Portraits: Process, Submission & Evaluation

Here are the contact sheets from my portrait series shoot:

I ended up using 5 images, editing 2 to make 7 portraits in total. and it was helpful to have taken such a variety (175 total) images to combine in Photoshop. Culling them was a slightly longer process than anticipated, as I had to sift through the lighting test shots as well as the experimental ones. I like the effect that using the face mask had on the more arresting frontal, almost passport photo-like, images - as it's hiding your identity whilst being confronted about it.

Above is the first image I edited. I used an online tool to help me create the pixel art version of the model's face and turn it into a background, and added a curves adjustment layer so it didn't take away attention from the face - this was inspired by colour-pop repetition seen in pop art, like the paintings of Andy Warhol.

I masked out the subject and cut out a diagonal stepwise patch in front of them, to represent our encroaching digital identities. To achieve the look of pixels glitching between the pattern and model's portrait, I painted straight lines in varying thicknesses on both the colour layer (using a dissolve blend mode for more grain) and on a divide blend mode layer. The divide blend mode is used practically to remove colour casts, but it's more interesting to use it creatively - it works by dividing the layer it's used on by the layers beneath it, then dividing 256 (8-bit colour) by that number, which leads to the resulting colour. By using red tones in my image and in the background pattern, I'm able to get a green colour, and overlapping them gives me white. This creates the appearance of a glitching, or breaking, image - this manual process took a while as I wanted detail. I also included the original shadow from the image, because it gave a nice pastel separation between the model and background, and brought some lightness to the portrait. I like how the metal accessories caught the light's colour. I darkened the eyes and eyebrows because they weren't affected as nicely by the red flash, and added lines behind the head to help the subject stand out more. Adding a wind effect to the left edge of the model helped blend the glitches and edge together & brought them out more.

The purple inverted variation is the result of experimenting with curves & harsh sharpening, then adding stroke & outer glow, as well as the PNGs of some custom cursor's I've been using, which are another personalised symbol of internet browsing. I then drew some modular geometric rectangles to bring the piece together and hint at the theme of screens and digital aesthetics.

For the second image I edited, I colour-picked points on the model's forehead area and copied the hex codes of those points onto text layers, which I then grouped and set onto the overlay blend mode - conveying the data we are quantified as online, whether on social media or as engagement statistics for marketing teams & content creators. I then used a channel mixer adjustment layer to play around with the colours and achieve a different palette to what I started with, even though I do enjoy the raw colours as well. I used curves, as well as sharpening and high-pass overlay, to bring out details in the eyes, eyebrows and hair of the model, so that the portrait looks crisper. Love how this one turned out - it's perfectly straight, arresting and interesting, which is why I used it to end the PDF - the subject is aware that the mere string of numbers they represent within a screen are an integral force in their identity.

In editing the third image, I used a moire texture for that cybercore aesthetic, and overlaid it twice on soft light & overlay blend modes for the desired look. Underneath this, I'd added a solid colour adjustment layer and multiple curve layers to get the solarised/inverted look I was aiming for. I then found a black metal texture and gave it some warmer tones in my curve experiments before adding some grain, acting as a frame for the portrait - representing the wild, creative lawlessness fo the internet.

To juxtapose this "screen" version of the model, I horizontally flipped the image and arranged it on the second page. Directing this shoot was hard because I found explaining poses difficult, but I was inspired by fashion photography and my model was very patient with me moving around getting different angles and distances.

This image was inspired by the polygonal-style illustration in the shadow on my moodboard. I used "blend if" on a solid yellow adjustment layer to change the light coming from that side of the model, to match the colour of the climbing scaffolding illustration and to contrast the blue tones given off by that light originally. I think this gives a really cool effect and juxtaposition to the image, where it's slightly unsettling to look at because of the way the colours interact unnaturally. I also made little 'ghost' versions of the model with a screen/lighten colour blend mode to give that side more visual interest and convey the identity multiplicity one experiences from being online so much. I like how the half-lit setup makes this triangle ray shape appear over the model's head from where the drop-off from the cast shadow on the wall meets the incoming light. This was used as the second image because of the "climbing", "overtaking", "hijacking" connotations of the drawing's imagery on the subject.

I used this last edit to begin my PDF to signify the theme of the series - duality of the self having such a strong tie to one's digital identity, the potentially damaging and distorting aspects of that, and the ironic casual nature of identity formation just sitting at a screen, unassuming and domestic. I used the Smudge tool on a duplicated selection of the model's face and spent some time making them appear like they were merging & dripping into to laptop screen. I then shaded it locally using a curves adjustment layer & mask, to essentially dodge & burn so it appeared more realistically composited, i.e. drawing the shadow of the model's real face. I finished with some colour grading to make the tones more purple than the green they originally were, and lighten the shadows a bit. Normally I'm not a fan of empty space in my own images, but I decided to leave it at that because of the atmosphere it creates to just observe this slightly disturbing scene with no distractions.

Overall, I am very pleased with this series and my creative response to the project, as I learned new editing skills as well as lighting. However, I could have done better at interpreting the narrative in my theme and having more intent behind the images than leaving them to chance in editing, though I do feel like my edits were well thought-through.