large one, and have more agency. 

Post-processing... 

I conveyed my compositions through layer masks, clipping and color match effects to pull the images together. I feel the best about some of my lighting effects, like the multicolor bokeh that I'm using to set a mood, and the giant rainbow wrapping paper shine that I'm using as the edge of the portals. The green screen on my very last picture allowed me to isolate the model much easier. I want to ensure that the textures are vibrant and each piece comes with it's clear, realistic shadow.

Class Critique, Layers:

I received feedback on my hand composition that said the reviewer enjoyed the bright colors and extra added details. They commented on the woven texture on the ground that I used to interconnect the hand and the dirt, and seemed to react mostly positivelty to the piece. However, they said the amount of light flashes was a bit overwhelming, and stated I could have masked my subject better. I'm not sure about that because I used an appropriate amt. of feathering, but I'll accept it nonetheless. I think my goal would be to think about more cohesive color schemes and color filters, as well as trying out more masking techniques like the one I used on the dirt pillar.